Overlord 2 - PS3, 360, PC

Over the last few years there have been a lot of games that have encouraged players to choose their own direction on a moral compass. Most recently, Fable 2 forced people to make a choice between good versus evil and pure versus corrupt. In Overlord, though, the choice was more fine-tuned. You could be evil...or you could be really evil. That fine tradition continues in Overlord 2, the follow-up to that cult hit from 2007.

In Overlord 2, you'll actually be playing as the descendant of the "hero" from the first game. Having been smuggled into hiding to avoid the previous Overlord's wrath, you're actually raised by minions to become a brand new force of evil in the world. Speaking of evil, while the first game had some pretty devious moments (slaughtering sheep, hobbits and elves by the truckload), the developers felt that the evil could've been more pronounced. This time around you'll still be making choices to determine how you complete each quest, but the choice is now between domination and annihilation.

The example given is when you'll have to determine the fate of a town. You can either enslave the lot of the inhabitants, or blow the place to smithereens. What you choose will determine how your powers will progress throughout the game. But it's not just you on this evil journey, you've also got your minions along for the ride. It's still the same four types of minions from the first game (brown, green, blue and red), but all of the minions have been enhanced for maximum evil. They can now ride mounts, like wolves and spiders, to deal extra damage and access hard-to-reach spots. You're also likely to become more attached to your minions this time around, as you can now name them and have them wear silly costumes from your adventures. Named minions can still die, but you'll be able to resurrect them in your home castle if the pain is just too great.

Overlord 2 is definitely more of an evolutionary step for the series, keeping the basics pretty much the same while adding in new features and more sheep torture. The game is scheduled to release this summer on the PS3, 360 and PC. PETA members need not apply.

Yet another game that sits on the huge pile of “sleeper hits” or “critical faves” – a dusty mound of neglected titles that sadly gets larger every year - has been lucky enough to be published by a publisher run by a sane person who knows that hidden gem deserves another chance in the limelight. This time we’re talking about Overlord II, the sequel to 2007’s fun and intriguing (and flawed) Overlord, which made it fun to be bad again.

Overlord was a decent game with at least one super awesome function that was sadly overlooked by the video game community at large. Before you warm up your pirated copy of MS Office and dash me off a screed explaining what a faithful member of the Overlord community you’ve stayed all these years, cool it. I believe you. Overlord is a game worthy of your obsessive praise, and the sequel in the works is the answer to your evil, black, prayers.

Previously, when asked to explain the uniquely weird Overlord to people, I usually resorted to an over-simplified mash-up of the two games it reminded me of: Fable and Pikmin. Fable because of its setting; a vaguely Disneyfied version of a Tolkien-esque fantasy world with a wickedly dark twist to it. But instead of following Fable’s example and being all about a character that reflects your particular moral compass, Overlord was about being evil… or more evil.

The Pikmin side of the comparison came from the feature that made Overlord really different: the ability to control an army of slobbering, demonic minions. Conceptually it’s a great idea – a dark lord having control over a small army of demons that do his most disgusting bidding. But the easy way it controlled in-game – much like the way your controlled your creatures in Pikmin - made it more than just a neat power your character wielded.

In this sequel Overlord II, you’ll not just have more minions at your disposal, your scampering demons have become a bit smarter, and have new tricks up their leathery sleeves that they cant wait to show you. After all, they love you – the dark master – more than anyone. And who are you to dismiss a bunch of living gargoyles that obviously love you?

The basic gameplay concept from the first game, that different minions did different things and that using them wisely could get you past any puzzle or obstacle, has not changed. Browns, Reds, Greens and Blues all do the same things they always did. Just now they can do a few more things that make them even more useful.

Your minions will give you plenty of eye candy to enjoy, capturing newer and weirder costumes from the enemies they slay, and showing off brand new comedic animations that should put the drunk and urinating minions from the first game to shame. But one thing you’ll notice they do on their own is find mounts. Minions will now ride beasts like wolves and larger creatures, making them more powerful and even more useful in a battle.

Updates to the minions system is exactly what any fan would anticipate and probably expect, but Overlord II adds more to the experience than just some upgrades to it’s best gameplay function. There’s a lot of story to play with still.

We got a dose of the story when we saw the game running in person recently at a Codemasters event here in San Francisco. The promise so far points to more clever retelling of the fantasy myth, with a bent towards the villainous side of that tried and true genre. Focusing on being the bad guy not only parodies the hero myths of yore, but also modern video game series too. Fable immediately comes to mind, but despite their physical resemblance, Overlord II seems as much of a satire of that as it is anything Tolkien wrote.

The unmitigated fun that was the original Overlord is reason enough to get us interested in this sequel. But whether this game just cements the series fate as a lost classic or finally acts as the break through to wider acceptance, we’re still excited to see the game in full, and will be anticipating the game’s final release this Summer.

