Another review of Overlord II shows up at GameVisions. This one is four pages of text and screenshots and while noting some flaws, they seem generally pretty pleased with it, giving it an overall score of 84%:

The beauty of the game is the tactical pacing, though. Most scenes play out like a puzzle of sorts, and using each of your minion classes is the key to getting through. Sometimes there are physical obstacles, some are created by the presence of enemies, some involve finding your way to the switch to activate or door or bridge. In all cases, using your minions in the right way to solve the situation requires some careful thought and planning. In this way the game plays as a semi-puzzle strategy game with action, and makes it the only example I can think of in that genre.

Conclusion:

Despite several giant misses with regard to the new additions in the game, the good news is Overlord II does exactly what most of us familiar with the first game hoped it would do. It provides more Overlording fun! I wish the weapon upgrade system were a bit more open, as it was in the first game, and I certainly wish the parodies and humor would return to their original form, but overall, it's the gameplay and environment that drives the game, and while a bit more dry than last time, it's still the only thing out there quite like it... If you loved Overlord, you'll definitely appreciate its successor.

Atomic Gamer reviews the XBox 360 version of Codemasters' and Triumph Studios' Overlord II, giving it an overall rating of 70% but aren't happy with the technical aspects:

Conclusion:

Like a lot of people, I wanted to love Overlord II and at first, it seemed destined to happen. The game gives a great first impression with some of the best and funniest writing and voice acting there is and some of the best-looking graphics you'll ever see. Unfortunately, it becomes quickly apparent that the polish is all cosmetic and every one of the former game's problems are still there, just under the surface. While certain parts of the game are tremendous fun, Overlord II fails to represent a significant improvement over the first game as lack of player guidance, control issues, collision problems and poor camera control conspire to kill the fun.

RealGamer  posts their review for the XBox 360 version of Codemasters' and Triumph Studios' Overlord II, giving it a 7/10:

...You travel the game world trying to conquer towns, gain treasure and so on accompanied by your army of minions causing chaos and destruction as you go. There are four different minions for you to summon, Browns - the basic grunts, Reds – fire minions, Greens – a sneaky stealth unit and blues - water minions. Obviously each minion type has its own unique strengths and weaknesses and the game world features many areas that only one minion type can reach. This of course adds a level of variety and strategy to the gameplay, albeit in small amounts. In general Overlord II is good fun, and sending your minions on the rampage, attacking any enemies or small animals they comes across is strangely entertaining and very additive...

Conclusion:

Overlord II is a nice improvement over last year’s game with a lot of worthwhile additions to the core gameplay. However, some questionable design choices stop this instalment from being a great game and can at times make Overlord II a very frustrating experience. Despite its problems it does generally provide a fun experience and fans of the first game will love the new ways of spreading chaos.

Action Trip's Ure "Vader" Paul reviews the XBox 360 edition of Overlord II, the recently released Overlord sequel from Codemasters and Triumph Studios, and gives it a 7.2/10:

There are several features you are going to enjoy in Overlord II right from the beginning. The likable and funny characters, beautifully designed environments and more or less pleasing gameplay. It's all rather basic, mind you. The first game seemed unique, especially when compared to all the shooters, strategies and other corny releases that flooded the gaming scene at the time. Overlord II appears to be delivering the same kind of experience, albeit that feeling soon changes as you play.

Conclusion:

If you are prepared to forgive the devs for the many technical downsides, you might just lose yourself in the rich and creative virtual world of Overlord II. Rich content is on offer, along with nearly 20 hours of play time (that's counting the side-quests, I believe). From our experience though, this game brings no improvements whatsoever over its predecessor. In fact, none of the humor and delightful characters in it cannot[sic] divert our belief that this game spoiled a once fun and inventive franchise.

Overlord II has barely hit the shelves, and Strategy Informer reports in an interview with Creative Director Lennert Sas, that DLC has already been planned and should be announced soon. They also discuss some other aspects of the game:

Strategy Informer: The entire game revolves around being evil. Is that why there’s so much slapstick humour? Is it to counteract all the evildoing?

