I must admit that I never was much of a fan of “James Bond” movies. I don’t know if it’s because of the complete predictability of the action, or the very idea that one man can save the world all by himself, but all in all I never enjoyed watching this kind of movies. Of course, the most annoying part in any “super secret agent” film is when the main hero is (inevitably) captured and instead of being executed on sight, he is put in some elaborate contraption by the evil mad man, so that he may die in pain and suffering. It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that the hero always escapes, saves the day and also has time to “entertain” a beautiful woman who is always there to help him out of a jam. Oh please. Despite this, I was pleasantly surprised when Elixir Studios, the makers of Republic: The Revolution, announced Evil Genius, a Dungeon Keeper style strategy with the 60’s as a theme. Since I like being the bad guy, I was very anxious to see if Demis Hassabis & co could rise up to the bar set by the two Dungeon Keeper titles.

     The idea behind Evil Genius is quite interesting (albeit, not that new): the player assumes the role of an Evil Genius, whose ultimate goal is to become the most notorious criminal in the world. In order to achieve your goals, you will have to recruit minions and henchmen, train them and the send them to perform evil deeds that will increase your notoriety. Even if you haven’t played Dungeon Keeper (shame on you), the gameplay of Evil Genius is pretty straightforward and you will easily get accustomed to, thanks mostly to the tutorial and in-game help system, which is full of useful information: videos, hyperlinks and a multitude of topics and explanations, all stand at your disposal to teach you about the game, which indicates that Elixir learned from their mistakes with Republic.