I've now played through the demo to Overlord and I have to say, I am very impressed. I have officially moved this game from my "watch it and hope it gets a good review" to my "preorder and purchase on release day" list of games. If the demo is any indication, we have a game that has a wicked sense of humor, does everything right, and doesn't forget to take care of the little things. 1. The control scheme for commanding your minions is SLICK. You can command your minions in a number of ways, and all of them are very intuitive. (I speak now for the 360 version of the game that I tried out off of Xbox Live.) You can either use one of the trigger buttons to send them forth at whatever is in sight, or you can use the right analog stick to "sweep" them through an area if they need to follow a complicated path to where you want to send them. Easy to use and quite intelligent. A push of the "B" button sounds a big horn that calls your foul underlings back to your side. 2. You know how with a lot of games, when you kill things they drop powerups or gold or whatever? That happens in this game to. Only, when your minions kill in your unholy name, they actually fetch the dropped goodies and bring them back to you. They even kneel to you while presenting the loot. Now THAT, is a nice touch! 3. The game is funny. Damn funny. Your little advisor minion is hilarious as he details what missions you'll need to undertake to rise back to evil prominance. He, and the rest of the game for that matter, are so over the top that the game feels like it came right out of a script like Lilo and Stitch from Pixar Animation Studios.

4. You get to have a Corruption Meter. In a brilliant move, Codemasters has created a tradeoff between your personal power and your authority power. What I mean by that is, if you kill innocents you grow more corrupt and your powers grow. However, the more innocents you kill, the less subjects your kingdom has. So you can either be a force of nature juggernaut killing everything in sight, or a more subtle evil tyrant. It is beautiful.



5. Speaking of beautiful, this game is absolutely stunning looking. It is one of the better looking games I've seen on the 360 to date. Rich, vibrant landscapes and colors and lovingly detailed textures show this game has some polish going for it.

6. You get an evil jester. I'm not kidding. And yes, you have the option of killing the little bugger or leaving him alive. At first he doesn't show proper respect to his evil master, but my guess is that as the game goes on and your reign of terror increases, the little bugger will grow more fawning and subservient. As it should be. 7. Playing this game will boost my ego to unprecedented heights. This is a good thing. 8. You can sacrifice your own minions to heal yourself. "They're very loyal." I could go on and on. I highly suggest those of you with access to the demo give it a shot. I don't think you'll be disappointed.