Review: Overlord 2

[hippo24]

Review: Overlord 2

Overlord 2 isn't deep and it isn't profound. It's just fun.

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While I'm still on the fence with weather to get this game, I really think this review supplement, is one of the best Ive seen on the escapist. In previous videos there seemed to be a lack of "flow" and it seemed as if the reviewer was just reading off their printed review. The video itself just seemed to lack the same finesse and meaning as the actual review article and was never all that interesting. Often times I would forgo watching the "Video part" and just read the print.
This was the first review that I actually enjoyed watching and felt had some substance to it. Now granted, I know that a video is often times not the best medium for reviewing -because you could often talk for an hour and setting up enough footage and editing for such a file would be a huge amount of work- but I think this was a great alternative. I normally only make an effort to watch a review if I'm unsure of the gameplay or don't have the time or post-interest to read an authors full review, and I felt this review encompassed all of those areas quite nicely.

I would only suggest that you be a little more forthright in your speech, it has a tendency to get lost or to be superimposed by the games sounds. Its just a small thing, and I think you've noticed it as well, because both you and the other reviewers seem to have had less of a problem with the audio integration as of late. But hay, Im no authority on this subject, and maybe thats the best way for the review to be done.

I really had no interest in this game, but Ill be checking into it a bit more.

 

[samsonguy920]

This does look rather fun, and killing treehugging elves never gets old. Minion hugging the reaper was the shiznat! Your reviews are always great Susan.

 

[xitel]

Not sure if the camera would work better on PS3 or PC -- and to be honest, friends of mine who've played on the 360 haven't been nearly as frustrated with the camera as I was. But it drives me insane. Especially the bit where it tries to point me in the "right" direction.

Yeah, the camera on the PC is much worse than it is on consoles, for the sheer fact that you don't have an analog stick to control it. It was the same problem with Overlord 1 on the PC. Plus, sweeping minions was far less buggy on the consoles. I've had many a time when I was sweeping minions and all of a sudden they jam up and go insane running all over the place like chickens with their heads cut off.

 

[PrimaVita]

Nice review dude.

 

[HobbesMkii]

I think, judging from the range of comments here, that Overlord is in the eye of the beholder in terms of game control. I, for one, never found a great deal of trouble with the camera or the controls on the PC. The minions did seem to have some random thought making processes, but other than that, I found them easy to deal with and control. Frankly, it's the fact I can rescue my top dog minions that makes me the happiest. You'd go an play through a whole section and your minions would accrue all their stuff and then at the very next boss fight, your top 5 would get wiped out. Made it extremely frustrating because they'd always send the best in first, whereas I always wanted them to send the worst in, and then if it got really bad, I'd send in some better minions. That in itself would be reason enough for me to buy this.

A couple of things I'm interested in that weren't mentioned in this review: In the first Overlord, there were moral decisions that unlocked a different set of Overlord powers. Basically it was the choice between being Used-Car-Salesman-Evil or Kitten-Drowning-For-Kicks-Evil. It doesn't seem like that's here at all, seeing as I suspect you would of mentioned it, but just because you didn't mention it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen, as in my next thing.
Which is the plot. What is the plot? Frankly, one of the things that kept me playing Overlord (what drew me in was "You're the bad guy") was the fact that it had this great plot that follows the Overlord's enemies as they each become a physical representation of each one of the seven deadly sins. I learned afterward that Rihanna Pratchett had written the thing, which makes a lot of sense. So what's the basic plot outline this time? Is it good, is it compelling?

 

[FinalHeart95]

I always hated baby seals anyway. So goddamn cute...

 

[coldfrog]

I remember downloading the demo of the first game on my Xbox oh so long ago and being tremendously disappointed in it. The easiest comparison is to Pikmin, and I think the reason I was so disappointed was that Pikmin was very clean while the first Overlord felt a bit rough around the edges. However, I love the concept of it and I may give the second one a try.

Also, obligatory cute hug scene comment.

 

[coldfrog]

I learned afterward that Rihanna Pratchett had written the thing, which makes a lot of sense.

