To the Wii

In 2007, Codemasters released Overlord for the PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3. The third-person action/adventure game was a runaway success and garnered favorable reviews all around. In fact, a sequel, Overlord II, is in the works as well, set to appear on the same three systems sometime in later 2009. The knowledgeable reader will of course have spotted that one console is conspicuously missing from that lineup. With Overlord: Dark Legend for the Nintendo Wii, Codemasters has set out to remedy this, and bring some Overlording fun to the arguably most popular console out there.

Completely new game

Rather than simply porting the already existing game (as, sadly, many companies do nowadays), developer Climax Studios chose to design a completely new game centering around the Wii's ground-breaking controller, the Wii-mote. The motion-sensing technology will allow completely new ways of controlling both the Overlord and his evil minions, such as picking up a minion, twirling him around, and then launching him at enemy units. While such actions certainly go well with the Wii's appeal, the game can also be played just by pressing the buttons and moving the joystick. Of course, should gamers wish to go all-out motion control, this is certainly an option too. As it stands now, the Nunchuck will handle the basic movements and attacks of the Overlord, while the Wii-mote is responsible for spells, magical abilities, controlling the minion army, and of course all motion-specific actions.

The concept behind Overlord: Dark Legend is, basically, being evil. The player starts out as a young prince on his 16th birthday. When the prince first receives a mysterious gauntlet as a present and then proceeds to discover and don a suit of armor, he turns into the Overlord. After "making his bones" by trashing his evil brother and sister's rooms, he can summon his first small band of eager minions (goblin-like creatures). He must now set out to conquer his foes, with the help of his trusty goblin army. As he grows stronger, he can summon more and more minions, up to the point where he commands over several dozen of the diminutive monsters.

Gameplay

The player can control both the Overlord and the minions separately. While the Overlord uses a variety of medieval weaponry and spells to attack his enemies, the minions use the skills specific to their class. There are four different types of minions available; brown minions are melee fighters, blue minions act as medics and can swim, red minions love playing with fire, and green minions release toxic gasses etc. There will also be new skills for each minion class, but these are as yet unknown. The player must summon the correct type and number of every minion to successfully complete the missions. And of course use the little army effectively, by sending them out to attack enemies (or perfectly harmless animals and villagers, depending on how much GTA you play) and, hopefully, return with loot. We were assured that Overlord: Dark Legend will include more strategic elements, and be more complex than the "beat everything to bits" mentality of the original title. Expect a wider variety of tasks, missions, enemies, bosses and objects to interact with, to complete and to defeat.

The game will be set before the events of the original title, and stars a completely new Overlord, aptly referred to as a "trainee tyrant". Set in a magical world inspired by fairytales, the Overlord and his army will encounter a wide variety of creatures and beings, such as crazed gingerbread men, or Little Red Riding Hood. The story is, as with Overlord, written by Rhianna Pratchett, who is the daughter of the well-known British fantasy author Terry Pratchett. The developers have promised that the dark humor and sarcasm of the first installment of the series will make a return. There is next to no definitive information yet as to what the storyline will be about, but we assume at least some parts of it will deal with the Overlord's attempt to restore the honor and wealth of his father, a nobleman fallen from grace. Also, some missions will be plays on popular fairytale stories, such as escorting Little Red Riding Hood through the dark woods.

Graphics

In terms of graphics, Overlord: Dark Legend looks somewhat restricted by the Wii. Of course, you cannot expect the graphics to compare with the more potent systems the original title ran on, so there isn't much to be said here. Two things however were noticeable from the gameplay footage we viewed. For starters, it seems as if the new title will incorporate more open spaces to battle on, presumably as a concession the Wii's controller(s). Furthermore, the number of minions seems to have dropped slightly, presumably a result of the Wii's less powerful hardware. Still, it shouldn't be a problem to summon a fairly large minion group if necessary, although the maximum number from the original game, 50 minions, probably won't be available this time around. Of course, this doesn't necessarily have a negative impact on gameplay, and is subject to change.

Solid contribution

All in all, Overlord: Dark Legend is shaping up to be a solid contribution to the budding Overlord franchise. Expect to see the tried and true mixture of dark humor, cackling goblins and wanton destruction when this title hits the shelves.