Evil Genius Review

A couple of other things that are worth mentioning is that, in the later stages of the game, I encountered some balancing issues that mostly have to do with your military minions and your ability to defend your base. There is no way for the henchmen to gather minions of just one type (say, the military minions), so you'll often end up fighting heavily armed soldiers that are trying to infiltrate your lair by sending valets and technicians at them. That doesn't really do your evil reputation (or your lair) any good let me tell you.

Hey, I used to be a DJ before I became a thug. What's wrong with that? Huh? Huh? You talkin' to me?

From now on, it's going to be Hugh Hefner clones in my own private TV studio.

Additionally, the minions have a mind of their own, as you only have direct control over your big boss and the henchmen. The problem with this is also part of the game's charm, so we're faced with a rather absurd situation. Although it's fun sometimes to just direct events, rather than play them out like in a real-time strategy, it can get tiring when you can't defend your lair the way you're supposed to because your brain-dead valets are running headlong into trouble while the heavily armed guards play games in the arcade room. There is a solution to this, and that's to put in place more security cameras and loudspeakers, but even that isn't nearly as effective as it should be.

Finally, both the soundtrack and the voice acting are brilliant in this one, ensuring that Austin Powers-like atmosphere and feel of the game are genuine and ultimately very fun and enjoyable.

I have a feeling that Evil Genius will get a lot of mixed reviews. Many reviewers won't spend enough time on it, or invest enough energy into it to realize how fun and addictive it can be. On the other hand, there'll be reviewers like me that'll tell you that, although the game suffers from various setbacks, it's still hella addictive and fun to play. Not to mention that the single-player campaign is HUGE, so you'll get hours and hours of fun from it. Evil Genius needs polish; it needs clearer mission objectives most of all, and then it needs to make some of its features more transparent. But investing time into it will be time well spent, or at least that's how I see it. This is a very subjective review and it's skewed by reviewer's affection for the game and fond memories of playing it for many a nights and days supposedly for reviewing purposes. There are traces and fleeting silhouettes of old-school gaming in Evil Genius and I, for one, can appreciate those (Since you yourself are a maniacal, slave driving task master bent on World Domination? -Ed). If I had so much fun with it (even despite all its drawbacks) maybe there will be other people out there that will feel the same way about it.