What I really love about the DS is that it is, without a doubt, the most versatile gaming system available.  Every genre from RPG to action to FPS to side-scrollers to cooking simulations and yoga instructors are represented on this one handy li’l system.

Today, I’ll review OVERLORD: MINIONS for DS.  It’s a great little action puzzler in the proud tradition of The Lost Vikings.  And if you’re a Lost Viking’s fan, this is all you need to read.  Go out and buy this game.  You’ll like it.

For everyone else, perhaps a bit of description is necessary.  In Overlord: Minions, you control a team of four goblin-like creatures who use their various abilities to navigate a maze of puzzles.  The secret to this is using each creature in appropriate ways.  The blue goblin can enter water and the brown goblin can resist strong winds.  The red goblin can start fires and the green goblin is immune to poisonous gas.  This is just some basic abilities for each though.

While it is technically a ”puzzle” game, you probably won’t get stuck on any of the levels since it’s usually obvious what you need to do.  Blocked by a river?  Time to send your blue goblin into action.  Have a heavy block you need to move?  Brown.  Need to walk through fire?  Red.  Nonetheless, it’s still a stimulating and fun game with solid graphics and plenty of personality.

A special note on control scheme.  The game relies entirely on the stylus and touch screen to guide and control your goblins.  This works smoothly 95 percent of the time.  But that final 5 percent can be a touch annoying.  Sometimes, just sometimes, when you try to have a goblin throw an object, he just doesn’t want to cooperate.  Oh, he’ll throw it eventually, but you might have to argue with him for a while.  In an otherwise fun game, this is the only annoyance.

Also, I’m not sure how long the game is yet.  But it does have some replay value since it does score how well you do on a level (taking into account deaths, treasure, and time), and since the object of the game isn’t just to solve the puzzles, but to do so well, it looks as if you could easily play this two or three times.

FINAL VERDICT: WORTH BUYING or MUST BUY (for Lost Viking fans).