Legendary

"It's The End of The World As We Know It"

For a game boasting itself under the title of “Legendary” you may be disappointed that the latest first person shooter from Atari is not so legendary after all. Legendary contains some of the most impressive devastating scenes of horror and destruction on a very massive scale, but in the end it delivers only a mildly pleasing shooter with hardly a story and a main character that justifies the critics of first person shooters who boldly claim that you are merely a floating hand with a gun.

Story

It is the end of the world as we know it when a super secret organization goes up against another super secret organization to open up a box. Okay, so maybe there is, or I mean should be more to the story than that, but that is all you get to go on. Your main character is a super secret museum relic-stealing thief that can go through any locked door like James Bond with a paper clip and he ends up being suckered into opening up the “real” Pandora's Box. The story has no driving force as the main character-Deckard is a total mute throughout the whole game. You know nothing about this guy other than that he stuck his hand in the box and got branded with a signet which you can use to regenerate your health and power up things. So basically you are playing as a human battery pack. The focus is taken off of Deckard so bad that your female counterpart, Vivian, has to do all of the narration of the story.

Game Play

Legendary is completed in eight episodes that are not too long and relatively easy to navigate. The controls allow you to use the D-pad to hold four weapons with only two being interchangeable to pick up different guns. Valves and keypads abound throughout the game because some emphasis is placed on the fact that you are playing as a mute, super secret art thief that can get out of any small confinement-manmade or not. So foregoing any complex pick locking system all you have to do is find the highlighted valve or keypad and hold a button down. Of course, with the type of creatures you have to deal with, the simple unlocking systems come in very handy.

The creatures that get out of Pandora's Box make this game very much worth playing. This is where the game becomes situated between the massive and the miniscule. You will feel small in this game once you watch a Golem crash through a skyscraper in New York and have to deal with a Kraken that is hell bent on consuming Parliament in London. Legendary makes great use of the next generation console with these large scale creatures and immense scenes of chaos. Where the game lacks would be where you come in and have to deal with the small-scale crowd of enemies. Soldiers will attempt to attack you and the AI is smart enough to run for cover when things are looking bleak. The creatures are mostly made up of werewolves, firedrakes, laughing babies that sting you, and that tentacle thing from Star Wars that wrapped around Luke in the Death Star garbage disposal. These things are fun to fight off, but I would think Pandora's Box could use a little more variety in its ground troops. Legendary would have been an awesome light gun arcade game as the action stays intense while you have to figure out what the weakness of each creature is.

Graphics/Sound

The best part of Legendary is in the detail and massive expanse of the graphics and environments. It is at least bold enough to take on recreating Times Square, a wickedly awesome castle, and the Palace of Westminster. These are some of the best recreations I've seen in any game so far and the scenes of mass destruction and chaos is a fair mix between Godzilla and Independence Day. You can also see the damage the creatures take when you unload on them. The minor detail works in some ways such as the damage you dish out, but it does not work in other ways like the character models that repeat the same actions that other characters do. You get a little déjà vu when you pass one guy who is gushing blood from his stomach and then the next guy down an alley who does the same thing. The music is strewn out in a few guitar riffs and the voice dialogue is okay, but you still do not get anything from the guy you play.

Replay Value

Legendary is not a very long game in the single player mode. Depending on the difficulty, it may take you a night, or take several hours into the night to beat it. I do have to praise this game for making the difficulty levels as hard as possible. Heck, I died a lot even on Easy. The multiplayer is very solid as well due to a basic structure. There is only one game type where you and your opponents must collect the energy mists that are left behind from killing werewolves. What's good about this is that the developers probably realized that the community was not going to be large enough online so you have a better chance at getting into a game with just one game type rather than sitting in a waiting lobby all day for a game of capture the briefcase in Perfect Dark Zero.

Final Recommendation 6/10

The best argument I can give you for picking Legendary up is for the ease in which you can unlock most all of the achievements. The majority of achievements are all based in the single player mode and most of the secret achievements have to do with completing the episodes in the game. Even the multiplayer achievements are easy to pick up as there is still a viable community that plays Legendary online. Legendary is a solid overnight rental, nothing worth buying as plenty of problems keep this from becoming what could have been an otherwise outstanding game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/09

Game Release: Legendary (US, 11/04/08)