Lennart Sas: Well first off, we enjoy games and one of the key things we think is missing from games is humour. If you look at television shows or movies, there’s always a big slice of the pie taken up by comedies, but with games (the slice is) tiny. We thought humour would work well with this type of game because being an overlord is cool, but at the same time it’s really grim. We don’t really want people to aspire to be someone who burns villages, clubs baby seals and things like that, so the only way we could make this premise work was by making it tongue-in-cheek. The premise and the dark humour go hand in hand.

On the proposed DLC:

Strategy Informer: Can you tell us about your plans for DLC?

Lennart Sas: We’re actually working on that now and it’ll be announced soon.

Strategy Informer: We can’t convince you to give us any details on that yet then?

Lennart Sas: Erm…no!

UK tech site bit-tech.net posts their review for Triumph Studios' and Codemasters' recently released sequel, Overlord II, giving it a very positive 8/10:

Overlord II is a game which satisfies several urges that most people will feel at least at some points in their lives. For a start, the urge to smash stuff up. Whether you’re a closet smasher, an occasional social smasher or a fully blown, self confessed lover of smashing things, Overlord II has you comprehensively covered.

It also satisfies that urge we lowly mortals sometimes get to play God. Maybe some people would rather be sitting up in the clouds firing golden love arrows about rather than be perched on a stone throne in the depths of hell controlling goblins, but it's still great fun hoofing around with a shedload of little bleeders scurrying at your ankles, happy to follow your every whimsical command.

Most people also like to laugh too, and Overlord II is a very funny game. 

Eurogamer posts their review for Triumph Studios' recently released Overlord II, giving it a score of 8/10:

From the top down, it's clear that the Dutch studio listened to the community. The first thing that old hands might notice is that the minion AI is a little sharper, and less inclined to just follow the Overlord to their doom if the way ahead is dangerous. Path finding, too, is more reliable, and as a consequence you don't lose too many minions in inexplicable circumstances. If they do become trapped, after a time they'll invisibly return to their respective minion gates rather than dying in droves as was often the case before. The new mini-map is another crucial addition - it ensures that you know when you're on the right track, and removes all the time-consuming wandering of the original.

Conclusion:

Overall, in what has been a pretty underwhelming year for games so far, Overlord II feels like a shining beacon of quality. Not only is it a distinct improvement on the original, but the new features add greatly to what was already a superbly entertaining game. It manages to strike an excellent balance between being challenging and rewarding, and does so throughout with a wicked smile on its face. If the original was something of a sleeper hit, then the sequel ought to wake people up to its deliciously evil charms.

Triumph Studios has released the demo for Overlord II, their follow-up to Overlord, the hybrid title featuring the opportunity to play an evil master commanding hordes of minions bent on slaughter and absolute domination.  You can pick it up at all the usual locations, including GamersHell, ActionTrip, and Computergames.ro, or visit the Overlord Show site and play an evil mini-game while you download.

IGN has put up a short preview giving their impressions of the XBox 360 demo provided by Codemasters at E3 for their upcoming title, Overlord II, in development by Triumph Studios:

The four minion types are still around and control largely the same as the first Overlord game. Only the brown berserker minions are accessible in the demo. To get through these opening moments, you'll need to harvest enough life force to make a small army of these minions and smash your way through to a boss fight with a yeti. In doing so, you get your first look at the new mounts. For the sequel, your minions can ride things such as catapults or ships. In the demo, it's wolves that the brown minions ride maniacally.

Codemasters is promising a much funnier game this time around. If that turns out to be true we could be in for a treat since the first one definitely had its chuckle inducing moments. Overlord II is out in just a few weeks so we'll know for sure shortly...

If you haven't caught this trailer yet for Codemasters' and Triumph Studios follow-up to their 2007 strategy/rpg Overlord, Strategy Informer has a streaming version that's easy to access here. It loads and plays pretty quickly, so be warned.

Worthplaying has posted what are hopefully four new screens and a trailer for Codemasters' and Triumph Studios' cross platform title, Overlord II, set for June release. You can check them out here.

Codemasters sends out some new media on their upcoming title, Overlords II, including a developer diary on  playing as the old Overlord's offspring(referred to as the Overlad) and some in-game video. You can find it streaming at 1UP and GamersHell, or download it from Worthplaying who along with GamersHell also has four new screens.

