I can count the number of base-building games I know about on one hand (not counting sequels), and it's hard to review one without harkening back to the pinnacle of the genre as we've seen it thus far: the venerable Dungeon Keeper series. Evil Genius, when taken in comparison, is enjoyable enough, and has plenty of its own charm, but it really only makes one want to play DK again.
To speak to the game's style, it's got oodles of it. It's based quite obviously around James Bond movie-villains, and the elaborate edifices that they build to house their evil, insane, that-can't-possibly-be-efficient bases. Everything from the main menu screens to the music to the style of rooms and traps calls to mind images from those movies. Not to mention the fact that one of your three choices for your Evil Genius is only a white cat away from being Blofeld. This style makes the game amusing for James Bond (or even Austin Powers) fans.
There is humor here, though it's not as rife as some would seem to suggest. There are some cute animations and characterizations, and some of the radio broadcasts that result from your devious activities around the world are quite funny, but it's not a laugh-a-minute. You'll go long stretches without even chuckling. In fact, due to some of the frustrations of this game, you might not be in much of a laughing mood at all.
In the DK games, part of what made the process so enjoyable was the ability to take it slowly. Sure, things would happen, and you'd be forced to react, or some levels would have a time-pressure, but for the most part, you were able to build at your leisure, and just enjoy the aspect of slowly crafting a small empire. Not so with EG. Unless you have the game set on easy, there are times when you'll be frantically trying to deal with a dozen problems all at once. On easy, you might only be dealing with a half-dozen. The list of frustrations I had were many.
Aside from powerful henchmen, you can't move any of your basic minions yourself, instead relying on them to eventually get where they need to go on their own, or using the henches to lead them around by the nose.
Gaining more money is an act of micromanagement on the world screen, and you could just as easily lose much of the forces you send out, gain a lot of attention from the forces of justice, and actually lose money as you try to recover your headcount. Sure, you can make your out-world forces hide from the searching law, but that requires that you keep clicking back to the world screen every few minutes to check whether each individual group should be hiding or stealing, not to mention the third option in plotting.
Loyalty is a headache-and-a-half, being the one stat your minions can't replenish on their own. You are forced to either have them witness interrogations (remember you can't move them there yourself), or walk around with your Evil Genius, either lurking nearby to low-loyalty minions, or executing one to boost the loyalty of the others who just happen to be around in the one room or corridor you're in. If you're lax in this, you could find yourself with a steady stream of minions--including ones that've invested a serious amount of time in training to upgrade to more powerful minions--running straight out of your base and taking a hike. Imagine this happening every 30 seconds, and it becomes a funding nightmare. Gaining new minions to replace the old ones is either a very slow, free process, or it's a very costly, quick process. Which comes back to money problems.
It's been said there are ways to cheat the game, and this is true. You can fool the A.I., or amass quite a bit of money and forces while the game is still in a "training" mode, not sending opposing agents your way. This seems cheap to me, though, having to play this way in order to make any headway or stand against the opposition. The fact that a fair portion of the empire process, the hotel management, can be mostly ignored in favor of just slaughtering tourists makes the whole thing seem slipshod.
I could go on, but I think one gets the idea. This game has its share of problems. That being said, it is not without merit. It is charming and amusing, and a definite break from the mostly fantasy-based genre it resides in. Building elaborate traps and testing different base layouts is enjoyable, and there is a bit of fun to be had in collecting the numerous colorful henchmen and the special furniture items to deck-out your inner sanctum. The nefarious deeds you can enact around the world are worth doing if only for some of the funny radio broadcasts. And who doesn't like putting captured enemies into dangerous torture devices just for fun?
This game doesn't match the DK games for base-building fun. It doesn't even come close. It is, however, worth a few chuckles, and provides a decent diversion for as long as you care to invest time in it. For the low price it's offered for here, it isn't a waste of money. Just be prepared for some frustrations mixed in with your fun.
Personally, I really miss being able to slap minions.