The original Evil Genius was one of my favourite games. Along with Dungeon Keeper, these were truly novel takes on the RTS genre. Not only did they have a fresh take on giving orders, but the...
The original Evil Genius was one of my favourite games. Along with Dungeon Keeper, these were truly novel takes on the RTS genre. Not only did they have a fresh take on giving orders, but the aesthetic was so fun. Both leaned into a comicly evil schtick where being the bad guy was satirical and fun, but much prefered Evil Genius' 60 pastel aesthetic. Evil Genius was clearly inspired by Dungeon Keeper - both have you playing the villain and carving out bases out of rock and fillling them with traps - but in a complletely different setting that appealed to me more.
The gameplay for each was new. RTS at the time was dominated by your Warcrafts, your Command and Conquers, your Total Annihilations. These took a more typical approach that I'll call "micro" approach. You'd tell each unit where to move, and he'd stand there until you told him otherwise, a brainless drone requiring you to zoom doown into each peon. Evil Genius (and Dungeon Keeper), took a different approach which I'll call more "macro" focused – you set the orders at the top, and your peons get to it when they get to it. They are each individual beings, with schedules, and sleeping patterns, and will get to the work when they can. (Put in the language of programming, this is moving from a procedural to a declarative model. Procedural: take thesee steps. Declarative: the end result should look like this). If you're not familiar with it, it's almost like the Sims but spread across your entire faction, and of course much simpler. Both also are about constructing a fixed base and withstnding attacks, much like the villains in the genres are supposed to act.
Only Settlers had mainstream appeal at this more macro focus that I know of.
All in all, Evil Genius was both an incremental improvement while being wonderfully noval (and delightfully satirical!) all at once. It deconstructed both the "Bad guy" troopes and the "RTS" genre, while just being plain fun.
Off the top of my head: StarCraft 2 (2010), 12 years after StarCraft (1998) Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019), 14 years after Kingdom Hearts 2 (2005) Age of Empires 4 (2021?), 16 years after Age of Empires...
Off the top of my head:
StarCraft 2 (2010), 12 years after StarCraft (1998)
Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019), 14 years after Kingdom Hearts 2 (2005)
Age of Empires 4 (2021?), 16 years after Age of Empires 3 (2005)
This one is kind of a technicality, but Kingdom Hearts III (PS4/XB1) was released 14 years after Kingdom Hearts II (PS2). Of course there were a bunch of HD re-releases and side games released in...
This one is kind of a technicality, but Kingdom Hearts III (PS4/XB1) was released 14 years after Kingdom Hearts II (PS2). Of course there were a bunch of HD re-releases and side games released in between, but the core numbered series on console went 14 years between releases.
But I'm really excited to play Evil Genius 2. The first game had so much character and embodied the 60s campy spy era I fell in love with because of TF2 and The Incredibles.
The original Evil Genius was one of my favourite games. Along with Dungeon Keeper, these were truly novel takes on the RTS genre. Not only did they have a fresh take on giving orders, but the aesthetic was so fun. Both leaned into a comicly evil schtick where being the bad guy was satirical and fun, but much prefered Evil Genius' 60 pastel aesthetic. Evil Genius was clearly inspired by Dungeon Keeper - both have you playing the villain and carving out bases out of rock and fillling them with traps - but in a complletely different setting that appealed to me more.
The gameplay for each was new. RTS at the time was dominated by your Warcrafts, your Command and Conquers, your Total Annihilations. These took a more typical approach that I'll call "micro" approach. You'd tell each unit where to move, and he'd stand there until you told him otherwise, a brainless drone requiring you to zoom doown into each peon. Evil Genius (and Dungeon Keeper), took a different approach which I'll call more "macro" focused – you set the orders at the top, and your peons get to it when they get to it. They are each individual beings, with schedules, and sleeping patterns, and will get to the work when they can. (Put in the language of programming, this is moving from a procedural to a declarative model. Procedural: take thesee steps. Declarative: the end result should look like this). If you're not familiar with it, it's almost like the Sims but spread across your entire faction, and of course much simpler. Both also are about constructing a fixed base and withstnding attacks, much like the villains in the genres are supposed to act.
Only Settlers had mainstream appeal at this more macro focus that I know of.
All in all, Evil Genius was both an incremental improvement while being wonderfully noval (and delightfully satirical!) all at once. It deconstructed both the "Bad guy" troopes and the "RTS" genre, while just being plain fun.
I am looking forward to trying out Evil Genius 2.
Of note: this is a sequel released 16 years after the first game. Anybody know any similar lags between a game and its sequel?
Off the top of my head:
StarCraft 2 (2010), 12 years after StarCraft (1998)
Kingdom Hearts 3 (2019), 14 years after Kingdom Hearts 2 (2005)
Age of Empires 4 (2021?), 16 years after Age of Empires 3 (2005)
Duke Nukem is the obvious answer. 1996 to 2011, so 15 years.
This one is kind of a technicality, but Kingdom Hearts III (PS4/XB1) was released 14 years after Kingdom Hearts II (PS2). Of course there were a bunch of HD re-releases and side games released in between, but the core numbered series on console went 14 years between releases.
But I'm really excited to play Evil Genius 2. The first game had so much character and embodied the 60s campy spy era I fell in love with because of TF2 and The Incredibles.
Master of Orion, 1993. Master of Orion II, 1996. Master of Orion III, 2001. Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars.... 2016.