Overlord caught gamers by surprise. A title many initially discounted, the action/strategy title managed to get many hooked with its blend of challenging puzzles and humor. Codemasters is back with Overlord II, coming to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 later this year.

We spoke with Creative Director Lennart Sas to get the full details on how developer Triumph Studios plans to improve on the original.

IGN: How is development on Overlord II progressing? What stage of the process are you at right now?

Lennart Sas: Overlord II has just reached the stage were we can play through the entire game for the first time. This is the time when we take a step back too take a look at what we have created and invite testers and decide what we edit to provide the best experience.

IGN: While playing Overlord, I found using a mouse and keyboard preferable to the Xbox 360 controller for directing the minions. What specifically has been changed with the control setup to ease the process?

Lennart Sas: The beauty of Overlord was that you could do quite complex things relatively easily. In Overlord II, we have smoothed out the controls for the camera, Overlord and minions while adding a lot more abilities to the minions and the Overlord, and escalating the scale of the battles.

To address your gripe (shared by other gamers) the console controllers now have the camera under the Right Thumb Stick, with minion sweeping started by pushing the stick forward. This makes it a lot easier to look around and aim.

We have also addressed navigation issues, with in-game maps and better sign posting and quest updates. This was something that came up time and time again in the feedback from the community.

IGN: What sorts of cool new minions can we expect to control in Overlord II?

Lennart Sas: Overlord is all about the minions but, rather than adding more base minion types (which would make controls more difficult and blur the lines between the minions), all the Overlord's four minion types are back, with new combat and special abilities and AI behaviours. The Brown Warrior, the Red Fire-throwing Imp, the Green Stealth Assassin and the Enigmatic Blue Priest -- they're all stronger, smarter, more destructive and funnier than before.

IGN: What new addition for the sequel do you think fans of the original will be most excited about?

Lennart Sas: We hope fans of the original will love the way the minions have evolved and love all the new actions they can perform. All the minions have had their abilities adapted to new challenges the game brings. Minions are now able to do things such as riding mounts, which in turn all have unique abilities -- wolves can jump and charge into enemy formations, Spiders can walk vertical walls to ambush enemies. Minions have many new ways to interact with the environment. They work together and can operate massive war machines and ships under the Overlord's command. It's great to go catapult "bowling" and score a full strike against an enemy formation that is marching.

The new abilities also ramp up the humor. For instance, the disguise ability introduces a new tactical element, but also adds humor -- it's just wonderfully comical to see Minions dressing up in armour that doesn't really suit or fit them and generally arse about amongst the Empire legionaries. However, they will be able to fool enemies and act a little stealthier than the not-so-subtle amassed hordes of malevolent minions can normally be so it opens up new routes and puzzles in the game.

IGN: What new feature in Overlord II are you most proud of?

Lennart Sas: One of the key goals for the sequel was to make Overlord II more epic; this means bigger battles against organised enemy legions and war machines. The Tower from the original game has been replaced by a massive Hades-like Netherworld. Through a varied landscape ranging from the icy domain of Nordberg, to the Beaches of Everlight, the Mysterious Magic Sanctuaries and the Grim Wasteland (Ground Zero, where the Old Overlord's Tower detonated), the player will be taken to the Heartland of the Glorious Empire, where he'll unleash death and destruction on magnificent cities filled with palaces and temples.

IGN: What did you learn from the process of making Overlord that you have been able to apply to the sequel to make it more successful?

Lennart Sas: We listen carefully to the feedback from the gamers and critics. We got feedback that the game was not evil enough and that the choices seemed to be between good and evil. In Overlord II we included "Tyranny" choices that are between Domination and Destruction – cold-hearted enslavement versus demonic destruction. These choices have an affect on how your spells will function. For example, if you become a dominating Tyrant, your spells will become better at subjecting the population to your evil will. Controlling a town gives more benefits spread out over time, while destroying a town gives instant evil gratification -- the souls of the slain population and looted treasure from their destroyed houses are for the taking.

IGN: What is the approach to multiplayer modes for this sequel?

Lennart Sas: Multiplayer will be back with split-screen and a load of new multiplayer game modes, which we're keeping under wraps for the moment (except the name of one mode we're working on called "Dominate").

IGN: Any chance we'll see a demo hit Xbox Live before the game releases?

Lennart Sas: Yes, a demo's in the plan. Specific content is to be announced but it'll be a great introduction to the ways of demonic and destructive evilness (with plenty of laughs along the way, of course).

Sometimes video games let us do things that we would never normally experience. They let us fly, travel through time, and meet interesting people in distant foreign lands. Sometimes, video games are simply there to help us make our dreams come true… And sometimes video games are there to let us do some really messed up things. Like clubbing seals to death, and murdering pandas.

