Play with creatures aplenty in 'Spore' add-on, 'Overlord' sequel

— -- In this week's look at the latest video games, we meet mischievous minions, angry yetis, hairy goblins and even pigs in wedlock.

Yes, fantasy and humor are the common threads that run throughout Codemasters' Overlord II and Electronic Arts' Spore Galactic Adventures.

Both games should impress gamers looking for a virtual getaway this summer.

Here's a closer look at each offering.

Spore Galactic Adventures (Electronic Arts; $29.99; rated Everyone 10+; 4 stars out of 5)

If you enjoyed clicking through Electronic Arts' popular evolution simulation, Spore, the first expansion disc is now available, offering a lot more content to the original game's Space stage.

Spore Galactic Adventures, which requires Spore to play, lets you beam your space captain onto a planetary surface to complete a number of wild quests, including a handful of zany missions penned by the writers for the popular "Robot Chicken" television show.

In one scenario, for example, you're helping a pig get to a church to stop a wedding (stick with me here). When the groom is accidentally killed by a runaway car, it looks good for your hog friend to step in and marry Pigzilla. Perhaps this was fate, after all, as we find out the now-deceased groom was the owner of a bacon factory and only wanted to marry Pigzilla to turn her into someone's breakfast. What a swine.

Played from a third-person perspective, Spore Galactic Adventures includes other memorable missions such as getting into the hottest nightclub in the galaxy, bringing a band back together for its biggest gig and defending a city from a giant monster attack. You can also take part in races and battle intergalactic beasts in arenas. Some missions are on the disc, while others require a free download from the Internet.

On that note, this game also gives you the tools to create and share your own playable adventures with others online, but expect somewhat of a steep learning curve to get going.