Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Overlord: Dark Legend

[NWR_Neal]

Imagine playing Pikmin, but instead of being a mild-mannered worker, youÂ’re evil.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/impressionsArt.cfm?artid=17797

 When you look at Overlord: Dark Legend, the Legend of Zelda series is the first Nintendo franchise that comes to mind. Upon closer inspection, a more accurate comparison is the Pikmin series, except you control an evil overlord and his minions instead of controlling Olimar and Pikmin.    

The controls are split up rather nicely, with controls for the menacing Overlord on the Nunchuk and controls for his minions mapped to the Wii Remote. The Overlord is controlled with the analog stick, and swings his axe with a gesture of the Nunchuk or a press of the Z button. For the minions, left and right on the D-pad rotates through them while down on the D-pad selects all of them. The B button, or a flick of the Wii Remote, sends them off to do battle, collect items, or flip switches. The A button calls them back. Overall there are four different kinds of minions (red, brown, blue, and green), and they each have their own specialty ranging from the brown minions' melee ability to the red minions' ability to shoot fireballs. You can also cast spells, such as one that slows down the world around you, by pressing up on the D-pad.    

The demo that I played wasnÂ’t that showy and was extremely linear. I basically just marched through an area using the OverlordÂ’s axe and the minionsÂ’ fighting prowess to clear out all enemies. I didnÂ’t get to see any interesting puzzles outside of the realm of "use this minion to knock down that gate." My minions managed to collect some strange object and bring it back to their spawn point, immediately reminding me of the pellets and ship parts from Pikmin.    

I didn't get too much time with the game, but it appears to be very early on. The controls work very well and the division of the Wii Remote (minions) and Nunchuk (Overlord) is brilliant. I just wish I could've used the nice control scheme more in the lackluster demo.    

Overlord: Dark Legend is scheduled for a summer 2009 release.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Sounds like the first Overlords tutorial esque mode was used for the demo.

[Jonnyboy117]

Yeah, it sounds similar to the 360 demo of the first Overlord.  More tutorial than representative gameplay.

Anyway, I'm reasonably excited for this thing.  Seems like a good fit with Wii controls, and I'm impressed that they are making an original game that is still quite similar to the original, just with new content and potentially better controls.  In other words, it doesn't seem to be dumbed down in any way.

[Kairon]

Yeah, it sounds similar to the 360 demo of the first Overlord.  More tutorial than representative gameplay.

Anyway, I'm reasonably excited for this thing.  Seems like a good fit with Wii controls, and I'm impressed that they are making an original game that is still quite similar to the original, just with new content and potentially better controls.  In other words, it doesn't seem to be dumbed down in any way.

Man, third parties really have to thread the needle to get approval from people around these parts. It can't be a port. But if it's new, it can't be too new. It has to be new, but the same, and not a port. *boggle*

[ShyGuy]

What did the C button do?

[NWR_Neal]

What did the C button do?

Center the camera.

[GoldenPhoenix]

How were the visuals?

[NWR_Neal]

How were the visuals?

They looked really nice, not necessarily comparable to 360/PS3, but more like a Wii game that has some graphical effort put into it. It was a bit rough around the edges because it was a very early build i.e. it crashed a lot.

[Jonnyboy117]

Yeah, it sounds similar to the 360 demo of the first Overlord.  More tutorial than representative gameplay.

Anyway, I'm reasonably excited for this thing.  Seems like a good fit with Wii controls, and I'm impressed that they are making an original game that is still quite similar to the original, just with new content and potentially better controls.  In other words, it doesn't seem to be dumbed down in any way.

Man, third parties really have to thread the needle to get approval from people around these parts. It can't be a port. But if it's new, it can't be too new. It has to be new, but the same, and not a port. *boggle*

In terms of bringing a series from more powerful consoles over to Wii, yes, I think developers have to walk a fine line.  But there are multiple ways to pull it off successfully.  One of my favorite Wii games is Geometry Wars Galaxies.

Also, whoever said or implied "new but not too new"?  I'm cool with radically different Wii versions.  But if we're dancing around Dead Space Extraction, there's nothing new about on-rails shooters.  That is in fact the problem -- the genre is old, stale, and completely overcrowded on Wii.  And this is coming from someone who enjoyed Umbrella Chronicles and quite liked DQ Swords.

I don't really have a problem with well-designed ports, either.  I loved Godfather: Blackhand Edition, and Bully: Scholarship Edition seems like a great package too.  (I didn't have time to get far into it, sadly.)  I'd be excited for the Dead Rising port except that all reports indicate that it totally sucks and destroys the appeal of the original version.

[GoldenPhoenix]

That is in fact the problem -- the genre is old, stale, and completely overcrowded on Wii.

Funny thing is that it isn't nearly as overcrowded as the FPS or shooter genre is on the other next generation systems which Dead Space is apart of, yet it manages to do some innovations. While for some reason the on-rail prequel has no prayer to do innovations within that genre. There is so much more potential for growth in the on-rail genre as it moves away from its arcade roots, Killer 7 illustrates this, as much as I don't like the game, it did show there is so much more that can be done with it.

ANYWAY, I will probably pick up this game for Wii, I can never get too much Overlord!