Yes indeed, Overlord 2 lets you commit one of the biggest of all ethical no-noes, opening a can of whoop-ass on two of the world's most popular endangered species. Whatever will they think of next? A veal-rearing mini-game, perhaps - or a quicktime sequence in which you skin a whale while eating endangered salmon? Still, we shouldn't be so surprised to find such wanton evil. You are the Overlord, after all - you're supposed to be a complete bastard.
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Indeed, one of Tom's criticisms of the original Overlord was the general lack of evil deeds to perpetrate. The concept, if you remember, is that you play a villainous tyrant who's hell-bent on dominating the fantasy world he inhabits. While the Overlord himself can run about and attack people, the real twist is that he (and therefore you) has an army of imp-like Minions who will run about and do his bidding. The Minions come in different colours and have different specialities: brown Minions are good at standard fighting, the red ones can throw fireballs, and so forth. In the first game you got up to quite a bit of looting, pillaging and killing, but Tom was a little put out by the frequency with which you actually came to people's aid.

With any luck, the nefarious Mister Orry should be a bit happier with Overlord 2. This time, in addition to the aforementioned slaughter of pandas and cute-faced snow seals, you'll also get new options when it comes to villainous behaviour. After conquering a town you'll be presented with the choice to "destroy" or "dominate". In the first case, you simply trash the place and (presumably) kill everyone, resulting in a one-off gain of lots of life force - the currency you need for summoning more minions. Alternatively, you might choose "dominate" - enslaving the entire community, and providing you with a slow-but-steady supply of life force. Either way, it's quids in for you and endless misery for the local townspeople. Joy and joynesss!

Your main opposition in Overlord 2 will now be the Glorious Empire - a bunch of arrogant posers loosely based upon the Ancient Romans. The idea is that after the events of the first game, the former Overlord was thrown into an abyss. However, before he met with this fate, he managed to spawn an evil offspring - the Overlad. This strangely adorable little fellow was sent off to live in the snow-covered town of Nordberg, which is where we find him at the start of the game. At the beginning of the adventure you're little more than a malevolent runt, but it isn't long before you're rescued by your Minions - setting you on a path for violent and terrible revenge. The game's plot will heavily involve the Empire's plans to destroy all magical creatures, but Codemasters assures us that the Overlord is only interested in furthering his own power, rather than helping anyone out. Let's hope so, because being a Goody two-shoes is certainly not what the Doctor ordered!

The chaotic core gameplay remains largely the same, with you controlling Mr Lord on the left stick and your loyal hoard on the right - a sort of demonic variant of Pikmin. The most important change is that your Minions are now a lot smarter than they were before. Summon a large group of the little buggers and they'll automatically arrange themselves into a suitable formation, with the melee-types at the front and the ranged attackers at the back. Minions will also stop short of cliffs and other hazards, although you're still more than free to send them over the edge if you so desire. And indeed you should, every once in a while - you're an evil despot after all.

The Minions have also learned a few new tricks. If you bring a certain coloured imp into contact with a specific animal, they'll clamber aboard and use them as a mount. Brown Minions get to ride wolves, the reds get fire-breathing salamanders and the sneaky greens get giant spiders. Magical blue Minions may also be getting mounts, but Codemasters are remaining tight-lipped on this for the time being. In addition to their new jockey skills, your wretched servants can now also commandeer siege weapons. One level I was shown involved sneaking into an Empire Fort and getting the boys to seize an enormous catapult that was then used to smash thorough a wall blocking the Overlord's progress. Needless to say, it was also used to crush quite a large number of hapless guards, too.

It seems that sneaking about will have an increased role in Overlord 2 - and this time it won't just be your green Minions who get to have all the fun. Special Possession Obelisk allow you to temporarily leave your despotic body and to enter one of your tiny servants: By sending your gang running around the needle, your Minions will start to perform a sinister ritual that causes the sky to turn dark. With a crackle of power, you'll assume control of the unfortunate goblin - who'll often shout "Enter me!" or "Be gentle!", or something equally suspect. Once inside (ahem), you'll be able to lead your gang as one of them, forcing your way through tight tunnels and holes (ahem!) that might have otherwise been closed off.

Unfortunately, your Empire opponents have also been blessed with a few interesting abilities. The Glorious Empire is all about order and control, and this is reflected in the arrangement of their rank and file warriors. Standard soldiers form into tight rank-and-file regiments, much in the manner of the Roman legionaries in Asterix. Take a bash at such a group, and you'll notice that the entire unit has a collective health count, making it a fairly tough proposition. However, if you manage to scare the group - perhaps by killing a commanding centurion - they'll panic and split up, allowing you to easily take them down. United they stand, divided they fall.

