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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Action Developer: Triumph Studios Publisher: Codemasters |
At some point someone must have gotten bored with playing the hero all of the time and decided it was time to take on the role of the
evil hero instead. This of course is a great idea because some people prefer to be bad instead of being good, but many players would
probably hope for the bad guy to be in a good game. Unfortunately for “Overlord: Raising Hell” a lot of the issues that were in the Xbox
For those that missed out on the original incarnation of “Overlord,” the game is a third-person action adventure game that gives players
a number of puzzles to solve in a fantasy world. After waking up from a deep sleep, players take on the role of the Overlord who finds
himself in his tower which is in shambles, much like his reputation. Players are put to the task of rebuilding the Overlord’s empire. To
regain his former glory, players need to take control of a group of gremlin-like minions as the Overlord roams the countryside helping
and destroying the local villagers. Players will also accumulate gold and life-force energy that work as the power for creating more
minions. Along the way players will battle against a wide variety of enemies ranging from Halflings, unicorns, sheep and other
creatures that don’t want to see the Overlord back in his former glory.
Players have four different groups of minion units at their disposal throughout the game. Brown minions are the most common and are
available from the very beginning of the game. They are the brawlers of the group, using brute force to take down enemies. Red
minions are very weak in melee combat but are very helpful with ranged attacks with fire spells. They are the archers of the game and
can help in setting up tactical attacks. Red minions can also absorb fires, allowing the Overlord to explore areas cut off by fire. Blue
minions are the swimmers of the group and are able to travel through water, where other minions drown. The blue minions are able to
deal magical damage and resurrect fallen minions. The last group are the green minions who are the rogues of the group. Although
they can’t take a beating like the brown minions, they can deal a lot of damage if they can sneak up on enemies. Green minions are
also able to move through poisonous gas, much like the red minions with fire. With each minions roles being so specific, it shouldn’t
be hard to figure out which minions need to be used at what time.
Although the concept of the “Overlord” series is great, sadly the experience is hampered by an often difficult control system and a
camera system that just won’t work. Also, for a game that wants to force a high level of evil on gamers and cracks an evil joke at any
opportunity, the overall level of evil that can be performed is lacking. Sure players can massacre a flock of sheep without a second
thought, invade the homes of Halflings and rough up the farmers in the towns, but players will want to be able to leave an even more evil
mark on the world.
Although the Overlord may look like he can deal out damage, his own melee attacks aren’t as powerful as those of his minions, though
he can attack to deal additional damage. The main purpose of the Overlord is to find the craters from which the minions come. The
minions of course want to do nothing more than do anything that the Overlord wants, whether it is bringing back gold, flasks to replenish
health and mana and with a wide variety of weapons and armor, destroy and foes that stand in their way. By simply aiming and
pressing the trigger, the minions take off and destroy whatever is in their path. It is possible to run complex sweeping patterns, but that
only comes with patience and practice. The nice thing is that the minions will protect the player if they are attacked and will
automatically pick up weapons and armor that they find and upgrade themselves.
One of the most difficult parts of the game is controlling the four different types of minions during a battle. This requires a lot of
micromanagement and it is at this point that the control system gets to be a little more difficult than hoped for. The camera angle can
be set high over the battlefield to make things a little easier, but even with that particular view it can be tough to make precise
movements. Also, though the minions are acrobatic and able to move around quickly and easily, the Overlord is more like a giant truck,
extremely slow and is not able to turn around very easily. This becomes even more of an issue when players try out split-screen
multiplayer.
The multiplayer mode in “Overlord: Raising Hell” has rolled in the seven multiplayer maps and three modes of play (Slaughter, Pillage
and Survival) that were previously sold as downloads for the Xbox 360 version of the game, along with new single-player levels,
legendary difficulty mode and two-player split-screen cooperative play. Split-screen multiplayer on the PS3 is at most times unplayable
because of the frame rate problems. When both players have a large army of minions and meet to complete an objective in Survival
mode, the controls slow down, the camera gets difficult and the visuals slow down to a slide-show.
