Evil Genius puts you in control of a 1960s Bond villain with a secret island base (complete with boiler-suited minions), with the simple goal of taking over the world (of course). Well, maybe not simple. You have to build and manage the numerous facilities in the lair and maintain a valid workforce, and carry out acts of infamy around the globe in order to build up your notoriety. On top of that, you have to conceal your activities from tourists who visit the island, and the Forces of Justice - five government intelligence agencies dedicated to fighting Nebulous Evil Organisations.
What I really enjoy about this game is the humour, which parodies a lot of spy thriller cliches. This includes having piranha tanks as one of the unlock-able traps. There's also the strange personalities of the named henchmen you can recruit to your cause - including the explosive-obsessed (but impractical) Red Ivan, or the ghetto mob boss Eli Barracuda. While your minions are pretty much expendable (providing you have the ability to train the higher level ones), the henchmen can be incapacitated but not killed. This is until you become notorious enough to attract the attention of the five Super-Agents from the exotic seductress Mariana Mamba to the suave playboy John Steele.
If there's anything I do have issues with, it's the lack of any sort of "open play" there's only one campaign, with three different masterminds to play it through. It's only a minor thing, but a lot of these management games usually have a sandbox mode where you can mess around. Nonetheless, the campaign's a great one - although the difficulty curve ramps up on the second island.
Oh yeah, I've heard there's a sequel in the works.
No comments:
Post a Comment