I have a bit of a soft spot for the slapstick 60’s spy genre, characterised by its dry British humour and outlook upon the world. From the crafty James Bond to the outrageous Austin Powers, there is nothing to have me in stitches quite like Commies, evil masterminds, girls in tight uniforms, henchmen getting zapped by the truckload, and witty MI6 spies all thrown into the one pot, melted down and mixed together in a masterpiece of spy drama and comical farce.

Thus when Evil Genius came along I was quite anxious to get my hands on it and see if Elixir, particularly after their poor performance in the ambitious but flawed Republic: The Revolution had managed to mend their ways and successfully mix No One Lives Forever with Dungeon Keeper. The first bit of good news is that they have. The second bit of very good news is that they’ve managed to do it in such a way that even getting the Evil Mastermind to take a stroll around his secret base will have even the most ardent of spies in stitches.

The game is an RTS much in the vein of Bullfrog’s classic Dungeon Keeper (both in respect to its technical and humorous mannerisms). The premise is pretty simple: players build a hidden lair with the aim of constructing an evil doomsday weapon with which to take over the world. Things get slightly more complex when one factors in the agents of law & order (Boo! Hiss!) and international acts of infamy which any aspiring Evil Genius must conduct in order to carry out their plans.

The game’s character is even well represented in its very helpful manual and tutorial, which should have any player up to speed in the pretty straightforward mechanisms of the game as well as some of its slightly more complex ones. There is also a large in-game library for players to access with details on every single item and concept which also includes instructional videos in many cases.

Graphically, the game has real panache - I couldn't help but smile at the animations which, like the rest of the game, are pure slapstick. Send someone to interrogation, and someone plays musical instruments on thier head, wallops them, and spins them around. Or, for something more exotic the player can break a few health and safety rules for the kicks, and use other items such as the kitchen blender to interrogate foes. The accompanying animations make it worth taking a minute out of a busy schedule of evil plotting and world domination to take a peek at what the minions are up to in the base.