Thoughts On Overlord 2

I was a big fan of the first Overlord, a next-gen Pikmin knockoff with it's own goofy, mischievous soul. While there are some improvements and additions to the game, it doesn't quite go as far  from it's predecessor as I hoped.

 The new mounts are pretty good, except for one instance where you have to fight the controls to pass a timed event.  You also have the ability time to time to take direct control of a minion, and while this for the most part it's no different than controlling the Overlord, there are a few instances that are incredibly frustrating.  At one point you're tasked with sneaking into an enemy stronghold to free some of your buddies. This section is not overly hard once you learn the rules, but I think in this day and age pure stealth is a no-no.

Checkpoints are also pretty odd.  You get them when you find a teleport gate, otherwise they are arbitrarily placed and sometimes far between.  I had gotten to the Spider Queen boss and was sick of playing so I quit.  To my surprise, when I started again I was sent waaaay back to the previous boss (a giant, naked ogre thingy), and had to play ~30 minutes to get back to where I was.

The hub where you do all your customizing is also a pain in the butt.  It takes too long to get from one place to the other.  I would have rather just had a menu for upgrading spells and weapons.

Last complaint, the framerate in this game is godawful, not just occasionally but persistently bad.  You would think with a sequel they would refine/polish their tech a bit, but no.

I'm not trying to slag this game too hard, as it's a lot of fun and has a good sense of humor.  The settings are fun and they added a lot more variety to the game.  It is also a stand out because it (gasp!) isn't an FPS filled with hard-assed military guys trudging through burned out grey-brown cities, and for that it deserves some kudos.

PS - The screaming of the baby seals is f***ed up.