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Overlord: Dark Legend
Wii
Less Evil, More Bugs
3.5/5 stars
“Overlord: Dark Legend” (“Dark Legend”) was released simultaneously with “Overlord II.” While “Overlord II” was a multi-platform release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Steam, “Dark Legend” is a different game, making it seem like Codemasters was throwing Wii owners a bone. This kind of disparate multi-platform release has happened before, with disastrous result, in the form of the multi-platform “SoulCalibur 4” versus the Wii exclusive “SoulCalibur Legends.” As someone who enjoyed the first ‘Overlord’ game, I was curious is Codemasters would create a Wii game that was at least comparable to the multi-platform game, or if they would follow in Namco’s footsteps and release a complete turd. Fortunately, “Dark Legend” rapidly dropped in price after release, so even if I was taking a risk, it wasn’t an expensive one.
Presentation
“Dark Legend” seems to be a step-up from the original “Overlord” in the graphics department, despite not being high-definition. This is one of the best-looking Wii game’s I’ve played, with nearly non-existent jaggies and clear, colorful textures. The character and enemy designs seem to be better-animated than the original game as well. The only real downside to “Dark Legend” being a Wii game seems to be the relatively small number of creatures/characters that can be on-screen at once. While I remember commanding large swarms of Minions in “Overlord: Raising Hell,” the Minion maximum in “Dark Legend” is a meager 20. Likewise, the titular Overlord will find himself battling 3-4 simultaneous foes at most.
The audio is also comparable to the original HD “Overlord.” The music is still pleasant, but generic, high-fantasy fare that would sound at home in any generic fantasy movie. The voices are somewhat improved, as non-player characters read their lines with competence instead of stiffness. Of course the Minions still steal the show with their panting, giggling, and hoarding… which would be expected, considering that ALL of the Minion sound effects are reused from the previous game! The voice of Gnarl, the Minion Minister, is unchanged, and continues to provide solid narration and guidance for the game experience.
Where “Dark Legend” falls far short of its predecessor is in the technical quality of the game’s code. “Dark Legend” has a tendency to crash randomly or freeze on loading screens. This ‘only’ happened to me twice during my playthrough… but that’s two times too many. “Dark Legend” also has a weird save system that automatically saves certain things at certain times. It’s impossible to perform a manual ‘full-save,’ as the game only performs those automatically upon completing a major quest. Thus the quest system can get kind of borked, with characters continuing to prattle on about already-completed quests (I’ve also read reports of in-progress quests randomly disappearing from the quest list.).
Story
“Dark Legend” is a spinoff sidestory that takes place in an alternate timeline from “Overlord: Raising Hell” and “Overlord II,” once again written by Rhianna Pratchett, whose famous father is responsible for the twisted fantasy of the ‘Discworld’ novels. In this timeline, the Gromgard family rules over the land of Greenvale. Duke Gromgard is an incompetent ruler whose failures at questing and bringing prosperity to the land provoked his wife to leave him… but not before providing him with three children. Thanks to a seed of evil running through the family tree, leading back to a previous Overlord known as the Black Baron, all three of the Gromgard children are nasty pieces of work. The oldest daughter is a large, oxy woman who is obsessed with dwarves, the middle son is a sniveling, wiry weakling who thinks he should have been born an elf, while the youngest is a Goth who is constantly bullied by his older siblings… until his 16th birthday, when a mysterious present arrives for him: a single armored gauntlet.
Pressing the gauntlet into a hand-shaped depression in a recently-revealed secret door grants our young Overlord-to-be access to the castle throne room, where Gnarl, the Minion Minister, has been sleeping in a coffin for the last 16 years. It is up to the young Overlord to reunite the Minion hives and return order to the land where his father’s incompetence brought ruin, all while playing his siblings alliances with non-humans against each other.