The major difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game come down to the on-screen mini-map and the 7.1 surround
sound support. With the Xbox 360 downloadable content being thrown into the PS3 version, it would seem that the PS3 version would
be the better of the two to buy. However, when considering the sluggish frame rate, awkward controls and finicky camera in the PS3
version, players may want to wait until the game drops in price a little before setting ablaze the peasant’s homes. On the other hand,
players could pick up the slightly better Xbox 360 version and spend a little extra cash for the downloadable content and begin the
mayhem immediately.
evil hero instead. This of course is a great idea because some people prefer to be bad instead of being good, but many players would
probably hope for the bad guy to be in a good game. Unfortunately for “Overlord: Raising Hell” a lot of the issues that were in the Xbox
For those that missed out on the original incarnation of “Overlord,” the game is a third-person action adventure game that gives players
a number of puzzles to solve in a fantasy world. After waking up from a deep sleep, players take on the role of the Overlord who finds
himself in his tower which is in shambles, much like his reputation. Players are put to the task of rebuilding the Overlord’s empire. To
regain his former glory, players need to take control of a group of gremlin-like minions as the Overlord roams the countryside helping
and destroying the local villagers. Players will also accumulate gold and life-force energy that work as the power for creating more
minions. Along the way players will battle against a wide variety of enemies ranging from Halflings, unicorns, sheep and other
creatures that don’t want to see the Overlord back in his former glory.
Players have four different groups of minion units at their disposal throughout the game. Brown minions are the most common and are
available from the very beginning of the game. They are the brawlers of the group, using brute force to take down enemies. Red
minions are very weak in melee combat but are very helpful with ranged attacks with fire spells. They are the archers of the game and
can help in setting up tactical attacks. Red minions can also absorb fires, allowing the Overlord to explore areas cut off by fire. Blue
minions are the swimmers of the group and are able to travel through water, where other minions drown. The blue minions are able to
deal magical damage and resurrect fallen minions. The last group are the green minions who are the rogues of the group. Although
they can’t take a beating like the brown minions, they can deal a lot of damage if they can sneak up on enemies. Green minions are
also able to move through poisonous gas, much like the red minions with fire. With each minions roles being so specific, it shouldn’t
be hard to figure out which minions need to be used at what time.
Although the concept of the “Overlord” series is great, sadly the experience is hampered by an often difficult control system and a
camera system that just won’t work. Also, for a game that wants to force a high level of evil on gamers and cracks an evil joke at any
opportunity, the overall level of evil that can be performed is lacking. Sure players can massacre a flock of sheep without a second
thought, invade the homes of Halflings and rough up the farmers in the towns, but players will want to be able to leave an even more evil
mark on the world.
Although the Overlord may look like he can deal out damage, his own melee attacks aren’t as powerful as those of his minions, though
he can attack to deal additional damage. The main purpose of the Overlord is to find the craters from which the minions come. The
minions of course want to do nothing more than do anything that the Overlord wants, whether it is bringing back gold, flasks to replenish
health and mana and with a wide variety of weapons and armor, destroy and foes that stand in their way. By simply aiming and
pressing the trigger, the minions take off and destroy whatever is in their path. It is possible to run complex sweeping patterns, but that
only comes with patience and practice. The nice thing is that the minions will protect the player if they are attacked and will
automatically pick up weapons and armor that they find and upgrade themselves.
One of the most difficult parts of the game is controlling the four different types of minions during a battle. This requires a lot of
micromanagement and it is at this point that the control system gets to be a little more difficult than hoped for. The camera angle can
be set high over the battlefield to make things a little easier, but even with that particular view it can be tough to make precise
movements. Also, though the minions are acrobatic and able to move around quickly and easily, the Overlord is more like a giant truck,
extremely slow and is not able to turn around very easily. This becomes even more of an issue when players try out split-screen
multiplayer.
The multiplayer mode in “Overlord: Raising Hell” has rolled in the seven multiplayer maps and three modes of play (Slaughter, Pillage
and Survival) that were previously sold as downloads for the Xbox 360 version of the game, along with new single-player levels,
legendary difficulty mode and two-player split-screen cooperative play. Split-screen multiplayer on the PS3 is at most times unplayable
because of the frame rate problems. When both players have a large army of minions and meet to complete an objective in Survival
mode, the controls slow down, the camera gets difficult and the visuals slow down to a slide-show.
The major difference between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game come down to the on-screen mini-map and the 7.1 surround
sound support. With the Xbox 360 downloadable content being thrown into the PS3 version, it would seem that the PS3 version would
be the better of the two to buy. However, when considering the sluggish frame rate, awkward controls and finicky camera in the PS3
version, players may want to wait until the game drops in price a little before setting ablaze the peasant’s homes. On the other hand,
players could pick up the slightly better Xbox 360 version and spend a little extra cash for the downloadable content and begin the
mayhem immediately.
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