KEY POINTS:
Sometimes you just want to be bad. Other times you just want to rule the town.
So many fantasy games involve taking on the evil enemy and helping out poor little villagers and getting their picturesque town back by bringing peace and stability to the land.
Overlord (out on the PC but I played the Xbox 360 version) involves little goblin types called minions who most certainly are not nice guys.
These colourful, mischievous gremlins believe you are mighty Sauron-type (think Lord of the Rings) overlord and are your slaves, keenly obeying your orders to bring mayhem to villages.
They fetch for you, fight for you and will even die for you. They slaughter cattle, kill people and steal anything that that looks pretty.
"Hey help us out," yells the villager. No, sorry.
The red minions turn up with fireballs, while the green ones are expert assassins and immune to poison. Blue ones can wade through water and bring health back to minions who have 'died' and brown ones can always be called on to fight maniacally with an array weapons.
Every time you kill something, you scoop up some 'life essence'.
The over-the-top brightly painted landscapes are reminiscent of Microsoft's popular Fable and the British voices are full of typically Monty Python-like humour.
It's that humour that wins the day in a fun action, strategy and puzzle-solving title that may appeal to many Lord of the Rings fans like myself.
The only letdown is in the controls and camera angles.
Overlord gets a MadGamer rating of 9/10
