Overlord

The Good
The graphics are bright and colorful - especially given the time that this game was released (c. 1990). The most striking visuals are in the still screen graphics that pop up from time to time, though, so don't expect to see in-game animated sequences or anything flashy like that. The rousing musical score that accompanies the introduction is complemented by some appropriately subtle background music while you play the actual game. Overall, Overlord shines in the audio-visual department.

The Bad
Alas, all of that chrome is for nothing! This title is sorely lacking when it comes to gameplay. It sounds good, of course: rule the universe as benevolent dictator or malevolent conqueror, square off against 4 different (AI-controlled) alien opponents, outfit your military with your choice of equipment, and plot your strategy for invading and conquering unoccupied or enemy worlds. So what could possibly be wrong?

Let me count the ways. The game is riddled with major design flaws that cancel out Overlord's considerable potential. For some reason, the game is real-time, and that is the first sticking point. The speed was not properly tuned for computers at the time of first release (too fast), and so naturally this problem has only gotten worse since that time. There is no way for the player to adjust the game speed, and pausing the game prevents you from issuing any orders. You can use a slowdown utility like Mo'Slo, but that can be tricky, so getting Overlord going on your PC at the right speed can be quite a bitch.

If you can get past that serious screw-up, you will notice that the game just doesn't make much sense as a 4X "spaceploitation" strategy title. Reach for the Stars, Imperium Galactum, and Master of Orion set the standard for fun by letting you research techs, design and build ships, engage in strategic and/or tactical combat, and enter into diplomatic negotiations with other civilizations. Guess what? None of these things are possible in Overlord. It's almost as if they were working on Master of Orion and then decided to jettison all of the cool stuff, leaving only the most boring resource management aspects in place.

The dumbest thing about Overlord - and perhaps one of the dumbest design decisions in any game ever - is that there is no ship-to-ship combat PERIOD. That's right, those epic naval battles from Star Trek and Star Wars that we all loved seem to have had absolutely no influence on the makers of Overlord. It's all about shipping armies and island hopping your way through the galaxy until you invade the enemy homeworld - which, by the way, is always located in the same place. I guess there is no need for randomness or replayability when you have all of that spreadsheet-quality fun to look forward to every game. Finally, the whole "ethical dilemma" aspect that the marketing people promised on the box wasn't included in the actual game. You have absolutely no incentive to focus on your own people's happiness or to win peacefully (which isn't even possible); you MUST be ruthless and crush your enemy into extinction. How banal!

If you can't tell by now, I didn't like Overlord. You might squeeze some fun out of it, but I would recommend you play just about every other similar game before this one.

The Bottom Line
Great graphics and sound don't mean a thing when the game is boring and doesn't make sense.