Out of total curiousity, is she in any way related/married to Terry Pratchett? Not being from England I kind of miss out on all but the most obvious of writers, and I was unable to find information about his wife without feeling weird about it.

Whoops, sorry for the double post, I didn't even realize this was the same topic!

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

oh Overlord, you and your happy fun of killing, pillaging and generally being really mean.

Also nice to hear Queen Susan's voice on the review =]

 

[HotShooter]

I bought the PC version and thought it was great(except for that last boss) but I might also get the PS3 version to get a better experience since the controls suck for the PC, especially if you use a pad instead of a mouse to move your minions.

 

[HobbesMkii]

I learned afterward that Rihanna Pratchett had written the thing, which makes a lot of sense.

Out of total curiousity, is she in any way related/married to Terry Pratchett?

She's his daughter. There was an article on the Escapist recently about her lamenting the state of writing in games. Terry Pratchett is also a huge gamer himself.

 

[sebar nl]

hah see the dutch can make proper video games xD

dont you think they already proved that with Killzone 1 + 2?

 

[Mathak]

I learned afterward that Rihanna Pratchett had written the thing, which makes a lot of sense.

Out of total curiousity, is she in any way related/married to Terry Pratchett? Not being from England I kind of miss out on all but the most obvious of writers, and I was unable to find information about his wife without feeling weird about it.

Rhianna is Terry's daughter.

And yes, she wrote the plot this time around too. It basically centres on the Glorious Empire trying to eradicate all magic creatures to usher in an age of peace and prosperity for all (nonmagical) folk, and we can't very well have that, can we?

Also, there's is still a choice system, but where Overlord it was rather badly worked out (save the sacred glade? what am i, superman?) in Overlord 2 you have actual evil choices...kill everything or enslave it, and both choices will reward you accordingly.

 

[coldfrog]

I learned afterward that Rihanna Pratchett had written the thing, which makes a lot of sense.

Out of total curiousity, is she in any way related/married to Terry Pratchett?

She's his daughter. There was an article on the Escapist recently about her lamenting the state of writing in games. Terry Pratchett is also a huge gamer himself.

OK, now I am almost certainly buying this game now.

 

[antipunt]

LOL, yeah, I'm glad this game didn't shove the 'moralist message' down our throats.

Spoiler

Even when your mother comes back, she concludes that sometimes you need evil to wipe out the greater-evil

 

[gibboss28]

I downloaded the demo for this a little whil ago, and was very intruiged. But I'm slightly confused. In the demo, both the camera an the controls worked a treat - not in any particularly amazing way, mind you, but enough that I didn't notice any problem. Is the demo just misleading, or is the Ps3 version better in that respect?

The demo is just misleading. In the demo you aren't really doing that many things that rely too much on the camera, the full game however is a different story.

 

[Spudgun Man]

Not quite right on the minion leveling, it depends on their equipment and amount of armour. The higher you upgrade your Brown Barracks the more armour and a quick trip to conquered nordberg will get you a load of fully tooled up lvl 9 minions. And that is from new borns.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Not quite right on the minion leveling, it depends on their equipment and amount of armour. The higher you upgrade your Brown Barracks the more armour and a quick trip to conquered nordberg will get you a load of fully tooled up lvl 9 minions. And that is from new borns.

Well, the longer they fight for you, the more armor, etc., they're likely to acquire, but the way I said it made it sound more like XP, which isn't the case. Thanks for helping to clarify that.

 

[FinalHeart95]

I just bought this game about 20 minutes ago. Unfortunately, I didn't get to start it yet because my brother just HAS to play Harvest Moon. Anyway, the demo was fun, although the camera was a pain sometimes, and since it wasn't that far into the game it was mainly button-mashing. I'm sure when I get more kinds of minions and more magical powers, it will be MUCH more fun.

This game makes me think of a diabolical version of Pikmin though.

 

[dungeonmaster]

Im evil. And I love Susan Arendt. I may have to try this game. But you say the camera is really bad Susan? Im fairly impatient, I tend to break controllers if it is to frustrating.