Thanks to skavenhorde for the heads up.

GamersHell has a new one-minute trailer of in-game footage plus new screens up for Triumph Studios' and Codemaster's Overlord II. You can download the trailer here. The screens are actually better seen here at ShackNews. And in this press release of the Codemaster's portfolio, they slate the game for a June 2009 release.

(There's also some media for the Wiii title Overlord:Dark Legend , and some screens for a puzzle/action version for the DS here, if anyone's interested.)

Thanks to Gamebanshee for the ShackNews link.

The sequel to last years' multi-platform strategy/rpg title from Codemasters and Triumph Studios, Overlord II, is getting taken for a quick spin at two game sites.

GamesRadar has this to say about it, previewing the PS3 version:

In Overlord 2, you'll actually be playing as the descendant of the "hero" from the first game. Having been smuggled into hiding to avoid the previous Overlord's wrath, you're actually raised by minions to become a brand new force of evil in the world. Speaking of evil, while the first game had some pretty devious moments (slaughtering sheep, hobbits and elves by the truckload), the developers felt that the evil could've been more pronounced. This time around you'll still be making choices to determine how you complete each quest, but the choice is now between domination and annihilation.

IGN chimes in briefly here:

The minions have improved as well. Their mobility has increased so they'll be able to climb walls and make use of mounts that let them jump over rivers. New scripting gives you the option to send them off on independent missions through possession powers. Better still, the minions that you become particularly attached to can even be resurrected when they die..

Overlord II is currently scheduled for a summer release.

Also, Gamespot has a Comic Con video interview up featuring some in-game footage, which you can see here.

Eurogamer posts an interview with Triumph Studios' Lennart Sas, discussing the upcoming sequel to Overlord:

Eurogamer: For the benefit of those who know the original Overlord inside out, then, can you detail the main gameplay differences and additions in the sequel?

Lennart Sas: There are loads of ideas stuffed into Overlord II - often we had to watch out not to add too much. Just a few of the new gameplay highlights include the minions' ability to control war machines, such as catapults and ships, where the minions operate the oars and act as galley slaves. Enemies have become smarter too and some enemy types operate in formations lead by centurions, creating more challenging and epic battles.

Eurogamer delivers a Christmas present for lovers of last year's strategy-adventure-rpgish release from Triumph Studios and Codemasters, Overlord, in the form of a preview of the sequel:

So far, so Overlord, but as much as we loved the first game (and its Raising Hell expansion), even its most bedeviled admirers agreed it wasn't evil enough. We didn't want to stop at laying waste to the land and slaying its populace; we wanted to leave citizens cringing at our all-conquering might, and begging for mercy...So it's good to discover, as we tool around Triumph Studios getting to grips with the sequel, that the developer got the message.

One of the key changes to the strategy-adventure gameplay is that the choices aren't simply about good or evil. After all, you're a cackling Overlord with a giant sword, fearsome armour and a horned helmet; the concept of good doesn't enter the equation. As Triumph's creative director Lennart Sas explains, the premise of the sequel is unfettered tyranny. Players now choose between shades of evil; do you choose the cold-hearted enslavement of domination, or down and dirty demonic destruction?

A bit on the scripting by returning writer, Rhianna Pratchett:

Also in amongst all the levers and pulleys behind the scenes is returning script-writer Rhianna Pratchett. "Rhianna was the only one that really 'got' what we wanted to do," Sas explains. "As a hardcore gamer and an ex-games journo, Rhianna is head and shoulders above some of the Hollywood writing talent that has been popping up in the games industry lately... Games writing works best when the writer works hand-in-hand with the game's designers; so the story is not written before or after the game is made, it's an integral part of the entire process."

Codemasters is continueing their rollout for the sequel to their fantasy title Overlord, aptly named Overlord II, by announcing they've snagged the same writer, Rhianna Pratchett, to script all the iterations, which include those for PC, XBox 360 and PS3, as well as the Wii  Minions and the DS Dark Legend versions. Gamer's Hell has the announcement, along with a few screens, here.