Screenshot: Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Being evil in video games is great. I think I first learned the “joys” of evildoing with Bullfrog’s classic
Dungeon Keeper way back in the 90’s. I’m glad there are management games that are still keeping up the same idea. I really enjoyed
Evil Genius 2: World Domination when it released earlier this year, and it holds up very well as a console game.
Evil Genius 2: World Domination is a management and base building game where you play as one of four megalomaniacal super villains with ambitions of world domination, soaked in 60’s spy aesthetics. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it does a pretty good job of making you feel like you’re a super villain trying to thwart do-gooders while sending out your henchmen to perform tasks across the globe to increase your influence, money, and power. Be careful not to bring too much attention to yourself or your operations, however, as government agencies will target your base of operations.
Screenshot: Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Each of the four villains has their own abilities and strengths. Maximillian is all about money and better minions, Ivan is about doing damage with his rocket launcher, Zalika boosts any science tasks, and Emma uses her contacts to reduce heat build-up and resets her henchman’s cooldowns. No matter which villain you choose as your leader, your goal is the same: create a lair with a casino front, and use it as a base of operations to take over the entire world.
Leading a criminal organization isn’t all taking down secret agents, however. You’ll need to build your base by carving tunnels through your chosen mountain island, and train your henchmen in specialized tasks. You’ll also need to keep your henchmen happy, with places for them to sleep, eat, and train. Base building is one of the most fun aspects of
Evil Genius 2 for me, as I love setting up my secret lairs to be efficient, attractive, and trapped prodigiously to make sure that secret agents can’t infiltrate without a fight.
Screenshot: Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Evil Genius 2: World Domination was originally released on PC, but it has made its transition to console well enough. I played on the Xbox Series X, and
Evil Genius 2 both runs and looks excellent on that console. Coming from mouse and keyboard to controller was a little bit more of a struggle, however. While the console controls are bound intuitively, the precision that naturally comes with mouse use is lost, and
Evil Genius 2 suffers for it, especially when trying to build a room to exact specifications. It doesn’t help that the cursor doesn’t seem to point right where the tip is, but instead a little bit below. But other than that small issue, the conversion from PC to console has gone well.
I really liked
Evil Genius 2: World Domination and I’m glad that its console version looks to be a worthy port. If you haven’t had a chance to play
Evil Genius 2 yet, its console release is the perfect excuse to jump in. You can buy the base game, or jump in with a deluxe edition that includes all of the released DLC. It’s got style, it’s got humor, and it’s got henchmen you can order around—you can’t really go wrong.
Screenshot: Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Evil Genius 2 is available today on
PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5,
Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
An Xbox Key was provided to us for this review
