Topic Overlord from Codemasters - New Dungeon Keeper look-a-like??

mmarsh

Demo is out, I played it last night. You can find it on Fileplanet. Its a big Demo, 1 Gig. Took me 40 minutes to download on a ADSL2 20mb line.

First of all, like the help says in 3 different places you really do need to have the absolutely last drivers available. It really doesnt like earlier drivers espicially if you run VISTA. I was using the April 30 Nvidia Driver I couldnt get the Demo to play until I installed the lastest Nvidia June 1 Driver.

Overall I liked it, controls are a bit awkward as it is designed for a XBOX 360. Helps if you have a Gamepad (which I do).

The graphics are nice, but a little rough on the edges especially with the characters. I was only playing at 1024x760 so increasing the resolution might help. I also noticed there were no anti-aliasing options, another sacrifice compromise for the Xbox version. A pity.

Like DK and Evil Genius, there is a wonderful Dark Humor at work.

As I suspected the Gameplay is very similar to Eidos Freedom Fighters but in a fantasy setting. One nice thing is you can move between levels as certain areas can only be reached by certain goblins.

The special effects are nice. Throw a fireball spell into a wheat field and the fire will quickly spread while BBQ all enemies inside. When Goblins enter houses the building shakes and sways like int a cartoon before it collapses.

The Demo I thought the problems were related more to the demo than the game. The Demo was too short and didn't give me good overall look at the game. I wasn't able to get a good impression as I felt they were holding lots of stuff out of the demo. I will wait for the reviews and then decide. I will buy it but I have not decided when. I might wait until its a budget game and get it then. Still its perfect for bit of 'light' gaming.

-HAL-

Just downloaded it myself, but haven't tested it yet..

It's not good to hear that this seems to be "yet another console conversion"...
I've had high expectations to this one so I really hope they'll be able to make it more PC friendly in future updates..

-HAL-

Tested it yesterday, and I do (unfortunately) agree with you...

The gameplay and humor looks really great, the graphics isn't too bad at the highest settings (even if it's a bit "rough on the edges" as you said), but the control system really S**KS, at least compared to similar PC games!!

I really hope they fix that before the release, because this is a game that probably will buy IF they can do something about it...

mmarsh

I didn't think the mouse was bad, just awkward. The instructions recommend a gamepad. Why don't you pick yourself up a Logitech Rumblepad 2 (20€) I think that will solve it. Its a cheap investment I use it for other console ports as well like the Prince Of Persia and the X-Men series.

-HAL-

PC games should be played with the mouse and keyboard only!!
If I wanted to use a gamepad I'd buy an XBox instead..
(I guess I'm a bit "old fashioned" there, but I really don't like joysticks/gamepads etc. for PC games)

-HAL-

After reading a few fresh reviews of the full game I have to say that I'm not very impressed on how this game has turned out..

You're simply not allowed to be evil enough..
During the game you're "stuck" to doing several "good" missions where you have to get the bad guys instead of supporting them, helping "damsels in distress" etc. etc..
(75% in PC GAMER issue 176, UK Edition)

I WANT TO BE EVIL, NOT HELP ANYONE AT ALL!!