Commander Shepard and his rag-tag band of mercenary followers receive a call for help from a secret Cerberus scientific facility. Hence begins the player’s journey to investigate and quell the enigmatic entity known only as ‘Overlord’. The plot of this particular downloadable episode is small and contained, but nonetheless well-written with a nice - albeit somewhat predicable twist - at the end.
Whenever Mass Effect calls for a shootout, geth are generally used as the default cannon fodder for the player’s bullets and biotics. While Overlord once again allows players to commit gethocide on the mechanical AI, they are no longer the same old fall-back enemy. The geth have been hacked by Overlord, as indicated by the green Matrix-like mist floating above their robotic heads. Consequently, Overlord doesn’t have the atmosphere of another generic side-mission, but rather, a proper fully-fledged adventure.
Geth down.
Whereas Kasumi’s Stolen Memory was memorable for its excellent narrative and characters, Overlord proves its worth with faced-paced combat and excellent gameplay variety. Players will fight atop a satellite emplacement and in a crashed geth spaceship, to name a few. The former proves a particularly memorable setting, especially when combined with the high-stakes mission objective. Overlord’s gameplay reaches the same heights as many of Mass Effect 2’s other missions, with adrenaline-fuelled cover-based shooting and some truly challenging encounters on higher difficulties.
Overlord gives players the chance to take the somewhat new Hammerhead aerial assault craft out for a spin. The driving and on-foot portions of the DLC are given equivalent billing – for every minute players are out blasting geth, they will be given roughly an equal amount of time behind the pilot’s seat of the Hammerhead. As a result, the vehicle sections of Overlord feel more substantial than the previous Hammerhead DLC, which was simply a ‘drive from point A-to-B and shoot everything between’ affair. BioWare have also added a collection side-mission and a few brain-teasers to the driving interludes, so things seldom become dull or repetitive.
Green – the choice colour of all malevolent computer programs.
With an average play-through clocking in at around two hours, there’s certainly enough in this package to tide Mass Effect aficionados over for another month or so. 560 Microsoft Points may seem a little high for an add-on that can be completed in one sitting, but the overall quality of the gameplay dictates otherwise. With a new upgrade and two additional achievements also on offer, fans should find the investment worthwhile.
Overlord doesn’t contain any new characters or much in the way of dialogue. What the downloadable content offers is an extra few hours of classic Mass Effect gameplay, with a setting and story that won’t be forgotten in a hurry. For anyone who still owns a copy of Mass Effect 2, Overlord is an excellent adventure with plenty of gameplay variety, which should not be missed.
Worth buying? Yes
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Downloadable content ratings system
We've given a 'buy' rating of 'Yes', 'Maybe', or 'No'.
Yes means that the content is either great value or brings some substantial additions to the game, or possibly both.
Maybe means that the content may be fun while it lasts, but may either be too short or not enough to fully justify the price tag.
No means that we don't recommend downloading this insubstantial content.
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