If you hadn't already worked it out, there's a bit of thematic opposition at work here - the Empire's organised bureaucracy contrasting with the rampant chaos of your infernal gang. The game's plot is once again being handled by Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of the slightly-more-famous Terry. She'll be contributing much to the game's prevalent sense of humour, and apparently quite a lot of the Overlord vs Empire jokes will reflect modern-day events and issues. I'm already pleased with the portrayal of elves as a bunch of limp-wristed hippies; I've never been a fan of those pointy-gits… which is perhaps a tad ironic, as I'm somewhat of a limp-wristed hippy myself.

In any case, it's certainly good to see that Overlord 2 has retained a strong sense of humour - one of the best elements of the original game. Controlling your enormous gang of Minions is also as much fun as it was last time around, and thanks to the improved AI it should be a lot less frustrating too. It's looking quite nice too: the Yeti who graces one of the early snow-bound stages was pleasingly hairy, and the seals with big black eyes were suitably lovable… or at least they were until my Minions beat them to death.

Oh well. Overlord 2 isn't out until the summer, so there should be plenty of time to think of a suitable excuse for such brutality.

Codemasters has clarified to Eurogamer that all new Overlord games will be released on 26th June.

That includes Overlord II on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, as well as Overlord: Dark Legend on Wii and Overlord: Minions on DS.

Destruction and mayhem were what the original Overlord was all about, and that trend continues in Overlord II, in which you start off as a little tyke known as the Overlad--eager and ready to conquer the world. We saw the game several months ago at Codemasters' press event, but this time a representative from Triumph Studios stopped by our offices to give us a more detailed look at our budding evil villain.

The story is set after the original game, and you play as the heir to the previous Overlord. The first level is the tutorial level, set in a snowy village where you can get a feel for what you can do. At this point, your wickedness is limited to destroying snowmen and firing off rockets, but you'll eventually meet the minions, loyal servants whom you direct with simple button commands. With your new brainless recruits in tow, you'll steal clothes from other children to disguise the ugly gremlins and then sneak them into the village party. However, you aren't going to be the only one looking for trouble. There's a new empire growing and spreading across the land, banishing everything that is evil and all things magical. Since that encompasses you, you must learn how to manage your minions and avoid getting caught.

The minions are smarter this time around, and they can help you manage heavy machinery, like catapults. Depending on color of the minions, they'll jump on mounts (like wolves or spiders) so they can access areas that are otherwise unreachable by foot. A minimap is shown at the bottom of the screen to direct you to your next quest, making exploration a bit easier, and the camera can now be controlled with the right analog stick. The stick isn't solely dedicated to the camera, however, because you can swing the camera left and right and force your minions to charge forward by pushing up on the analog stick. Seal clubbing was demonstrated the last time we saw the game, so we decided to skip the destruction of cute animals by jumping into a land of fairies, complete with environmentalist elves speaking in a Californian accent. This magical place is separate from the human world, as the fairies have decided to live peacefully and harmoniously with other magical creatures. This clearly doesn't sit very well with you as the evil Overlord; plus, there are riches and gems to be discovered. In this fairyland, we were able to see a new feature that lets you possess the body of a minion. By doing this, you can sneak into areas undetected and break down barriers so that you can easily barge through once you've returned to your own body.

The fairy world was incredibly beautiful and majestic, filled with blooming dandelions that you can trample on and watch as the white bits of fluff float away. Your single-track minded creatures are easily distracted by busty fairies, so you'll have to keep an eye out to make sure they don't wander off in a trance. Dangerous plants litter the pathways, where you might see some poor empire soldier about to be digested, but it's not exactly your problem now, is it?

Our guided tour led us to the Netherworld, the new hub for the Overlord that is much larger than the tower in the previous game. Your minions have built a tower from a stalactite dangling from the ceiling, so technically your tower is upside down. As you go out on your travels, you can bring back items to make your abode more homey, not just for yourself, but for your mistresses as well. You can have up to three lady friends, so it's up to you whether or not you want to be a one-woman sort of Overlord. Other than visiting your female companion(s), you can return home to forge new weapons and armor for easier plundering. Minions that you've grown fond of and lost can also be resurrected here.

The final stop was a quick look at the Empire Heartlands, full of rolling hills and sun-bleached Tuscany fields but overrun by zealous soldiers and human slaves. You can free the slaves and subdue them so that they work for you instead. Like minions, they can perform some basic functions, like attacking enemies and picking up items for you. Our tour ended here, but from what we've seen, there's plenty of havoc and chaos to be a part of, and it only gets better when you're the one causing it.

Fans of the previous game will find that there's a lot to look forward to in the sequel. Let chaos reign when Overlord II is released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on June 23.