A surprise, but not one without a compromise or two, Overlord is a pleasantly accessible mix of primarily action and adventure, but also one blessed with RPG and puzzle-solving elements.

It's set in a kingdom that has been let down by a series of heroes. They overthrew the old Overlord, who has since been rotting in his tower, which itself has fallen into disrepair. Still, the heroes have proven a failure and the people are looking for someone to rise up and save them. Thus, re-enter the evil, nasty Overlord, who looks to reclaim his lands from these heroes and get his tower repaired - bringing subsequent powers online - as he does so.

There are two twists of sorts designed to differentiate Overlord from the crowd. Bluntly, one of them works and one of them doesn't.

The one that doesn't is the promise that you get to be evil and nasty and play a baddie and stuff. Sure, your Overlord commits evil acts, such as slaying peasants, eating their food and proving not to be the saviour they were hoping for (although it's entirely up to you whether you're good or bad, to be fair). But there's rarely any consequence of note for taking the evil route, short of some name-calling by passers-by. You can burn everything they have and still they sit there talking about how they're going to beat you up. The evil angle simply doesn't really convince.

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But then there are the minions, a series of impish creatures who are divided into four races (which we'll come to shortly). The minions are there to do your dirty work, from collecting goodies scattered around the landscape through to battling enemies and gaining access to areas you'd otherwise not be able to get to. Initially, you can only control up to five at a time (assuming you have that many available), but through getting them to pick up extras as you progress through the game, that's soon boostable up to 50.

At first, these slavishly loyal minions will warm your heart thanks to their brutality, their Gremlins-like noises and their ability to put a smile on your face. But then the game evolves slightly and introduces the different races, which is where some puzzle elements come in.

Minions can be brown (these are the fighters), red (who can absorb fire, but are rubbish in a hand-to-hand fight), green (these are the assassins, and can absorb poisonous gasses that block your way) and blue (who are weak, immune to magic, and are the only minions who aren't killed by water). The first task, effectively, is to track all four races down, but then the game's levels increasingly charge you with combining the respective skills of these minions to beat its puzzles.

And so, while the thrust of the game is you as a big warrior with one Hell of an axe (which itself can be improved via the sacrifice of minions once you fix your tower's forge), and while the onus is primarily on slashing, fighting, exploring and casting the odd spell, Overlord proves itself to be a game of many talents.

To its credit, it holds it all together very well, too. There are camera issues at times, there are points where you wish the controls were a little more precise, and there are alternative games that are better at some of the things that Overlord attempts to do. But there's a charm and ambition here that lifts it into something really quite strong.

Overlord isn't perfect, and there's little point pretending otherwise. But it's really good fun, quite long-lasting and a cleverly executed mix of a good few genres.

A nice, unexpected gaming surprise. While not without problems, Overlord offers a great deal of entertainment and a lot to enjoy.