Evil Genius 2: World Domination

I don't feel like this was done justice.

they kept all the stuff that made the first game boring and not fun, and added a bunch more complicated UI . . .

Хороша ігра хоч як для мене перша була краще, особливо мені не сподобалась суперзброя, прокопав 12 частинок гори і бац зброя готова в першій частині будуєш супутник, ракету з частин, дивишся як це все збирається, склажаєш її, вибираєш тип супутника і т.д. не дивлячись на це грати можливо навіть сотню годин можлипо пограти проходячи гру за всіх персонажів.

not bad but pretty basic and repetitive, $5-10 game at best

Game is ass dont play this slop

Since I watched videos of Evil Genius youtubers like The Imperial Player and PyroFalkon play. I enjoy the game

Firstly, i need to be clear - this one contains a large amount of nostalgia for me and I still have the old CD ROM. As for the game itself well, there is a story, a plotline to follow and different "evil genius" and henchmen for you to choose from for a bit of replayability. There is a bit of base build to deck out your evil lair and prioritise what you are researching depending on your individual playstyle. However, whilst there are individual stories for each henchman or loot grab - the essential gameplay mechanics for each story are very similar and it can get repetitive after a while and there is also a high level of micro managing the world map (which was the bit that I found a bit tedious)- this is a game which is better played for a couple of hours here and there - rather than a solid "cant put it down" type of gaming session. Is it worth the money? - well you can get a good few hours fun gameplay before it starts to get repetitive - my recommendation - if you like this style of game - wait for the sale.

this is roughly the same game as the first one but this one is done a lot better imo. its a whole lot less glitchy and they fixed the issue of minions not training and replenishing your ranks. right now i am on medium difficulty and i am actually looking forward to replaying it on hard with a different evil genius (hopefully they have a different voice actor doing the other choices) i only have one real complaint is that though they fixed a lot of issues and made the graphics better they didn't really add anything to the whole genere of dungeon building. so rebellion if your reading this please do a evil genius 3.

Evil Genius 2 perfectly nails the 1960s spy-fi aesthetic, but unfortunately, the gameplay doesn't live up to the vibe. Going into this, I was expecting something much closer to the Dungeons series, with its tight, reactive base-building, active defense mechanics, and rewarding management loop. Instead, the game replaces that engaging "dungeon master" feel with a tedious, mobile-like grind. A massive chunk of your time is wasted staring at the World Stage map, waiting for timers to countdown and managing global heat levels. It feels less like running a chaotic, villainous lair and more like dealing with a sluggish, passive Excel spreadsheet. It’s a shame, because the charm is definitely there, but the gameplay loop is just too boring compared to the Dungeons formula.

