Name: Overlord
Genre: Strategy/Action
Platform: Xbox 360, PC (Reviewed on Xbox 360)

I freaking loved Pikmin. The controls and gameplay blew me away as being an interesting hybrid of the cool features of Real Time Strategies and Action games. This euphoric and whimsical gameplay carries over to Codemaster’s Overlord.

Overlord is a much darker look at the genre. You play as the title character who is awaken to replace the previous lord of darkness and restore your evil citadel. Your character controls hordes of Minions who will do your bidding no matter how suicidal your orders may be. You say jump- they get drunk and pee on the ground. They will fight, carry, push, or destroy anything that their master desires. Just like in Pikmin, random pieces of equipment are scattered throughout the world that need to be collected.

Speaking of the world…what a world it is. The land in Overlord is a blatant copy of Lord of the Rings Middle Earth. There are Halflings, Elves, and other mythical creatures romping around the world. However, unlike in LotR, the Hobbits are overtly evil creatures. One great thing about Overlord is the world it takes place in. It is wonderful looking, some areas look right out of a fantasy novel, but it is also twisted. The evil creatures have exaggerated features but also realistic ones. The game blends them together in a nice way and does a good job of creating a place where players will not grow bored.

But your character is far from the star of this endeavor. On the contrary, his foul smelling, stupid, barely competent minions are the real leads of this game. They run from place to place following any commands you ask of them. Just like in Pikmin there are several different types of Minions who have different abilities. Some fight better, some can absorb fire, and some can swim. As you progress through the game you unlock more types of Minions to do your evil bidding.

The fact that you can make choices for yourself is another thing that sets this game apart. After killing the guards of the human prison, why not kill the prisoners too and harvest their life force? Committing acts of unspeakable evil is what being the Overlord is about – and they don’t hinder the games progression at all. On the contrary, you unlock more quests for being evil then you do for being good. Eat your heart out, heroes.

Overlord also has some fun multiplayer modes that are worth checking out. Nothing that will make you shy away from the fun, quest based single player game for too long, but good fun nevertheless. This game is a fun addition to any Xbox 360 lineup and I believe this sleeper title is definitely worth a purchase.