Overlord demo=glee.

I downloaded the Overlord demo on Saturday and let me tell ya - the game is gonna be great fun. I am worried that it won't be particularly long or have much replay - a real concern when plonking down $60 for a new release.

Impressions from the demo:

A great looking, fun, and psychotic laughter inducing game. What can I say? Any game that allows me to set halflings (aka hobbits) on fire - by immolating the field they are hiding in - makes me giddy. The screams are just icing. The minions under your control are gremlin/imp critters that mob up and destroy/pillage/bash/smash/loot/pee on/and generally muck up everything. In an assault on a pumpkin patch some of the little monsters ended up with jack o'lanterns on their heads, after battering sheep I saw one minion wielding a mutton leg as a club.

The controls seem very, well, intuitive. It took me almost no time to get the hang of summoning and control the minions. The right analog controls the "sweep" of the minions across the land - they destroy anything the come into contact with so there's no extra fiddling as far as that goes. I don't know where they got the "recall minions" sound effect - a warped foghorn/tugboat from hell - but it sounds awesome.

The game looks great - the farm level I played was pure idyllic and butterflies and sunshine and all that horrible fresh air. Once the minions and fire took their toll the landscape looked ravaged. It made me happy.

Once I get some more news on this one I'll pass it along.