First Impression RETRO: Overlord

Still in story mode, just got a mistress (WTF was I thinking...)

When I buy a game that's been out for a while (I call them "fillers"), I tend to rely on reviews posted at www.x360a.org. They have yet to steer me wrong. I was saved from the temptation of buying Naughty Bear, and I was also encouraged to buy one of the best survival/horror games ever, Dead Space. Keeping with my personal tradition, I purchased Overlord. X360A was a bit more generous than I am.

Story

You are revived (or born/hatched) as an Overlord of these minion-demon-Gremlin things. You are supposed to go out into the world and find ways to rebuild your tower. Far as I can tell, you are not the same Overlord that was apparently killed when the tower fell. Whatever, I'm tired of trying to figure out that part of the story.

You are sent on missions to get certain things, one of which is the mistress mentioned above. To advance, you have to unlock different colored minions (Red, Blue, and Green). Each color group has it's own advantages.

So far, I've been lost several times, due to lack of a compass, map, or other intelligent way of at least finding North. You basically have to wander around until you happen upon the area your next mission takes place at.

Along the way you get to choose good or evil when finishing tasks. For example, at one point I had to find some food via request of villagers nearby. Once I found the food, I had the option to keep it for myself (evil) or return it to the people (good).

So far, it's been a grinding yawn-fest :(

Gameplay

Overall, the object of the game is to use your minions to solve puzzle-type areas that allow you to proceed. So far the puzzles are very simple. The search for your red, blue and green minions appear to be story related. The game plays out in sandbox style, but with one one optional task available: kill sheep. Lame.

The game is litterally as dull as this review. The game released in the midst of nearly every big developer creating an FPS, and was a welcome change at that time. Now, it's just a watered down mix of Fable and an RTS.

5 out of 10

Not horrible, but no bragging rights.