Overlord II demo on Xbox Live

By Robert Purchese Published 4 June, 2009

Minions of imps!

Codemasters has trampled an Overlord II demo into Xbox Live Marketplace.

The sampler offers a taste of the minion-bossing action that arrives in full on 26th June.

Overlord II brings welcome improvements to the series, such as a polished game engine, boss battles and various new abilities.

Otherwise, developer Triumph hasn't strayed too far from the original concept - retaining its dark pantomime humour.

Head over to our hands-on impressions of Overlord II for something to read while the demo downloads.

Overlord II is also heading to PC and PS3, demos of which can't be far behind.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • muscleblade #1 3 years ago

    Giving this a try i think.

    Need to play Red Faction demo again too before deciding a purchase or not.

  • Doctor_What #2 3 years ago

    Cool, this is definitely on my watch-list.

  • Darren #3 3 years ago

    Overlord II on the LIVE Marketplace to download you say?

    Not for us Silver users it isn't. Annoys me that these *free* promotional demos are restricted to paying subscribers. I have no interest in playing games online so I no longer pay for a Gold account but yet I have every interest in these game demos. What's insulting is that when you try to load such a demo it suggests politely that you upgrade to a Gold account. What... just to play a piece of promotional advertising?!?

    Sure, Silver users only have to wait a week or two to try these games so it's not the end of the world or anything but if it's close to the release of the actual game, as was the case with UFC 2009, then it's useless. You don't have to pay a subscription fee to download demos on the PS3 or PC as soon as they're released so why do you have to on the 360?

    I seem to recall originally Silver users could download demos at the same time as Gold users but obviously Microsoft have realised that by limiting them to Gold users for a week or so they can con a few more people into upgrading their subscription. Cheeky blighters!!!

  • Triggerhappytel #4 3 years ago

    I hope this demo comes to PSN soon; I really like the look of this game but would like to try it out first.

  • beastmaster #5 3 years ago

    Will download later.

    @muscleblade
    I'm doing the same with Red Faction. I wasn't THAT impresses it, but all the reviews have been pretty damn good overall. Multiplayer may be where it's at.

  • Wastelander #6 3 years ago

    I wonder what it feels like to live in a constant state of indignant outrage?

  • cyacomini #7 3 years ago

    Darren - have you not got any of those 48hr gold trials around?

  • Triggerhappytel #8 3 years ago

    @ beastmaster - it's worth noting that there's an embargo on RFG reviews which are less than 9/10 - I write for a site and when our PR guy told THQ we'd scored it 7/10 they said we were not allowed to publish it before the game's release.

  • Waldo #9 3 years ago

    I have a Silver account and don't really care about having to wait a week to try demos. Hopefully next week I won't have forgotten about this and will give it a try. ;)

    Funny thing though: when they were selling Bionic Commando Rearmed cheap last week, the offer was only available to Gold subscribers; what, my rusty Silver-level coins not good enough? ;)

  • Darren #10 3 years ago

    Those 48 hour trials don't work, cyacomini, they only allow to play games online and don't give access to any of the other Gold features such as discounted DLC and demos on release. Alas.

    I cancelled by Gold sub without a second thought when I realised I was effectively throwing away £40 per year because I just don't play games online. However, I quickly came to realise that most (but, oddly not all) Xbox 360 demos are locked out when you're a Silver subbie. I've been getting round it by downloading multiformat game demos from my PS3 but it doesn't get every game at the same time as the 360. It's quite annoying to see demos that I cannot download. For example, I still cannot try the Fight Night Round 4 demo.

  • muscleblade #11 3 years ago

    @beastmaster

    Exactly. The reviews have been extremely positive so far.

  • muscleblade #12 3 years ago

    "it's worth noting that there's an embargo on RFG reviews which are less than 9/10 "

    IGNs review is 8/10. OXMs review is 7/10. Those have been out for awhile. 88% is the metacritic average right now. It will go down i guess but an average above 80% always catch my attention.

  • Dizzy #13 3 years ago

    Np Darren.. just download the demo on the PS3 then instead of whining.

    Oh wait...

  • Triggerhappytel #14 3 years ago

    Sorry, my mistake - I meant to say 8/10, because I knew of the IGN score.

    Not sure about the OXM score though, but THQ certainly blocked our review being published.

  • rotmm #15 3 years ago

    Darren,

    While I admire your passion and faux anger, you are in the position to download these demo's over PSN instead, so it's not really hampering you personally, is it?

  • muscleblade #16 3 years ago

    "I was effectively throwing away £40 per year "

    To me its seems like your high interest in demos is worth 40£ a year.

