XBOX 360
What do you get when you take all the game play elements of Pikmin, throw them in a “dark” fantasy setting that adds a degree of choice, and a tad more accessibility, and you get Over Lord.
Over Lord Starts off with you getting discovered by your followers after a devastating fall, and being buried under the shattered remains of your once magnificent tower.
You are immediately treated to a tutorial showing you how to use your over lord powers.
As well as summoning your first bunch of brown minions.
Minions are the core of Over-Lord, in the sense that you won’t be fighting or picking up objects, but your minions of whom you control, which come in many varieties.
Minions aren’t too smart, but they aren’t too dumb either, you’ll find this to be the sweet spot for controlling groups AI that act as a single unit. They will sometimes get lost, or go after another target rather then the one designated, it’s an annoyance, but nothing to bad.
Controlling Minions isn’t tough work, unlike Pikmin when you gave a designated route, planned it out, and then asked your Pikmin to execute it; Over Lord does this quite simpler.
They require not much direction; nearly press the “X” button in the general direction of where you wish your renegade to operate, then bam, they….attack…or Pillage…
Of course the way they designed this brings frustration, but only in really tight spots that require precise minion related strategies.
What do you get when you take all the game play elements of Pikmin, throw them in a “dark” fantasy setting that adds a degree of choice, and a tad more accessibility, and you get Over Lord.
Over Lord Starts off with you getting discovered by your followers after a devastating fall, and being buried under the shattered remains of your once magnificent tower.
You are immediately treated to a tutorial showing you how to use your over lord powers.
As well as summoning your first bunch of brown minions.
Minions are the core of Over-Lord, in the sense that you won’t be fighting or picking up objects, but your minions of whom you control, which come in many varieties.
Minions aren’t too smart, but they aren’t too dumb either, you’ll find this to be the sweet spot for controlling groups AI that act as a single unit. They will sometimes get lost, or go after another target rather then the one designated, it’s an annoyance, but nothing to bad.
Controlling Minions isn’t tough work, unlike Pikmin when you gave a designated route, planned it out, and then asked your Pikmin to execute it; Over Lord does this quite simpler.
They require not much direction; nearly press the “X” button in the general direction of where you wish your renegade to operate, then bam, they….attack…or Pillage…
Of course the way they designed this brings frustration, but only in really tight spots that require precise minion related strategies.
Minions are generally weak (except for the browns, of course.) This will not present much of a problem early in the game, but later, you're reminded just how vulnerable these creatures really are. This doesn’t bring too much difficulty to the table, seeing how you’ll be summoning minions left and right.
But summoning minions comes at a price; you need precious life-force, which you obtain by killing creatures of a similar elemental type. For example, you kill a normal ol’ Drawf, you get a Brown Minion life crystal (good for 1 Brown Minion), but if said Drawf had a flame thrower tied to its back, then you’d get a Red Minion Life Crystal; and so on.
The minions are indeed labeled by there color, that name has nothing to say about the powers said minions possess.
For instance, Brown Minions are well, brown, the first minion you lead in Over Lord.
The toughest of the bunch, the brown minions are brutes, tanks, and the type of minion that will most likely be dominating your horde.
You next get your tyrannical hands on your ranged friends, the red minions, you could probably piece this together on your own…but the red minions specialize in fire, they shoot fire balls from a distance.
Fire hurts your enemies more than any type of attack, however, Red Minions must stay a good distance away from their target, a few hits and these powerful fire arches fall.
But summoning minions comes at a price; you need precious life-force, which you obtain by killing creatures of a similar elemental type. For example, you kill a normal ol’ Drawf, you get a Brown Minion life crystal (good for 1 Brown Minion), but if said Drawf had a flame thrower tied to its back, then you’d get a Red Minion Life Crystal; and so on.
The minions are indeed labeled by there color, that name has nothing to say about the powers said minions possess.
For instance, Brown Minions are well, brown, the first minion you lead in Over Lord.
The toughest of the bunch, the brown minions are brutes, tanks, and the type of minion that will most likely be dominating your horde.
You next get your tyrannical hands on your ranged friends, the red minions, you could probably piece this together on your own…but the red minions specialize in fire, they shoot fire balls from a distance.
Fire hurts your enemies more than any type of attack, however, Red Minions must stay a good distance away from their target, a few hits and these powerful fire arches fall.
That being said, their skin can absorb fire, not only allowing you to access areas that were previously blocked by, well, fire; but there pretty much resistant to all fire based attacks.
Journeying into the bowels of the mysterious, once prospering, Elfien Forest, you are exposed to an entirely new threat, Nature.
Toxic Fumes, hazardous environments, and poisonous plants, all terrible threats that can be only overcome by Green Minions; aside from natural immunities, these Green Minions have there own “special” type of element, surprise.
Their main feature is stealth, creeping up behind an enemy before they are aware of your presence, and sending a horde of Green Minions at them will easily remove the threat. However, this ‘stealth aspect’ is rarely used, unless your willing to run the risk of agro and getting your Green Minions killed. In a pack, they’ll survive, a few will die against an enemy or two, but it’s nothing big. Having only 5 or 6 against 2 -3 enemies, is quite dangerous.
Green Minions are great at disposing of an isolated threat quick and painlessly, but with Brown minions you can summon a horde and send them in to fight 6 or 7 enemies no worries, which really renders the Green Minions quite ineffective.
Last and most certainly least, the Blue Minions, they can go across water, unlike other minions they can’t drown. They are also blessed with the ability to resurrect fallen team mates. However, Blue Minions cannot fight, at all, they WILL die. They are the weakest of the weak, you shouldn’t even bother throwing them out to save fallen minions, and they’ll just die in the process. Blue minions provide a very small layer of protection and defense when traveling across watery terrain, however, most of the time you feel like your protecting and defending them.
