The yellowish guys are your grunts, capable of giving and receiving a fair amount of damage in combat before buckling under the pressure. Each hue possesses a different skill set. There are four varieties, handily distinguishable by color. These malformed creatures are your lackeys and they look the part: shriveled heads, loincloths, glittering fangs and malevolent eyes. These areas are held together by an assortment of twisting paths and streams that in Metroid-like fashion prevent you from progressing too far until certain conditions are met.ДЇrequently, the variety and number of minions you possess limits your potential progress. You'll be able venture into volcanic craters, foreboding forests, crumbling ruins and just about any other fantasy clichГ© that springs to mind.

This starting area gradually expands as you explore. Wicked!ДЇrom your menacing tower-which you can restore to its distinguished former self by investing in glowering chimera statues, horned thrones and so forth-you can initially warp to a relatively peaceful countryside where the human village of Spree is being overrun by ambitious halflings. You're the reincarnation of the slain menace and you plan to rebuild the evil empire you controlled in a former life. Then some heroes came along and killed him, ransacked his prized tower and left to bask in the accolades of the people that they saved from eternal torment at the hands of a harsh dictator. Your predecessor was big, bad and deadly. The adventure begins as you are woken from your slumber by an impish lackey who hauls you off to a meadow so that you can get your bearings. Your agenda is dark, it's devious and it just might make for the most refreshing game premise you see this year. all fall to your blade, spear, ax and sorcery. Human and sea serpent, halfling and sheep. Your goal instead is to slaughter him like a pig. And when a noble paladin enters the picture-Sir William the Black, they call him-you aren't there to offer a wedding toast. In Overlord: Raising Hell, you don't play the halfling hero. Somehow, though, that's exactly what makes everything work.Д«ecause everything is so familiar, the few twists are completely memorable. On the surface, it's all as generic as a sex-starved succubus. Dwarves drink a lot and sport bushy beards. Ethereal elves can't seem to utter a syllable without it sounding melodic. Halfling broods dwell in cottages carved from grass-covered hillsides. You'll encounter plenty of irritating do-gooders during your 20 or 30-hour journey through a warped reflection of Middle Earth. Self-righteous heroes such as Frodo Baggins aren't the focus of the game, but they might as well be. Why else would Overlord: Raising Hell exist? Or maybe that's just me, but I don't think so. Perhaps you pictured him slowly sailing through the air as the camera panned around his surprised face and paused for a second so that you could see what he looks like without his favored expressions of martyrdom and anguish. all fall to your blade, spear, ax and sorcery.'ДЄdmit it: sometime during the course of watching вЂњThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingвЂќ you wondered just how far Frodo would fly if someone hit him with a solid uppercut. 'Because everything is so familiar, the few twists are completely memorable. Overlord: Raising Hell (PlayStation 3) review

Overlord raising hell forge