Evil Genius Online Review

Kind of like Dungeon Keeper but with a James Bond style twist, the original Evil Genius was a great game for the PC ten years ago. Unfortunately for this iOS reinterpretation, it suffers from the same issues as the iOS version of Dungeon Keeper, any fun is all too easily clouded by paywalls and timers.

You're trying to establish a secret underground lair full of minions to do your biddings and attempting to achieve world domination. A few small areas have already been developed when you start out, but the rest is down to you. You need to establish extra areas such as a tech lab, with each offering its own benefit.

What this comes down to is a similar process to the typical freemium city builder – placing buildings/rooms that can then be used to earn income. The economy is made up of multiple bits and pieces, such as the need for data to be used to hack a person (such as a world leader or celebrity), but it has to be formed from another machine. That means there's a lot of waiting on timers. Accrue so much money and then you can build something new, and repeat the process all over again.

There's a steady stream of missions to complete, giving you some structure but also making things a little repetitive. After all, this is a game you'll mostly be dipping into on a daily basis to get anywhere. Grinding is common here and even the premium currency is rarely dished out.

Evil Genius Online does offer some originality in the form of minions who can be trained in different ways, as well as need to be motivated regularly, but it's still a far cry from the wondrous originality of the game it's vaguely based upon. Instead, it’s a format you’ve played before and probably given up on.