Chaos Legion

"Marvelous Mayhem - Wish it was Longer"

Chaos Legion bears some similarities to Capcom's hit Devil May Cry. Its lead character is yet another character armed with a sword (the unlockable extra character has the twin handguns) that goes around turning opponents into slices of processed meat. Chaos Legion is a beat-'em-up title with some new twists of its own, and that makes it unique and ultimately a lot of fun.

Disclaimer - I read very little Japanese, so I'm unable to give any clarity on the storyline. The game has some English elements, and playing around with the menus will allow most people to play with a minimum of confusion. Another unlockable feature translates the cutscene subtitles and voice acting into English, enhancing the import-friendliness of the game.

Gameplay / System (Reviewer’s Rating: 9/10)

I must admit that I'm a fan of beat 'em ups. This game is a cousin of latter day Playstation 2 beat 'em ups such as The Bouncer, Dynasty Warriors and Devil May Cry. Your character walks around environments and kills enemies with his sword. To this basic formula, Chaos Legion adds the element from which it derives its name - the Legions.

Your main character has the ability to summon Legions - groups of support characters controlled by the computer. As you grow in experience, so does your Legion. As each Legion earns experience, you are able to upgrade them by purchasing more Legionnaires, ''Assists'', ''Enchantments'', plus improving the Legion's Power and Defense. Some Legions start with a single unit, some start with more.

As you play, you can opt for your character to go it alone, chopping opponents to pieces. This makes your Legions available to ''Assist'', that is, appearing to help your character and then disappearing. Your other option is to keep them deployed, wherein they walk around with your character. You can instruct your Legion to behave in two ways, the Red Mode or the Blue Mode. Red tends to be aggressive, Blue tends to be defensive, but each Legion has its own quirks. I'll talk about ''Assists'' and ''Enchantments'' in a moment.

I've been talking about ''Legions''. This means that there are several types of Legions. Your character starts out with one type, and unlocks more as you go through the levels. You can choose two Legions to be available to you at any one time. You can change the Legions you have readied in between levels. Only Legions you take along with you gain experience.

Legions are powered by your character's ''Soul'', which you can replenish by defeating enemies or using items. Your character has the standard-issue Life meter, which can also be replenished by using items, or defeating major enemies.

Back to ''Assists'' and ''Enchantments''. Each Legion has a particular ''Assist'', which would normally equate to a ''Super Move'' or a ''Clear Out Move'' in other beat 'em ups. Close enough, anyway. ''Enchantments'' are special abilities that the Legion grants your character when you have them along for the ride. These are as varied as regenerating Life or Soul when you're standing still, or conferring special moves such as the Air Stab or the Double Jump on your character. Part of the charm of the game is deciding which Legions to take along, based on the style of fighting that you want to use.

Story (Reviewer’s Rating: Not Rated)

The translated cutscenes were not done very well, and the introductory panels for each level remain in Japanese, so I am unable to give a clear idea of what the story is. As far as I can tell, your main character has a history of bad blood with the game's main villain. The main villain apparently has stolen something, so you're tasked to go get it back. Yep, that's all I can make out. Doesn't matter much, it's a beat 'em up after all.

Graphics (Reviewer’s Rating: 7/10)

The graphics of Chaos Legion are decent, but hardly groundbreaking. Expect something similar to DMC or Dynasty Warriors. The game does a good job of having a lot of objects on the screen at the same time, both enemies and your own Legions. I didn't notice much slowdown at any point. The environments are a cross between fantasy and science fiction (picture a darker Final Fantasy X kind of world). The enemy design isn't terribly innovative, with things that look like spiders and giants and floating alien plants. The boss designs aren't anything new either.

Despite the lack of outstanding creativity here, Chaos Legion does look nice, and is at the very least at par with the best graphics for its genre currently out there.

Sound (Reviewer’s Rating: 6/10)

Another fairly ordinary aspect of Chaos Legion. The in-game music seems to be rock electronica of some sort. I turned it off in favor of some Mozart - Concertos are wonderful mood music for skewering alien monsters. The effects are the run-of-the-mill metal clashes and such.

Chaos Legion is decidedly average in the sound and music department, but again, this is no worse than the average out there.

Replay Value (Reviewer’s Rating: 8/10)

I mention in my title that I wish it was longer, because my first play-through was just a shade above four hours. Not much for the cost of an import. Playing through the game on normal difficulty unlocks the Hard difficulty and an extra character (who you play for one level in your first play through). The unlockable character is nothing to write home about, but it's a diversion.

I give the game 8/10 for replayability because of the novelty of the Legions. With six regular Legions, and an unlockable Seventh Legion, there's an interesting number of possibilities in how you'd want to play through the game. And honestly, after using Dynasty Warriors as a stress reliever, I can say that Chaos Legion is at least an equal if not superior alternative. With the greater variety of play granted by the Legions, it takes a bit longer to get bored. More ways to send alien monsters to hell = more replayability.

Subjective Tilt (Reviewer’s Rating: 8/10)

I like the game, as you can tell. It's made me put the disappointing DMC2 away, and also retire Gungrave from my active games list. I can switch between Chaos Legion and Dynasty Warriors 4 when I want a fix for stress.

Final Recommendation: Buy, if you would normally buy a good beat 'em up
(Reviewer’s Rating: 8/10 – not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/03, Updated 03/13/03