[b]Overall Score: 5 / 10 (Neutral)[/b] [b]Bottom line first:[/b] Got it on sale, one playthrough on hard. Good enough to reach the end, but while I played Part 1 over 10 times, I can't imagine replay value here. Since Steam lacks a neutral button, this gets a thumbs up because I had my fun and down feels too harsh. However, expect massive downgrades from the original—buy it only if you are a hardcore fan. [b]Why call it a mess?[/b] [b]1. Depth of Field from hell:[/b] The built-in blur is an abomination. If I buy a big screen, I want to see my base sharply, not look through a smeared lens. Next time give us an option to toggle this garbage off. [b]2. Artificial waiting times:[/b] Only one mission at a time. Why? If I want to manage multiple threats or tasks simultaneously, let me. Forcing me to sit around waiting for lockdown timers kills the pacing entirely. [b]3. Useless notifications:[/b] "An item has been destroyed." Which one? Where? With thousands of items in a huge base, this generic alert is plain useless. At least specify the item in the log and make it clickable to auto-zoom to the location! [b]4.Storytelling & Climax: The Anti-Bond Experience[/b] Did the writers ever watch a James Bond movie? The dramatic build-up of your doomsday device is completely ruined. Test-firing the weapon 6 times on Stage 1? In any proper spy fiction, you threaten the world once or twice, 007 arrives, and the third time is the final climax. Instead, you fire it so many times the world leaders should have surrendered (or nuked your base in retaliation). After the testing phase of HAVOC, you fire it 10+ more times just to get through all the side-quest boxes. Endlessly recharging and firing kills any sense of escalating global tension. Worse, the automatic Red Alert triggered during firing is plain stupid. It is completely unnecessary and actively hinders your well-planned base operations. [b]Now to more game-specific stuff:[/b] Did the devs even play Part 1? Some core mechanics were severely butchered. [b]1. Doors:[/b] Why can't I lock doors anymore? There is no way to stop stupid workers from wandering into dangerous areas where they don't belong. [b]2. The mutation of doors:[/b] Part 1 had great doors. Here, they actively punish you. Each door forces your minions to halt, yet low-level agents hack SecLevel 3 doors faster than minions can walk through SecLevel 1 doors. Separating your rooms destroys base efficiency, so the meta is to just not use doors—which looks terrible. Lairs need doors, but they shouldn't cripple your infrastructure. [b]3. Henchmen:[/b] They are never where you want them and won't stay where ordered. When you call them, the battle is over 80% of the time anyway, or they stop mid-way for unknown reasons. Jubei is only top-tier because he can teleport. The devs completely removed the rally order from Part 1, where henchmen could bring a squad of minions with them. (At least Doomhilda works nicely as a damage-sponge staying in the Casino: Near the entry). [b]4. Cams & Alarm chaos (The Iris situation):[/b] A good lair needs cameras, but you can only place them in corridors now. Putting them in important rooms like treasure chamber is apparently forbidden, forcing you to design stupid hallway layouts. Iris is useful precisely because the security system is so crippled—she serves as a mobile camera to rally (did i talked about the old rally order?) the army wherever Agent X or Symmetry spawns. Furthermore, where is the base-wide speaker system? In Part 1, you could color-code security grids to manage waves dynamically. Now it's a mess. Minions running to a fight bump into a lone survivor, kill them, completely forget their original security order, and just take a nap. And Henchmen cant use desks so they ignore cam alerts. [b]5. Minion buffing:[/b] Buff buildings should provide permanent stat boosts. Instead, minions juggle temporary morale, health, and stat regeneration buffs. The first buff wears off before the last one is applied! Combat minions are even worse: Kung Fu guys stand at the shooting range while ranged fighters use the melee buffer. And minions sitting at desks (so the only one reacting to actual threats) use nothing. [i]If we had the old camera/speaker system, we could have a "Ready Room" where grunts train, lifting and sparring, until an alarm clears the room. Then time-limited buffs would make sense—provided we could use individual checkboxes to block specific minion classes from using the wrong equipment![/i] [b]6. Loot mechanics (And why I avoided them):[/b] This tedious buff design is why I didn't even bother to build my loot for 3/4 of the playthrough. For the sword quest, you are forced to place it, and minions instantly waste time interacting with it. And remember: The "desk guards" - the one heading into real fights - never get the buff anyway. I feared dropping 20+ loot items would just create massive work-time sinks. When I finally placed the rest of my loot near the end, my fears were confirmed: all but one or two buffs are temporary, and the permanent ones are research-related (at a stage where no relevant research is left). The exceptions are awesome aura items, like morale regen near body bags or speed buffs near security desks. At least one buff that gets applied when they need it: To run faster towards the enemy! But then you look at the Statue of Liberty: more detection? The aura only triggers on the minion's way to the camera chair, not while they are sitting on it. The buff wears off immediately, leaving you with zero detection boost while they actually work. [b]Some final impressions:[/b] The game is stable: No game-breaking bugs and only 1 crash in 100+ hours. However, it fails to warn you about massive completionist traps. There is zero info that Clara and Carl are mutually exclusive, locking you out of the achievement. There is also no warning that killing super agents early locks you out of recruiting Sir Daniel. It is sad that you need an external guide to avoid ruining a completionist run. Which brings us right back to the start: while I liked it enough to finish it once, I'm absolutely not going to replay a campaign just to fix those two unflagged choices. And that's a little sad. [b]Final Thoughts:[/b] I really hope they make an [i]Evil Genius 3[/i] some day, where they actually remember what made Part 1 great and bring back deep, complex management features instead of this watered-down design.