Fable meets Pikmin 

Overlord is a 3rd person action adventure game in which you play an evil chap who closely resembles Sauron from The Lord of the Rings.  But unlike Sauron, you aren’t terribly powerful in combat, and instead will rely on the help of several minions whom you have complete control over.  You are tasked with rebuilding your evil empire, and will need the help of your minions to gather numerous items for your castle which have been scattered throughout the world.  The various game play elements come together for an experience that feels like a hybrid of Fable and Pikmin, but Overlord has enough humor to allow it to stand out as a unique entertainment experience independant of it’s roots.

Graphics and sound are both handled well.  Stylisticly, Overlord reminds me a great deal of Fable.  Visually it’s more or less a cartoon version of traditional Tolkein fantasy fare that manages to be both beautiful and cute all at once.  NPC and minion voice work is great, and adds a lot of humor to the experience, and although the orchestral music is good, it is a bit sparse and there are large chunks of the game without music of any kind.  Animations, textures and character models are merely average, but overall Overlord looks and sounds pretty good.  

Game play centers around sending your comical crew of minions to solve puzzles and fight on your behalf.  They come in four varieties: warriors, assassins, healers, and fire shooters.  Minions will automatically pick up and equip armor and weapons for themselves, or bring you back treasure like gold or potions, saving players a lot of time.  Minion actions are all context sensitive, which greatly simplifies things.  For example, send them into a pumpkin patch and some of them will automatically don jack-o-lanterns as makeshift helmets.  Direct them to an area scattered with mugs of beer and they will consume them with great gusto, even stumbling around a bit before relieving themselves.  This is where Overlord really shines… the pleasure players will feel after seeing how minions comically carry out their nefarious work is undeniably entertaining and for the most part, easy to do.

Much of the game’s humor is provided by your minions, and their amusing interactions with the environment.

Even though you are an evil Overlord, you can choose to help many of the NPCs you will encounter on your travels.  The villagers you rescue will give you money which can then be used to upgrade your character with new items or abilities.  However you can choose to upgrade the Overlord by simply killing the villagers indiscriminately and using their souls to fuel your growth.  So there is a bit of moral choice, but no matter which path you take, your interactions with villagers generally result in enhancements for your character, giving the game some mild RPG elements.  It’s a little unusual for a game with an emphasis on being evil to allow moral choices, but it certainly gives the game some replayability.