Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by jztemple2 »

Yup, it looks like a Day 1 purchase for me :D
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Citizen »

It seems to be exactly like EG1 with better base graphics and maybe some new characters/henchmen/agents. Is anything actually different?
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Blackhawk »

No clue, but EG1 was a blast, and it has been long enough since I've played it that I'm happy for more.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Blackhawk wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2020 11:15 am and it has been long enough since I've played it that I'm happy for more.
I'm in disbelief that it's been 16 years since the first one. Feels like something I played just a few years ago.

And yeah, even if this turns out to be barely more than a remaster, that's plenty enough for me to buy it day 1.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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I could never get into Evil Genius. I love these type of games, but this one didn't click for me. I'll be waiting
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Paingod »

StarTopia redone ... Evil Genius redone ... what other awesome older gems are next?
naednek wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2020 4:01 pmI could never get into Evil Genius. I love these type of games, but this one didn't click for me. I'll be waiting
I played it, but could only really enjoy it after I abused the starting wealth bugs that let you accumulate millions with no risk by letting the game run overnight after you got the ability to make money, but before the world governments invaded you for it.

Without that, I found revenue generation pretty frustrating as it always meant dealing with constant invasions. Without constant invasions its a much nicer pace.

The -one- thing the game lacked that I wished it had was a way to zone an area as "off limits" to my minions. Would have saved a lot of headaches.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by jztemple2 »

Paingod wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:09 am I played it, but could only really enjoy it after I abused the starting wealth bugs that let you accumulate millions with no risk by letting the game run overnight after you got the ability to make money, but before the world governments invaded you for it.

Without that, I found revenue generation pretty frustrating as it always meant dealing with constant invasions. Without constant invasions its a much nicer pace.

The -one- thing the game lacked that I wished it had was a way to zone an area as "off limits" to my minions. Would have saved a lot of headaches.
It has been so long ago I don't even remember how it played. I took the liberty of posting your comments over on the Rebellion Facebook newsfeed (I don' Discord or Tweet).
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Jolor »

I played the first one but got burned out at the point where I had to leave the first island. That would have been enough for me. Same timing for Overlord.

Hoping that they can bring a solid and lasting gameplay hook for EG2.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Paingod wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:09 am StarTopia redone ... Evil Genius redone ... what other awesome older gems are next?
Please please please, a proper Syndicate remake or sequel would be great.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Montag wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 8:39 am
Paingod wrote: Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:09 am StarTopia redone ... Evil Genius redone ... what other awesome older gems are next?
Please please please, a proper Syndicate remake or sequel would be great.
1: +1
2: GoTo 1
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Formix »

Wait, there’s a StarTopia remake? How did I not know that?
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Looks like it was lost in the PC Gaming Randomness thread.

But... yeah.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by wonderpug »

If you preorder Startopia from the game website you get instant access to the beta, too.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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There was a twitter stream from the devs today about the game, but I'm not much for sitting watching videos about gameplay so I only caught a few minutes of it. However, I did hear something that I liked, assuming I heard it rightly. They said that in the campaign the lair you start building is the one you stay with all through the campaign, in other words you don't go back and start from scratch each mission. That restarting a city/locale/fort/whatever for each mission is what kinds of burns me out when playing games like the Tropico series campaigns. If I understood their point correctly, this is a real selling point for me.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Paingod »

That's a direct throwback to the original Evil Genius. There weren't real missions, though - it was more directing minions to perform evil deeds and waiting to see the results. The meat of the game was building your base, expanding your tech, and fending off investigators.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by jztemple2 »

Paingod wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:37 pm That's a direct throwback to the original Evil Genius. There weren't real missions, though - it was more directing minions to perform evil deeds and waiting to see the results. The meat of the game was building your base, expanding your tech, and fending off investigators.
That sounds good to me. It really has been so long I don't even remember the original game.
wonderpug wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:27 pm If you preorder Startopia from the game website you get instant access to the beta, too.
I'm very tempted, but beta is like Early Access to which I've sworn off. I do have the original game on Steam now, since I've long since lost the physical copy I had. I might fire that up.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Gah, that's beautiful. Hopefully there will be DLC that includes the ability to play as an evil, stable genius.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Paingod »

It looks remarkably like the original with a few key points enhanced.
  • The world map has some detail in it
  • There's a visual tech tree instead of an assumed one
  • Bases have multiple levels
Still - it felt like nostalgia. That's dangerous. If they promised I could zone an area to keep minions out but let investigators in, I'd be all over it. It got tedious to try and build "long ass routes" for minions but "direct corridors of death" for investigators.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Rebellion announces they will begin to dominate the world on March 30th when they release Evil Genius 2: World Domination.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Hopefully at a great price. I would hate to be someone in charge of game sales/monetization at this particular point in time, gah.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Daehawk »

Thanks Blues.....

