Overlord
Preview
Action adventuring with a twist
by William Thompson
previewed on PC
”Is that a pumpkin in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me”? (cntd.)
Something else that gives atmosphere to the game is the sound, and in particular, the music. At times the music reflects the dark, evil undertones, whilst a more lively, light-hearted tone of music can be heard when the Overlord walks through the lovely, sheep-filled meadows.
The game’s sound effects are also quite good. The clang of swords, the sound of gold pouring into your coffers, the sound of enemies dying are all done well. Also done well, are the character voice effects. Evil characters have a devilishly sound voice (think “Gremlins”), whilst the human NPC’s seem to each have a different accent, even though they all seem to be speaking in an olde-English tone.
?Remember, Sire, never trust anything that’s head-height with your groin?
The gameplay in Overlord is decent enough. The game seems fairly linear in the early stages, but having said that, there are different paths that the Overlord can take as the game progresses, and this enables more choice for the gamer. The puzzles themselves are not too demanding, mostly being how to open a door or gate, or how to get an object back to the Dark Tower. The use of the spawn pits and Dark Tower ?portals? are also a nice touch that make the game flow a bit smoother.
The keyboard and mouse controls, although simple enough, take a little bit of getting used to in the game’s current state and could possibly use a little refining prior to release. The battle controls are particularly confusing, because at times you almost need three hands; one for moving your Overlord character, one for attacking moves and one for minion control.
There are some good points to the control system though. The use of the “sweeping minions” command, although hard to master, is a neat feature. This enables the Overlord to direct where he wants his minions to go. This is especially useful where there is a point that is impassable for the Overlord himself.
Think Evil, Breed Evil, Control All
From what we’ve seen of the game so far, it definitely has some great points. The off-beat humour, the funny quotes (such as those that are used as paragraph headers), the reverse-Lord of the Rings story, the audio and the use of the “sweeping” function are all good. The control system (especially with the camera control) could use a bit of tweaking prior to release, and the graphics, whilst decent, may not be up to the standards of other games on the market. And in saying that, Overlord is definitely in a tough category, with games such as Oblivion, the Tomb Raider Anniversary edition and even the Lord of the Rings Online likely to have a similar target audience. Whether Overlord can match it with them, remains to be seen. Overlord is scheduled for release in June on PC and Xbox360.
