Game Review: Evil Genius

Posting every day is hard! I'll continue to attempt to post daily, but don't be surprised if I miss a day here and there.


Evil Genius
Sierra Entertainment, 2004

I've played this game in the past, but my interest in it was recently rekindled due to TotalBiscuit's coverage of the facebook game Dungeon Overlord. In Dungeon Overlord, you build up your dungeon over time, and the idea is that you check in one or two times a day to collect your accumulated resources and give new orders. It's a bit like if Farmville was actually fun. And had silly goblins. Anyway, I've been enjoying that game quite a bit but wanted something that I could play for a longer period at a time. Dungeon Overlord is often likened to Dungeon Keeper, but having downloaded the latter game and tried it out, they are very much not the same. In Dungeon Keeper you scrap your dungeon and start over at each level. One of the things I love about Dungeon Overlord is the persistence of the dungeon - you get to continually improve it over time. I suppose it speaks to my inner 10 year old, who always loved building forts.

This is about the time I remembered Evil Genius. In Evil Genius, you are a criminal mastermind and the goal of the game is to design and maintain your secret lair, while carrying out acts of infamy around the world to become the most notorious villain around. Unlike most strategy games, the emphasis is on base design rather than micro-management of troops, since you can't give direct orders to your minions. Despite being over six years old, the simple graphics are still quite pleasing, and the animations and sound show tons of polish and attention to detail. The characters are quirky and hilarious, as are the various pieces of equipment available for use in your base.

Being an older game, Evil Genius is available for purchase for a mere 10 dollars from Amazon.com. If you'd like a persistent base-design game with tons of character, I'd highly recommend you check it out!