Journeying into the bowels of the mysterious, once prospering, Elfien Forest, you are exposed to an entirely new threat, Nature.
Toxic Fumes, hazardous environments, and poisonous plants, all terrible threats that can be only overcome by Green Minions; aside from natural immunities, these Green Minions have there own “special” type of element, surprise.
Their main feature is stealth, creeping up behind an enemy before they are aware of your presence, and sending a horde of Green Minions at them will easily remove the threat. However, this ‘stealth aspect’ is rarely used, unless your willing to run the risk of agro and getting your Green Minions killed. In a pack, they’ll survive, a few will die against an enemy or two, but it’s nothing big. Having only 5 or 6 against 2 -3 enemies, is quite dangerous.
Green Minions are great at disposing of an isolated threat quick and painlessly, but with Brown minions you can summon a horde and send them in to fight 6 or 7 enemies no worries, which really renders the Green Minions quite ineffective.
Last and most certainly least, the Blue Minions, they can go across water, unlike other minions they can’t drown. They are also blessed with the ability to resurrect fallen team mates. However, Blue Minions cannot fight, at all, they WILL die. They are the weakest of the weak, you shouldn’t even bother throwing them out to save fallen minions, and they’ll just die in the process. Blue minions provide a very small layer of protection and defense when traveling across watery terrain, however, most of the time you feel like your protecting and defending them.
Yeah, everyone hates blues. Their weakness aside, they ARE the only minions able to fight magical creatures, and their pretty good at it too.
Later in the game, you’re given a choice to upgrade two types of these minions; Red or Green, or Brown and Blue.
Now this isn’t the only choice you have to make in Over Lord. The game is about being kind of a shady dude who has stepped on a few toes to get where he is, OR, A brutal tyrannical dictator who, indeed, is the scum of the earth.
Choices are lieanir, and they don’t change the game all that much. You can choose to kill people, slaughter people, pillage people, as well as other choices like burning down a holy…garden…place.
And sometimes you are rewarded for your evilness, for instance (and perhaps the only instance) if you pillage and slaughter like a good over-lord, you might get the opportunity to capture salves, in skimpy outfits…
This would be awesome, if the slaves did something other than clutter up your throne room.
Later in the game, you’re given a choice to upgrade two types of these minions; Red or Green, or Brown and Blue.
Now this isn’t the only choice you have to make in Over Lord. The game is about being kind of a shady dude who has stepped on a few toes to get where he is, OR, A brutal tyrannical dictator who, indeed, is the scum of the earth.
Choices are lieanir, and they don’t change the game all that much. You can choose to kill people, slaughter people, pillage people, as well as other choices like burning down a holy…garden…place.
And sometimes you are rewarded for your evilness, for instance (and perhaps the only instance) if you pillage and slaughter like a good over-lord, you might get the opportunity to capture salves, in skimpy outfits…
This would be awesome, if the slaves did something other than clutter up your throne room.
Sad thing is, I've always wanted a slave.
You can earn the title of “Suppresser of Man Kind” etc. But these titles mean nothing, they don’t change the game, the only village of which you can truly suppress is spree.
Sure you become a god of some mumbling cult, but like I said, this changes the game in no way.
There’s a very small reward for being evil, but being good offers even less. Having a clean consciousness offers no reward.
You never feel evil enough, you never feel like your impact on the world around you is that great. This is truly where the game falls flat on its face, especially when it’s marketing on the whole “evil or really evil” gimmick.
Corruption is what they call it, you either gain it, or lose it, depends on your actions.
In the end, choice is fun, but it doesn’t change the fact that it could’ve been done so much better, it’s not even funny.
I can’t complain far too much, most games don’t even offer choice, but the developers could’ve taken this a bit more seriously.
Then again, this game doesn’t know the meaning of serious, down to the quirky attitudes; this game does nail what it was going for perfectly, humor and atmospheric wise.
And even though the story doesn’t flesh it self out until the very very end, it’s still there, with a massive plot twist.
With Over Lord what you see is what you get, layered under the superb game play of Pikmin, is a quirky action RPG, and silly story.
You can fight for yourself, unlike Pikmin, you’re given this option, incorporating an Action RPG element, giving you the (surprisingly robust) system of Forging items, increasing HP and MP, and basically making yourself the biggest badass Over-Lord who ever reigned supreme over the lands.
…However, without your minions…You’re screwed. It’s not smart to fight alone.
I’m going to quote Zelda here and say “It’s dangerous to go alone.” Now if we modify the quote, it might fit Over Lord a tad better.
“It’s Suicidal to go alone.” Yes, that works quite well.
There IS a multiplayer and co-op mode, but it seems under developed, with only 4 maps (?) and a Slaughter and Pillage mode that are, well, identical to say the least.
Not to say the Multiplayer isn’t fun, you could be spending hours besting your score in the only Co-Op mode survival. This, for me, was the pinnacle of Over Lords Multiplayer.
Wrapping this up, Over Lord is a game that brings strong RTS game play, with Action RPG elements the likes of which resemble Fable, but falls short on the Evil Experience, and severely lacking Multiplayer.
I can safely recommend Over Lord as a purchase for the XBOX 360 and the PC game console.
P.S.
I’m very sorry for the late late late review; I finished Over-Lord a while ago! I even started on the Review, just busyness kept me from publishing my post.
Look foreword to my Reviews of Ninja Gadien for the PS3 and Vampire Rain for the XBOX 360.
Cheers,
Miku.
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