Snap Judgment: Overlord 2

With limited time in the day to review all the games we want to tell you about, some have a habit of falling through the cracks before we've been able to get our thoughts onto the site. In the hopes of remedying that, we've created a new feature we're calling Snap Judgment. Here's the gist: We'll play enough of the game to get the lay of the land -- what we liked, what we didn't, etc. -- and then pass our opinions on to you. It's not a full "review" in the traditional sense, but we're hoping you'll scroll away just a bit more informed.

So, shall we?

Game: Overlord 2
Time spent: Approx. 3 hours

So, no great surprise here: Overlord 2 is, at its heart, a lot like the first Overlord. You're a huge, evil armored dude with equally evil impish minions at your command. Together, you cause as much heartache and chaos as possible in a gorgeous fairytale land filled with dullard inhabitants.

How, precisely, you'll be wrecking shop hasn't changed so much either. You've still got melee and magic at your disposal, with your battalion of minions being controlled by the right analog stick. Sweeping an army of little monsters at an unsuspecting soldier is as fun as it's ever been, made even better by the presence of mounts for your crew (the only one I saw were wolves, though there may be others).

There's still tons of upgradeability for your armor, weapons and foot soldiers, plus loads of wicked humor courtesy of the returning talents of Rhianna Pratchett.

What changes have been made all seem to be bigger-and-better-type improvements. The world is really, really gorgeous, like a slightly dingier version of Fable 2's Albion. Minions have more character too, and you can resuscitate your favorites when they're prematurely offed.

If I had a complaint, it's that I occasionally wasn't sure of where to go or what to do next. Sure, I typically figured it out with a little trial-and-error, but still, annoying.

No, Overlord 2 isn't presenting many new ideas, but there's still nothing else in the landscape that feels quite like it. I'm happy to welcome a second helping.