ALWAYS wanted to lord over others and kick their derrieres at the same time?

Try the latest Codemasters game called Overlord, now available for Xbox360 and PC.

I guarantee you'll be cackling away as you become supreme master to dozens of cowering minions, all waiting to do your nasty bidding and endure any abuse you dish out.

Yes, in the grand tradition of Be-An-Evil-Dude games like Dungeon Keeper and Black And White, Overlord does away with all the goody two shoes stuff and lets you relish the dark side of fantasy.

But if you think letting your kids play this game will turn them into bullying Sith Lords of the playground, rest easy.

Overlord's dastardly deeds are more Monty Python than Emperor Palpatine, more mischevious than malicious.

From the time you fire up Overlord, you'll be grinning at the silly Gremlin-like minions who squeak, get drunk on any booze they can get hold of, empty their bladders anywhere and enjoy smashing up stuff.

They even spout witty lines ('My dear OverLard!') with a British accent (Codemasters is an English game publisher).

The game starts off slowly - you're revived by these underlings to be their latest evil lord.

Unfortunately, your castle is in a shambles and has no heating. Your throne is a broken chair and you need to get your love life into shape.

With the help of your eager minions, you rebuild your evil hub.

You travel into town, where, instead of the bleak, mud-brown palettes you usually find in such games, you get saccharine-sweet pastel landscapes with sunshine bouncing softly off dewy leaves and flowers.

All the better reason to unleash wanton destruction and get townsfolk to hate you thoroughly.

Along the way, you'll have to destroy 'heroes', who often turn out to be pretty evil folk themselves.

It'll take you nearly two hours of gameplay before you get into the thick of the action when your powers and posse come fully into play.

You'll find that you have four different kinds of minions to boss around - your basic grunts (brown), fireball throwers (red), healers (blue) and stealth experts (green).

It's surprisingly enjoyable micro-managing these slaves as you sweep through town with axe in hand, taking on everything and everyone.

Like a mother hen (albeit wearing a Sauron-style helmet), you have to ensure your minions don't keep dying on you by directing them around enemy bosses or upgrading them with better weapons.

As you aren't really that powerful yourself (you're limited to a few spells), you'll need all the help they will lovingly volunteer.

They won't even mind sacrificing themselves so you can heal or replenish your spell powers.

SPOOF

The entire game is a mild spoof on current fantasy franchises like The Lord Of The Rings.

The first bunch of people you'll harass are the Halflings - really Hobbits in disguise.

As someone who never liked Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, I sure had a kick out of laying waste to the game's Shire-like squat homes.

Since great games like Dungeon Keeper went out of print in the late 1990s, I've been waiting for another 'evil' game to take its place.

Overlord comes pretty close to being a classic of this genre, but it is somewhat let down by uneven pacing and the fact you are always getting lost without an in-game map.

Otherwise, excuse me while I get back to being evil.

RATING: 4/5