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/219259/evil ... s-unveiled
Rebellion offers details on a sandbox mode that will be part of Evil Genius 2: World Domination when the bad-guy strategy sequel is released on Steam on March 30th. Word is: "Build your lair without having to worry about campaign progression or unlocking things – or about how little sense your layout makes.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Unfortunately, there are some concerns about the gameplay.... Evil Genius 2 has spy-fi charm, but its strategy game layer foils the plan
Here’s how the World Domination system works. Starting out with only your island base, you’ll eventually send minions out on special missions around the world, establishing criminal networks in various territories. You can build radio transceivers to increase the number of networks you can have active, and research eventually allows you to upgrade them. Once that’s all set up you can use your criminal network to launch schemes in territories around the world, and those missions provide you with additional income to fuel further development.

The trouble is, there’s very little variety in this strategic layer, and what’s worse, none of what’s there is particularly interesting. Schemes boil down to a rudimentary transaction where you’re effectively spending minions (who flow into your base at a determined rate) to complete a job and getting cash in return – your involvement in this process is limited to picking a scheme and then waiting for a timer to count down.

Completing schemes raises the ‘heat’ level in the associated region, and so you’ll occasionally have to spend a few minions (or some gold) on a scheme to reduce it – or face a region lockdown, which amounts to yet another timer to wait out.

This makes the World Domination system feel unpleasantly like a free-to-play mobile experience, except there are no gem bundles you can buy to eliminate the wait – and no, that’s not a request. The waiting times aren’t insignificant: many schemes take ten full minutes, and enemy agents show up every 20 minutes or so. That’s a lot of finger-drumming.

Combine that with a few bugs and other inconveniences that can normally be forgiven in a preview build, and it’s not hard to imagine how Evil Genius 2 became a little wearisome after five hours. That’s not to say there’s not a fun game to be found here. The ’60s style is crisp and charming, and creating a gold-plated inner sanctum complete with a gaudy throne and an unnecessarily large conference table is a hoot. But the World Domination mode feels wide of the mark – enough to sour the mood in the rest of your lair.
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Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Carpet_pissr »

IIRC the world domination piece of the first one was not great either. In fact it sounds really similar to the way it worked in the first one. Did they not change it?
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 3:46 am IIRC the world domination piece of the first one was not great either. In fact it sounds really similar to the way it worked in the first one. Did they not change it?
It sounds identical, and it didn't bother me. Yes, it's light. No, it's not the core of the gameplay.

In the original:

You'd recruit minions into your base - the number of which was limited by the facilities you installed to house and train them. You could get 100 in total (but I often modded the game's INI files to allow around 200). Basic minions trained up into different classes of Tier II minions, who in turn trained into different classes of Tier III minions. Minions were (IIRC) general labor, science, social, and combat. The game (without a modded INI file) was designed so you'd have maybe 5 of the best of any class, 10 of the second, and 25 of the basic yellow jumpsuits.

When you weren't sending them out, Yellow Jumpsuits were doing construction and logistics, Social minions worked your Casino and distracted agents, Science workers ran the labs and analyzers, and Combat minions were on guard duty or defending your base from attack.

In the over world map, you'd assign a number of minions to any given task. Some missions required you to send Mercenaries, or maybe a Valet, or maybe a Sniper. You'd add in a number of other minions to help increase the likelihood of success. When you felt like you had the odds enough in your favor, you hit the "Go" button and a timer would start. All you had to do was wait for the timer to end. Minions would slough off the mission (knocked over) as it progressed. If you lost all your minions before time timer finished, the mission failed. If you had minions when it was done, the mission was a success and the ones left over came back with the rewards - often as gold bars or technology you had to research.

This was a fine mechanic. You didn't need to sit and watch. You couldn't babysit the outcome and impact it in any way. You didn't need to. While a mission was running, or a dozen of them, you were busy moving your Evil Genius around the island, directing construction or training. You were designing and expanding. You were watching minions interact with investigators and tourists.

Missions generated Heat and Infamy in addition to money or research materials. Heat was your measure of scrutiny from the world's police forces. If Heat got too high, countries would send cops to investigate you - if it was really high, they'd send a special agent. Tourists also came to your island and wandered around. If they went missing, it generated Heat. If they left happy, it decreased Heat.

To help manage Heat, Investigators, and Tourists you made traps to keep people out of sensitive areas and hotels or casinos to lure them to safer parts of the island. It was fun to watch tourists go about exploring your casino, but more fun to watch agents get ping-ponged around a hallway and pushed into a flamethrower trap before being flung into a man-eating Venus flytrap.