  • brinlarden #17 3 years ago

    the demo was fun, the "gay" sounding elves made me think of south park straight away for some reason. bad lip synch though :/

  • muscleblade #18 3 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel

    I believe you. I can get the game today, but i guess i wait for more reviews and maybe Prototype. Going to play the demo some more though.

  • beastmaster #19 3 years ago

    Hmm...even if there is an embargo on Meta for Red Faction, there's still a whole load of +ve reviews.

    Anyhow, back to Overlord. This lookks like it could be a whole heap of fun.

    /goes back to pondering Red Faction

  • Darren #20 3 years ago

    @rotmm - Is Overlord II available on the PSN? Is Fight Night Round 4?

    No... well I rest my case! :p

  • mingster #21 3 years ago

    lol @ darren.
    cancelling your sub then complaining about it.
    It's less than £1 a week and you think thats too much?
    You cheapskate

  • rotmm #22 3 years ago

    Well then Darren, that's not exactly MS's fault, is it?

  • 8bitMofo #23 3 years ago

    Demos are usually ripped, and made available on various websites for people to simply download and burn to CD.

  • Malek86 #24 3 years ago

    @Darren: now to be completely honest, demos will often appear at least a week sooner on XBL rather than PSN. If you were a PSN user, you would still have to wait a week compared to XBL Gold users. So, in a sense, it's not that Silver users have to wait a week to download them, it's just that Gold users can get them a week earlier than the rest of the world.

    Then again, it is true that Silver used to be able to download them on first day, so I guess it kinda sucks.

  • JahB #25 3 years ago

    I don't get the silver thing; if you don't want to go online with your console, fair enough, but if you're already online, what's the point?

    and btw, you can get 13 months subscription cards for live for a hell of a lot less than 40 quid

  • JonFE #26 3 years ago

    Darren, no offense mate, but you've made a choice and you have to face the consequences.

    Like Malek86 mentioned, it's like gold members getting the demos one week earlier than the rest - silver members and PSN users alike. You may not be happy with that -and for a good reason- but, on the other hand, this way MS increases the value of its gold membership by granting them access to stuff early and quicker (fewer users tried to download the same demo).
    Edited by 1 at 04/06/09 @ 15:15

  • muscleblade #27 3 years ago

    "it's like gold members getting the demos one week earlier than the rest - silver members and PSN users alike"

    Very good point, and i wouldnt have it any other way. Paying Live customers should be rewarded and MS make sure they do.

  • Gearskin #28 3 years ago

    Considering the number of games bought, and the number of consoles owned, £40 a year hardly seems like a waste.

  • ZuluHero #29 3 years ago

    like someone said earlier less than a pound a week...

  • shotgun44 #30 3 years ago

    30 posts and only about 2 about Overlord. Ha!

    Never did play Overlord but I did play the demo. Really fun, still intend to get it when i find the time. Really should play some more sub 8/10 reviews (I know overlord scored higher iirc), just played Tomb Raider Legend and apart from the atrocious graphics, I loved it!

  • shotgun44 #31 3 years ago

    I'm a gold user and happy with it. I agree that it is less than £1 a week but it never feels like that when you pay a lump sum. My PS3 wasn't £7 a week, it was £400...

  • EffEmmGee #32 3 years ago

    @Triggerhappytel: Actually all reviews for Red Faction Guerrilla are embargoed until 9am 5th June. It doesn't matter what score you give it too. I know because I got my review copy directly from THQ and that's exactly what the covering letter states.

    "...Please find a copy of Red Faction Guerrilla review code enclosed
    Please note that the embargo for all online reviews is 9am GMT Friday 5th June..."

    Says nothing about score restrictions.

  • xexuxjy #33 3 years ago

    On topic :) downloaded and played last night. I'd completed the original a while back and didn't have much interest in the sequal as I'd got a bit bored with it.... I'd forgotten how much fun it can be in small chunks though, and twisted as it is you can't help but like a game which has a tutorial level involving ,erm 'collecting' seal cubs..... . Looking forward to full thing now.

  • Scimarad #34 3 years ago

    "It's less than £1 a week and you think thats too much? You cheapskate "

    Hardly, that's £1 a week just on the off chance you might want to download a demo. People who do a lot of online gaming and therefore have a gold subscription are just never going to get how annoying it is. Either that, or it's a knee-jerk reaction to the suggestion that someone might be criticizing Xbox live and, by extension, the Xbox 360.

    Doesn't particularly bother me, though. I just hang on until I can download it for free.
    Edited by 1 at 06/06/09 @ 09:31