Overlord II (2009)

Overlord II is perfection. I really loved the first game, its expansion and everything about it and thought that it could not get any better than that. Boy, was I wrong when Overlord II hit the shelf. This is one of the few games in which I actually played a demo to experience the game and simply could not wait until it was released.

Overlord II starts with a fresh story. The previous Overlord has become the master of hell in the expansion of the first game, Overlord: Raising Hell, and so, he releases his command of the Minions and his tower, and a new Overlord needed to be found. Gnarl, the old and wise Minion that served many generations of Overlords, eventually finds a small boy in a snow-covered village, deep in the mountains. This boy is destined to become the next Overlord. You start off as the kid that Gnarl found, trying to take revenge on the kids that bully you. Eventually, the Minions come to your aid, and you rush trough the town, spreading chaos among the townsfolk.

Eventually, the Roman army is coming to the town because their sentinels detected magical beings in the area (you). You get thrown out of the town, before the feet of the Centurion and thus, are betrayed and banished from your hometown. You escape from the Romans in an epic opening chase and take refuge in your underground Overlord lair. Here, you grow up to become the badass adult Overlord we know and love, and now, it is time for revenge on your hometown and the surrounding lands. You must establish dominance once again over the different parts of the world and in the end, wreck the Roman Empire and their legions. An epic quest begins trough many different environments, characters and events, starting with the massacre on the peasants that threw you out many years ago.

The game follows the same principle, mechanics and power up system as the first game. You command your legion of Minions, which consists of the brown warriors, the red archers, the green assassins and the blue healers. Like the first game, you first must find the other types of Minions and secure their hives in your base. You collect life force from killing enemies and animals, which can be used to create more Minions from the pits. Minions can also ride various pets now that they can find, including wolves, spiders and fire salamanders. In Overlord II, your decisions again determine the outcome of the game. You make various choices throughout the game, suppress rebellions and can choose what the fate of the rebels will be. Forgiveness or eternal damnation, the choice is yours.

You find multiple health, mana and horde size upgrades throughout your adventure, making you stronger and tougher. Throughout the lands, you find gold and chests of valuables to fund the many upgrades you can buy for yourself and your Minions. You also find crystals and dark crystals throughout the lands, which are needed for the best upgrades available.

Although you could use magic in the first Overlord games as well, mostly in the form of fireballs and lightning bolts, now you have the ability to enslave people or simply kill them with your mind controlling lightening spell. It is a cool new mechanic in which you can create an army of mindless slaves, besides your regular army of Minions. You also get some mistresses that you find in the various regions who all offer your Minions a nice bonus when they are your main lady.

The graphics are nice to look at but have a flaw that broken objects and building slowly disappear in pixels before your eyes. This feels a little like the objects are not solid and real. It is a little hard to explain. Other than that, the animations are improved and run a little smoother than its predecessor.

Music and sound wise, big improvements have been made. Blows, crashes, and explosions sound much more solid now and the added battle tracks are sweet. They enhance the feeling, especially when you lay siege against the pesky villages.

There are a lot of new environments, puzzles, and enemies. Mostly, you fight wildlife, elves, and the Roman Empire. Although not many enemies have a specific strategy to beat and can be taken down in each manner you like, there is one specific enemy that I really, really disliked and I thought was way too overpowered: The Eradicator. This is a big roman brute with a vacuum cleaner that destroys every Minion instantly when attacking. You hear *suck suck suck* and everything is dead. I hated this motherf… so badly. The way to deal with him is by using the green assassin Minions and stab him a million times in the back. Otherwise, he is almost invincible. The sudden spike in difficulty with this guy was a little frustrating to say the least.

The good news, and one of the best improvements this game has to offer, is the resurrection system in the game. You can now resurrect your favorite, level 14 brown Minion, who had the finest weapons and armor, was though as bricks but just got casually murdered by an Eradicator. You need to pay life force to resurrect them but offering ten life force of inexperienced Minions for one machine of death was worth it without a doubt. It is a welcome feature.

The humor in Overlord II is even better than the first games. The vile jokes, the sarcasm, the cut scenes, the many more silly things that Minions put on their heads, it is hilarious.

I also loved the trip back to the old tower of the previous Overlord and collect all the parts of the tower heart, the most powerful object in the game back then.

In conclusion, this is one of the better games that I have played in my life, and I loved every second of it.

Definitely recommend this masterpiece to everyone.