The game wasn't about the over world map. That was just a means to an end, and didn't need to be involved and complex. You had enough to do inside your base to keep you occupied. If you spent your time watching the over world map and checking timers, you were playing wrong. The game is often like watching an ant farm. You spend a good deal of time observing the characters on your island, looking for people who might have snuck in, and assessing their interactions with the world you've built. You don't spend it drumming your fingers, watching a clock.

Likening the timer to a mobile game is a cheap shot. In an age of instant-gratification and short attention spans, it doesn't bother me to have something that stops me from doing "all the things at once" and forces me to step through things more deliberately.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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I vaguely remember the mechanics of the system, but I’m very sure I would remember something that made me sit there and wait while doing nothing else - because I would have come across that and quit immediately. :D

I hope they didn’t introduce that, because I really would like to try this.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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I enjoyed the first. It was a Dungeon Keeper/Startopia game with the spy feel. Does that hold up over time without advancing genre? I don't know. But I'll watch for it, just as I'll watch for the next Startopia.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Feb 17, 2021 9:46 am I vaguely remember the mechanics of the system, but I’m very sure I would remember something that made me sit there and wait while doing nothing else - because I would have come across that and quit immediately. :D

I hope they didn’t introduce that, because I really would like to try this.
Fuzzy memories, but I thought in the original you could just fast forward time off you wanted to.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Even though it is the cinematic trailer there is a lot of actual recorded gameplay. Really looking forward to this game.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Kinda surprised they didn't make a game like this using the Despicable Me movie as a base.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Daehawk wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:44 pmKinda surprised they didn't make a game like this using the Despicable Me movie as a base.
It'd be strange, since Despicable Me felt like it was pulled from Evil Genius.

This absolutely looks like a Remaster++ of the original, and in no way is that a bad thing. From the structure placement with footpads showing where minions will stand to the coloring of zones set aside for demolition and the overall traps/minions/base/abduction themes. I see a LOT of mirrored game elements that make it feel very familiar.

Flashier graphics, smoother animations, updated technology on display, and multiple layers to bases (the original had one layer and it was often constraining). I don't see any problems here, unless someone in their development team does a major faceplant into some high-grade LSD and goes out of their way to ruin it. I bought the original on disc ages ago, and again on GOG. This is on my short list of "Buy as soon as reviews say it's not screwed" list.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by naednek »

Paingod wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:36 am
Daehawk wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:44 pmKinda surprised they didn't make a game like this using the Despicable Me movie as a base.
It'd be strange, since Despicable Me felt like it was pulled from Evil Genius.

This absolutely looks like a Remaster++ of the original, and in no way is that a bad thing.
It's a bad thing if you didn't like the game :P

That trailer was super boring. I'm hoping the game has more energy\charisma than that lady
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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naednek wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 11:15 amIt's a bad thing if you didn't like the game :P
Okay, yeah. I suspect - very strongly - that if a person never liked the original, then this is going to be absolutely not for them. It does appear to be more of the same, and if you felt like the original was crap ... well... who wants more crap?
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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Paingod wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 10:36 am
Daehawk wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:44 pmKinda surprised they didn't make a game like this using the Despicable Me movie as a base.
It'd be strange, since Despicable Me felt like it was pulled from Evil Genius.
I almost said the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised if the game inspired the movie.

I am cautiously excited. Almost enough to pre-order. The only two things dissuading me are the lingering thought that maybe this is too much of a rehash or has no actual game beyond building (I mean I could just play Dwarf Fortress) and the fact that the Startopia reboot also comes out at the same time (but Kalypso is so hit/miss).
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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baelthazar wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 2:18 pmAlmost enough to pre-order.
Almost, but not quite. I'm content to sit back and wait for reviews. Ditto on the Startopia reboot.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Daehawk »

https://www.bluesnews.com/s/220628/evil ... on-reviews

Reviews are in. Most are 8s and 9s with a couple 6s thrown in and one perfect 10.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

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I've got my pre-order in so I'll be posting impressions sometime later in the day tomorrow. Due to some clever evil manipulations of my wife :wink: I've managed to convince her we should stay home all day tomorrow and do our Walmart and grocery shopping on Wednesday after I get my second Covid vaccine shot.

I will note that although I've played the first version it has been so long ago that I can't really remember anything about the gameplay so in essence I'll be looking at EG2 with fresh eyes.
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Re: Evil Genius 2 World Domination

Post by Carpet_pissr »

78 Metacritic with 34 reviews (commercial)
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