What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord!? 2 Review for PlayStation Portable (PSP)

What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord!? 2 box art

System: PSP	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Acquire	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: NIS America	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: Apr. 29, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

By now I'm sure you're starting to see how brilliant this system is, but the challenges are significant. The most astounding thing about the game is that the system really does work. When you build things properly, good things will happen and all of your creatures will coexist together in a mini-food-chain, circle of life kind of process. It's really interesting to observe, but it's hard to exactly call it "fun." The nature of this system leads to large swaths of down time in which you're merely observing the dungeons and hoping everything happens the way you want.

It may help to visualize this bizarre concept as essentially a tower defense game. Except you have only indirect control over which towers you get and where they can be placed.

What Did I Do To Deserve This My Lord!? 2 screenshot

It's somewhat disappointing that the developers have chosen not to really update the graphics at all. Virtually all of the graphics in the game are retreads of what appeared in the previous game. The lack of an update is disappointing perhaps, but it's not the end of the world. The graphical style was already quite perfect for the first game.

In terms of audio, again, much of this is a retread and what isn't is hardly noticeable. That said, the quality is still high. The delightfully sardonic theme still gets chuckles out of me today. It's an ode to the team's love and understanding of these old-school games.

The biggest impediment to those who want to enjoy this game is the extreme difficulty level. As mentioned before, the ecosystem mechanic is intricate and delicate. Even relatively small imperfections in your dungeon design can cause you to get obliterated once wizards and swordsmen enter the place, cutting straight through your defenses. There's not really much of a way around it either, besides practice - lots and lots (and lots) of practice.

Those who are interested in trying My Lord 2 would do well to try out the PSN demo before purchasing the entire product. It would be pretty much impossible for me to offer a blanket statement as to whether gamers should buy or pass on this game. The core gameplay mechanic is so intensely polarizing that every single person is going to have a different reaction to it. That said, I highly recommend you give it a chance to win you over because if it does, you'll find a game that is unlikely to ever be duplicated as long as video games exist.

By Andrew Groen
CCC Freelance Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.5

Graphics
We wish there would have been some updates, but this retro graphics engine works very well for the subject.

3.0

Control
Almost the entire game is controlled with a single button, but that means there can be a lack of control over the game that can get annoying.

2.5

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Not much has changed here. Most of this is a retread.

3.3

Play Value
There's a large amount of content here, and the high level of difficulty will keep you playing for a very long time if you're dedicated enough to stick with it. Players will either love or hate this game, so try out the demo to see where you fall.

3.5

Overall Rating - Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

The good guys are coming and you need a place to hide! With some thought, skill, and a little luck, you have to save yourself (evil Overlord) from invading heroes by creating the ultimate dungeon of baddies.

Over twice as many do?gooders to do away with, over three times as many monsters at your disposal, and four times as many levels to play through!

Missed out on the first entry in the series? The complete first game is included with What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? for free. Two games for the price of one!