LEGENDARY (PS3)
You have to hand it to now-defunct developer Spark Unlimited. After Turning Point: Fall of Liberty proved one of the worst first-person shooters of the seventh-gen at the start of 2008, they then bookended the year with an equally terrible shooter in the form of Legendary. Sadly, like the aforementioned alt-reality World War story, the premise here was interesting: the opening of Pandora’s box causing mayhem in a modern-day city could have been great fun. Instead, the experience is degraded by technical issues, poor shooting mechanics and rigid level design, and even its most interesting aspect is squandered. A legendary misfire, you could say.
Art thief Charles Deckard gets more than he bargained for when, after being hired to steal the ancient artefact Pandora’s Box and its contents, he instead unleashes an army of mythological creatures, which transform New York into a ruined battlefield. After discovering his employer’s intentions are less than gentlemanly, Deckard works with former secretary of the big bad Vivian Kane and an underground force looking to set things right. It’s a decent concept, but sadly the storytelling is poorly executed. A mute protagonist strips the game of character, while drab cut-scenes mean the narrative descends into a slog. Unskippable cut-scenes force the player to rewatch dull sequences should a checkpoint occur before a scene, which is often the case.
A dilapidated New York City should have made for an interesting setting, but Legendary squanders its promise
The story may be poor, but the gameplay is even worse. After excellent FPSs like Modern Warfare and The Darkness helped move the genre forward in 2007, Legendary feels like a gigantic step backwards. The simple act of shooting feels awkward, with weak collision detection and paltry gunfire leaving combat feeling toothless, should the shaky controls allow you to nail a shot. Deckard’s options for combat are limited, with only a handful of armaments, a single melee weapon and his possessed arm allowing you to stun foes. Even if you had all the guns in the world, the narrow level design allows for few movement opportunities or changes to experience. It feels like Spark’s shooter would feel dated next to PS2-era shooters, let alone the superior crop of alternatives at the time.
You’d think that fighting gryphons, werewolves and minotaurs would offer some fun, but combat is spoiled by terrible AI. Destructible environments look impressive when foes can smash them, but oftentimes, they get stuck in geometry or just fail to move. Human NPCs aren’t much better, making poor use of cover and all too eager to stand out in the open. It becomes like a cheap shooting gallery, even when humans and creatures mix in battle, with little fun or ingenuity to each encounter. You can have fun at points, such as the initial encounter with a minotaur, which sees the creature charging through pillars, requiring the player to dodge to avoid, and popping werewolf heads to permanently put them down is gruesome fun. More often than not though, Legendary is a frustrating and boring mess.
You’d think that fighting gryphons, werewolves and minotaurs would offer some fun, but combat is spoiled by terrible AI. Destructible environments look impressive when foes can smash them, but oftentimes, they get stuck in geometry or just fail to move. Human NPCs aren’t much better, making poor use of cover and all too eager to stand out in the open. It becomes like a cheap shooting gallery, even when humans and creatures mix in battle, with little fun or ingenuity to each encounter. You can have fun at points, such as the initial encounter with a minotaur, which sees the creature charging through pillars, requiring the player to dodge to avoid, and popping werewolf heads to permanently put them down is gruesome fun. More often than not though, Legendary is a frustrating and boring mess.
It doesn’t help that this might be one of the worst-looking PS3 titles. It makes poor use of Unreal Engine 3, with a myriad of galling technical issues. Pop-in, severe slowdown, drab colours and low-res textures all reek of a game a generation out of its time. The ruined New York landscape could have been destructively attractive, but instead, it’s all a big mess. The slowdown only makes trying to land a hit more arduous. The audio is also pretty awful. Weapons sound like cap guns, the hard rock soundtrack is hilariously generic and the voice acting is boring. Not so bad that it’s enjoyable: just plain dull.
You have to feel for those who paid full price for Legendary too, as the game’s handful of chapters can be breezed through in around five hours. There are three difficulty options available, but to be honest, it feels like choosing the severity of your misery rather than offering more enjoyment. Collectables strewn around the game offer more insight into the world and lore, but they aren’t worth the effort. Lastly, a multiplayer component, which included AI monsters in battle, would shutter with GameSpy’s dissolution. Frustratingly, this causes issues with signing in. If you try to begin the game connected to the PSN, it instantly sees you listed as “not signed in” and then, for no real reason, refuses to save data. You are forced to create an offline profile to retain your progress.
You have to feel for those who paid full price for Legendary too, as the game’s handful of chapters can be breezed through in around five hours. There are three difficulty options available, but to be honest, it feels like choosing the severity of your misery rather than offering more enjoyment. Collectables strewn around the game offer more insight into the world and lore, but they aren’t worth the effort. Lastly, a multiplayer component, which included AI monsters in battle, would shutter with GameSpy’s dissolution. Frustratingly, this causes issues with signing in. If you try to begin the game connected to the PSN, it instantly sees you listed as “not signed in” and then, for no real reason, refuses to save data. You are forced to create an offline profile to retain your progress.
Even the addition of magical creatures, such as gryphons and werewolves, fails to enliven this poor FPS
Needless to say, this unintended extra hoop to jump isn’t worthwhile. Legendary is just as calamitous a mess as Turning Point: a technically inept, poorly constructed first-person shooter that squanders its intriguing premise under a myriad of serious flaws. Ugly, frustrating and lacking replay value, PS3 owners have so many better options, released before and after, that this game should be avoided like Pandora’s Box itself.
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VERDICT
"Technically inept and poorly constructed, Legendary is a calamitous mess that squanders its premise. It should be avoided like Pandora’s Box." OVERALL: 3/10 |
OTHER DODGY SEVENTH-GEN FPS GAMES REVIEWED