What makes a story legendary? Well first off, one must have a likeable protagonist such as Arthur in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Another attribute is an excellent antagonist as Ganondorf provides to Link in The Legend of Zelda. Perhaps it’s the journey to save the world in quests such as Cloud was tasked to do in Final Fantasy VII. Whatever the case, these stories stand the test of time and people can relate to them; sadly, Spark Unlimited’s latest shooter, Legendary, fails to live up to the incredible title it has been branded with due to it not having any remarkable traits.
Where does this ambitious shooter go wrong? The first misstep was removing the option for gamers to make decisions of their own. If you’ve played Halo, you’ll know how the game world is much more open to walk through and attack the enemies anyway you’d like. Well Legendary approaches it differently – they push you forward on a track towards enemies without any other options of flanking them or finding a new method of attack. Charles Deckard, the main character of Legendary, isn’t able show any form of intelligence through combat as he just tackles the opposition head on and is forced to move on through linear levels. So while the game tries to display chaos through its levels with only a few branching paths, the environments themselves are barren in size and flat out scream for gamers to not become involved with the storyline.
The most interesting aspect of Legendary, the mythological creatures, turns out to be a major disappointment. I’ve always drawn to games that feature minotaurs, werewolves, and griffons – but Legendary gets it all wrong by adding an organization ran by men pulling the strings that players face off against more then the creatures themselves. Still, facing the humans enemies tend to be the less painful parts of Legendary since every creature has its own weakness that players have to take advantage of to take them down. This usually works with boss fights or mini-boss fights, but having to cut off a werewolf’s head before it regenerates its annoying as it get behind a minotaur to take down the beast since there are so many of them. With the storyline not being coherent, you’d think that the developer would’ve put more time into the gameplay; but unfortunately, the time not spent on the storyline wasn’t put to good use to create entertaining gameplay. It’s your run-of-the-mill shooter with the exception of Deckard’s ability to absorb the animus, the life energy, of creatures he kills. Whether you’re facing off against a giant golem or eye to eye with a cyclops, you won’t find many times where you’re on the edge of your seat anticipating the next battle or scene.
Having been caught in invisible walls, stuck in debris and just flat out annoyed that I couldn’t move around an object, gamers will not find much enjoyment out of their time spent on Legendary. With the environments littered with objects that block your path, you’ll find it frustrating when you get stuck when trying to avoid direct combat with a werewolf or a charging minotaur. This isn’t to say that Legendary isn’t without a feature worthy of redemption – as I mentioned earlier, the animus that Deckard obtains from fallen creatures is interesting.
Deckard can use the energy to heal himself and send forth blasts towards energy as an attack. In one instance, Deckard’s power to control the animus blasts can solidify the Nari, an evil fairy/pixie, and thus, make them vulnerable to your physical attacks. It’s too bad that it wasn’t put into the spotlight over the dull gunplay included. Using the Unreal 3 engine, you’d think Legendary would’ve looked tremendously better; but alas, Legendary is full of horrible character models and undesirable environments designs. If you’ve played Gears of War or Mass Effect, you’ll see the similar trait that Legendary shares with both of those titles with texture popping in and out after a loading screen. By even last generation standards, Legendary is a sub-par title riddled with technical difficulties that hold it back from being a beautiful shooter.
The only reasoning I can see behind playing Legendary is to see the awe-inspired mythological creatures in action. Even the multiplayer is uninspired and feels constrained, so don’t expect greatness when you jump into Legendary as the entire package is insipid. Rather, expect something more the lines of a weekend rental that makes you want to rip your hair out.
