Rock, Paper, Shotgun

It’s about ten minutes in the game and I’m presented by quite the sight. Hearing footsteps on the stairs, I shout to drag the Lady into the room. “Hey! Look at this”. I continue what I’m doing, before glancing over at her distinctly disapproving face. “You have just killed the Labrador of the seas,” she says coldly, then walk out the room. I can see the future. It is a lonely future. It’s a future which may drive a man to evil. Which is lucky, as I’m the right place.

What’s the problem? I’m just going clubbing.
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First there was Overlord, and now there is two of it. Codemasters, that great British institution, has announced a sequel to the “play-as-evildoer-but-not-really” game in which you commanded a swarm of pleasant goblins. It was the fantasy orcs ‘n’ axes variation of Pikmin, something like that, and it had some entertaining bits. But will there be entertaining bits in the sequel? Codies seem to think so:
“Epic battles, all new Minion play mechanics, a stunningly detailed new visuals and a fresh theme – Overlord II’s really packing a punch,” says Lennart Sas, director and Overlord lead at Triumph Studios. “We’re really excited about shifting the world to a new era where a Roman-inspired Empire rises as the arch-enemy of the Overlord.” Woo, pseudo-Romans.

More info from the Codie’s mouth after the jump.
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It’s easy to fall into a routine dichotomy here. New games some days, retro games other days. Unfortunately, that rather ignores games from the last couple of years, which don’t fit neatly into either category. Let’s change that.

I find myself currently between games to really occupy me – an unfortunate hangover from the MMO mania of a couple of years back, which has left a part of my brain forever desiring a game I can utterly lose myself to for months at a time. With my third major bout of intense TF2 play, my most recent distraction, now behind me, I survey the landscape and there’s nothing huge I can imagine spending a few deep-seated weeks with, at least not until Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3. So, instead I turn to the very recent past. I’ve been snacking briefly on games I’ve wanted to replay or never got around to playing, and I suspect it’ll lead to a few posts like this. First, Overlord.
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While it didn’t make an enormous immediate splash, Age of Wonders veterans Triumph Studio’s Overlord was a quirky and agreeable Pantomime-Dame of a Fable vs Pikmin Evil-em-up (Or So Sez I!). And it’s done well enough to get some extra content, with a downloadable pay-for expansion called Raising Hell. It adds a new level to each of its worlds which opens up upon defeating its ruler, which leads to – well – Hell.

It also include a Challenge pack of extra-tricky challenges for the £4.99 or (er) 10 Euros it charges. These are actually both the X360 downloadable content packs. But, agreeably cheaper. Hurrah! And the trailer for these demonic adventures can be found in the stygian underworld below…
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