Evil Genius

There's a lot to like here, and some very clever in-jokes for fans of Bond films and classic spy shows of yore. That said, a few notable whinges: 1. The Acts of Infamy (AoI) that should be the heart of the tactical game are abstracted to the point of being as exciting as watching a download. I'd like to see a revision of the game that makes the AoI missions the heart of gameplay using an engine like Silent Storm or Invisible Inc. 2. The lack of scenarios or random starts, and the fact that any restart takes you all the way back to square 1 having to reinvent every room from scratch - these things hurt replay (at least for me) since it feels like I have a long slog just to get up to the interesting part. 3. You absolutely need to follow a walkthru to prevent making a critical error that will screw up your end game because... 4. The game plays out in a stuck script with only a few digressions or options along the way. The side quests are minimal and really just add more loot, the variation in henchmen is fixed (can't create your own or even name them), and the objectives are linear with no branching. All in, it's definitely worth the price here on GOG, but you will get bored sooner than with comparable games like Dungeon Keeper - and that's too bad. There is an opportunity here for a truly great game and maybe someone will pick that up and give us Evil Genius 2. If so, I'd want to see it focused more on the AoI missions, allow for more user customization and branching plots/objectives.

This is Dungeon Keeper with a James Bond skin. The music and visual style is superb, but the mechanics and AI are pretty poor. The game blocks access to vital base additions needed to continue building until your unlock them (and doesn't tell you how), your minions' AI is godawful, and you'll spend most of your time staring at a world map screen. If you can put up with this, it MIGHT be worth a shot when it's on sale. Otherwise, not worth the asking price.

No Mr Bond, I expect you to be subject to the brutal tourture of a Michael Jackson routine followed by cymbals to the head. This game is simply fantastic, it could be said that it's not "up there" in strategy with Command and Conquer, but to put it in the same category is simply... well... wrong. It's a different type of strategy game, and even when played on easy it presents a hell of a challenge keeping your money in check. Graphically the game resorts to using comic styles that simply don't die, it's slightly simillar to "The Movies" by Lionhead Studios in its cartoon simplicity (reminding all that Elixir Studios who developed this game were led by an ex-Lionhead prominent figure Demis Hassabis). The graphics can't really be faulted, still today I enjoy the cartoon styles, pretty and vibrant decor helps the game's 60's/70's stereotypical Evil Genius feel and all the characters look pretty damn cool, with attention to as much detail as you can have in a cartoon environment. Oh yes, and I'm running it on a laptop, notouriously innefective with games, but it runs smoother than my pinstripe suits... and that's saying something. Gameplay wise, it is again, damn good, but... and there's always a but, it can be overcomplicated at times and there are some circumstances when the game gives you a situation not explained in the tutorial all of a sudden (such as the agents on the world map destroying your units) and such things certainly scared me off the World Domination Screen for a bit, innevitably leading to financial trouble. Secondly it can be a handfull, personally I like it, complication is my friend, but for the newer strategy player it's maybe not a great starter, watch various screens, agents breaking in, somehow blowing up parts of the base, power goes down, security blind spots, minions ignoring the agents until tagged, makes you want to tear your evil bald head off, but as I said, I like this, it's a plus for me but begginers might not want to try to hard on a first attempt, as you really need to play the main game to get the full ropes, not just the tutorial. It makes you think and really strategise at times, while others may allow you to enjoy an agent falling prey to your gas cage trap in the front door... MUHAHAHAHAHA!!! Finally, soundtrack. I will keep it short. Exellent. James Hannigan who has composed for other epic audio games, Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 for example, does a brilliant job in bringing the vibe to your home, I bought speakers for my laptop and I'm happy I did. Thought the audio seems a fair bit louder on pause menus than in game, it was worth buying from G.O.G. as you can then download the soundtrack seperately and yes, it's that good. So overall: Graphics: 10/10: Simple, no screwing about, and hard to look dated. Gameplay: 8/10: Great, but not perfect, rare glitches and sometimes overcomplicated. Soundtrack: 9/10: Yes, I know I said exellent, but it's not a big soundtrack, short and sweet. Overall: 9/10 Good looking, Very Fun and a simply overlooked strategy game. Worth every penny.

This game is just not very well designed. It's a shame, too, because the idea and the style are pretty wonderful. Unfortunately it's just very poorly executed. The two biggest problems are the way base building and finance management works and the AI. Base building works like this: your minion goes to your treasure room, picks up some money, runs outside to a helipad (which may NOT be the one on the same side of the map as your base entrance, leaving you with the choice of making your base needlessly vulnerable or needlessly inefficient), grabs the item, runs BACK inside through your labrynthine dungeon and finally places the item. He is vulnerable to attack throughout most of this process. Waiting for money to come in is even worse. You have to assign your minions to steal on the world map and ONCE every MINUTE you get a usually measly income. This can take forever, and you can't walk away from it either because superagents will come and gobble them up if you aren't watching. This worst part, though, is AI. I trained an army of snipers only to watch them forget they had guns most of the time. They would run up and start fist fights with enemy agents who did NOT forget about their automatic rifles. Just terrible. It hurts that this game is so flawed. It could have been great.

It's a great, good looking "Dungeon-Keeper"-feel-like game, with cool minions and cool ways to construct. It misses my final star as it's a little bit "Perky" to expand hugely to this game, and many things could have resolved better. But all in all worth every dollar! :-)