Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

"18 months later it's a Great game, Budget price!"

Introduction:

As a full-priced 60 dollar game, I'd imagine a lot of people were let down by this title. For a launch title, it's really not bad, but if it were to come out now for 60 dollars, I strongly advise against buying it.

Graphics:

Very nice graphics and environments sometimes suffer from a bit of slowdown and the occasional generic model or texture. For a launch title, it's pretty impressive, and a noticeable leap in quality over what the Playstation 2 could handle. Some of the flora looks just as impressive as Oblivion, and some of the more powerful enemies are impressive looking in their detailed armors, but overall the game lacks the detail that you would expect from a title released today. Overall, it's nice enough to look at and there aren't enough problems to ever really get in the way of playability.

Playability:

The game is extremely easy. Anyone could beat this game with little effort. There are a number of spells and pieces of equipment to acquire, but it really comes down to combos made by pressing SQUARE and X in succession. On the easiest difficulty, anybody with experience in the hack 'n slash genre (Gauntlet, Dungeon Siege, etc.) will rarely see their health bar less than half full. If you're looking for a simple adventure that won't give you a lick of frustration, this could be your ticket. The camera is a little wonky at times, and will get stuck in tight space, jittering like crazy so you can occasionally have difficulty in determining which way the game wants you to press in order to get out of a tight space. These moments are not very frequent and really aren't that annoying. They take you out of the game for a couple of seconds and then you get right back into it once you're free.

Fun Factor:

If you've ever enjoyed a Gauntlet or Dungeon Explorer game, this is pretty much in line with that type of experience. You choose from one of three character types (warrior, scout, or mage), and then battle through enemies, completing objectives, exploring and finding new equipment, leveling up, and developing your spell-casting skills. It's pretty mindless fun, but fun none-the-less. There is an online component to the game that I was unable to get to work properly after only a single attempt. This was no big deal for me, because I bought the game not even realizing it had online co-op. It would probably add to the fun factor of the game, but I had enough fun without it.

Value:

I was able to get the game for 15 dollars, and it was well worth that price. The game has 30 or so missions that each take about 15 or 30 minutes to beat. Once you've beaten the game on the easier difficulty, you'll have fun going through it again on the harder ones which do present a bit more of a challenge and require a little more effort to survive. If you just want a quick pick up and play game, where you can have fun for a few minutes then turn it off, and where you can come back to it at any time without ever feeling lost from long periods between sessions, this is your game. It's fun, mindless, simple, and cheap, and I say it's well worth 15 to 20 dollars if you can forgive it the minor slowdown and camera flaws.

Final Score: 8 / 10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/08

Game Release: Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (US, 11/13/06)