Throughout his quest, the young Overlord encounters colorful fairytale scenarios, such as Little Red Riding Hood and the Gingerbread House. Each of these stories receives some kind of dark or silly twist, making the story an entertaining experience. Unfortunately, the story ends far too soon, as the game is incredibly short. I was able to complete the game in its entirety (along with all sidequests) in less than 10 hours. It seems like the game ends just as it’s getting started.
Gameplay
Much like the previous “Overlord,” “Dark Legend” plays much like Nintendo’s ‘Pikmin’ series. The gameplay revolves around the Overlord as the player character and his ability to control and direct a number of goblin-like Minions to smash things, kill enemies, and carry heavy objects.
“Dark Legend” only supports the Wiimote+Nunchuck control scheme, allowing the Overlord to move with the analog stick, attack with the Z button, and recenter the camera with the C button. Unlike the original “Overlord,” there is only one camera angle (third person, not overhead), but it’s possible to control the camera by holding C and pointing with the Wiimote (which honestly doesn’t work very well). Pressing + on the Wiimote opens the Overlord’s selection of acquired magic, while tapping up on the Wiimote d-pad activates the current spell.
Minions can be commanded to attack something by pointing the Wiimote at it and pressing B repeatedly (once for each Minion) or by ‘sweeping’ the whole group of Minions into a target they can interact with by holding B and moving the Wiimote while the cursor looks like a green triangle. Sweeping doesn’t work very well compared to the previous game, but I’m not sure if it’s due to the imprecise nature of a pointer versus an analog stick or if it’s because of technical issues that prevent the Minions from ‘flowing’ across walls and surfaces as smoothly as they should. Pressing A calls back one Minion from a task, while holding A calls back all of them. The – button allows the Overlord to set a waypoint for the Minions. Switching Minion types (normal browns, fiery reds, aquatic blues, and poisonous greens) is accomplished with the left and right d-pad buttons, while pressing down on the d-pad selects all active Minions.
As a Wii game, “Dark Legend” also features some compulsory motion controls that I almost never used. Waggling the Nunchuck is an alternative to pressing Z to make the Overlord attack. Holding A and B while jerking back on the Wiimote causes the Overlord to grab the nearest Minion by the neck and begin throttling it. While throttling a Minion, waggling the Nunchuck simply kills that Minion in order to provide the Overlord with a pittance of health or magic (depending on the Minion type). The main use of throttling is to overcome a handful (I think there are a whopping 3 of them in the entire game) of barricades. By shaking the Wiimote while throttling a Minion, the Overlord can charge that Minion with magic, so it explodes like a suicide bomber after running a short distance. This use of motion controls felt very forces, and I was never compelled to use exploding Minions in combat, especially because Minions can find some really nice treasure to wear (each Minion can still wear a hat and carry a weapon, just like in the original game), and throttling ALWAYS chooses the best-equipped Minions first.
The forge from the original “Overlord” also makes a return appearance, only drastically simplified… and drastically improved. Instead of sacrificing Minions to improve his armor and weapons, the Overlord simply gains access to three weapon recipes and three armor recipes for each forge he finds (three in total). These weapons and armor are paid for with gold acquired by exploring the game’s environments and completing sidequests, and can’t be improved. In addition to Overlord gear, the forges can be used to create 5 levels worth of Minion gear, which must be purchased separately for each of the four Minion types, that cause every Minion to become stronger, even before they have a chance to pick up any treasure items. Of course, making all Minions stronger also makes the game significantly easier. I was able to buy all of these upgrades early, and my strengthened horde only lost about 5 members over the entirety of the game.
Overall
“Overlord: Dark Legend” is a short, sweet experience in goblin-herding and brutal justice. While definitely not as dark or twisted as the other games in the series, the story provides an entertaining twist on classic fairytales. Unfortunately, the good parts of the game are almost overshadowed by software crashes and sometimes-iffy controls. While still a good game, “Dark Legend” could have benefited greatly from another round of QA testing.
Presentation: 3/5
Story: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Overall (not an average): 3.5/5
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