Evil Genius 2: World Domination

Overall, I have mixed feelings about Evil Genius 2. It does a nice enough job of modernizing the original game, and it has far more replay value than the original game had (with four evil geniuses and three islands to choose from, where each choice changes the way you play the game). But the 60+ hour campaign is a slow slog, and it wears out its welcome so thoroughly that you might not even care about replay value by the time you finally grind your way through it. I could see Evil Genius 2 getting better after patching and DLC, but it’s tough to see how Revolution can possibly fix the campaign. And so Evil Genius 2 is a coin flip for me. Get it if you loved the original game, or if base-building / tower defense games are your cup of tea. Wait for patches and a sale otherwise.

Evil Genius 2 is a fun, charming game which allows you to run an evil empire from your secret island lair. Despite some issues, the gameplay holds up to be a worthwhile experience.

Even though Evil Genius 2 has not developed that much in terms of gameplay and story, the visual improvements are so good that can actually lift the game and fully satisfy the hardcore fans of Base Building genre.

There are not all that many games around like it. As an overall strategy-come-management-sim, it's fair, but with a few annoying and perhaps unforgivable flaws. As a chance to stomp around in an underground base built into a volcano, shouting at people and firing giant superlasers at Australia just for the sheer fun of it, it's pretty much your best option.

When Evil Genius 2 gets it right, it gets it spectacularly right, and if you’re the type that can bury your brain into resource management while laughing at the deliberately cliched and over-the-top style of the game, you’ll have plenty of moments of fun taking over the world, one carved-out-of-mountain-rock room at at time. However, there’s still some rough edges here, and some game balancing that could have made it even more engaging, both for those who adore resource management and those who might just like the challenge of taking over the world with the help of a few shiny new doomsday devices.

Evil Genius 2 is the natural continuation of the 2004 base-building, trap-laden classic. New evil geniuses, new minion types, and expanded bases round out this mostly satisfying sequel, but a grindy mid-game and no minion control dulls the game's shine a bit.

We’ve had a lot of fun with this strategy and management game, trying to bring the world down to its knees. It doesn’t do anything new, but what it does, it does it well.

Evil Genius 2: World Domination is a great base builder undermined by slow pacing, dense AI, and a little bit too much repetition. This doesn't make Evil Genius 2 a bad game at all — not in the slightest. And Rebellion have definitely stayed true to the original formula while ironing out some of the stickier annoyances.

I do like Evil Genius 2; it's a loving sequel to an overlooked management game that's waited more than 15 years for a second outing. But it's left me wanting more. The surface is diabolically good, but the systems below it feel shallow and unrewarding.

Inelegant systems and unsatisfying progression throw a wrench in the grand plans of this criminal mastermind.

Evil Genius 2 is an intricate game of spinning plates and building, building, building to make the numbers go up smoothly, which manages to capture the spirit of its Bond villain simulator conceit. Though its management gameplay creates momentary frustrations, the tight rapport among all the different elements of the Genius' organization make for a challenging, long-term management puzzle that requires you to both move quickly and take your time. Plus, you can use a giant magnet to drag your enemies into a flamethrower, which is pretty damn whimsical. You know, in an evil way.

Sometimes, being evil is fun, other times it's incredibly difficult. In Evil Genius 2, being evil is boring.

Evil Genius 2 is a beautiful game that is created by a team that had an obvious love for spy comics/cartoons. However, after the first few hours, the game lacks a diversity of content for players to explore.

A game with energy and personality in abundance, but it fizzles out too easily [Issue#358, p.114]

Evil Genius 2 captures the spirit of the original and still provides plenty of entertaining moments as a result, but the fiddly interface and the lack of any options to manually control its often moronic minions makes it a real exercise in patience at times.

In Evil Genius 2: World Domination, a fiddly world map and confusing objectives foil the plans of this stylish, gleeful villain simulator.

The truth is Evil Genius 2 succeeds in expanding on almost every feature of the original, but it somehow manages to not fix a single one of its main problems. The original game also suffered from an intense lack of player control and management tools back in 2004, and Rebellion somehow missed all of that when designing its sequel. As fitting and poetic it is for evil to defeat itself through incompetence, it makes for truly terrible gameplay when a player fails at a game because he is not given the tools to succeed when the game misbehaves. It ruins what is otherwise a great and very well produced title, and the hurdles are too big to ignore -- Rebellion managed to make the concept of launching international schemes to rule the world a boring endeavour.

Evil Genius 2: World Domination has a certain nostalgic charm, and not just because of its retro 007 stylings. It feels like something you might have found on your dad or friend’s computer back in the Windows 3.1 era and sunk a few diverting hours into. Unfortunately, a lack of depth, challenge, and modern features makes the game hard to fully recommend in 2021. Some fun can be had if you keep your expectations in check, but don’t count on Evil Genius 2 taking over your world.