Legendary is a first person shooter with a strong concept but a weak execution. The mystic Pandora’s Box at the center of the plot unleashes hellish versions of mythological creatures like werewolves and griffons– a cool idea, but there’s not a decent game to back it up. I feel that Legendary’s horrendous one-track level design deserves much of the blame.

Much of the game’s feeling of chaos is conveyed through scripted scenes that take place just as you happen to walk by. Your character, a professional thief named Deckard, seems to be the videogame version of William H. Macy’s The Cooler, as everyone he encounters is immediately struck by horrible luck. Don’t get too attached to any of the random, nameless police officers and soldiers that you’ll meet along the course of the game. You’ll never hear more than a few seconds of pointless banter before they’re dragged away screaming by some random monster.

These scripted sequences were amazing back in the days of Half Life 1, but the game ignores completely the wide-open locations, compelling characters, and feelings of immersion created by later Half Life games. Even the pacing is screwy—you start out Legendary in a scene of utter chaos, with people screaming continually for the next few hours. Later, a few slower moments in the underground segments (mostly sewers and subways) provide the give-and-take of quality FPS games, but instead of gradually building suspense, the early parts of the game come across with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

One of the few successful sequences, a scene that actually builds over time, starts with you trying to turn a crank to open a doorway in a sewer, only to watch as mischievous nymphs steal the crank and place it in a cramped compartment below. When you go back for the crank, the nymphs seal the doors around you and start up a giant fan that sucks you into it unless you shoot out some planks around it. This was one rare moment that captured my interest—the rest of the sewer crawl was forgettable.

A quality videogame, especially the best first person shooters, thrive on an increasing expectation of tension and payoff, but the rushed pace of Legendary leaves no room for suspense. An objective marker that pops up when you press the L3 button always points you to the next door or shootable environmental “puzzle”, which limits the frustration and aimless wandering but also cuts any feeling of exploration out of the game.

The lazy, straightforward design of this game is a shame, because the visuals are generally attractive, with some exceptions. The monsters are well animated, but the human characters act choppy. Also, all the CG cutscenes are of PS2/Xbox quality, which is well below what we’ve come to expect from the current generation.

While this game may sound like a relentless bore, there were brief moments when I enjoyed myself, so maybe Legendary is best designed for a slow weekend. This is not a game you’ll replay more than once, so it’s not worth adding to your collection, but shooting the heads off of werewolves and absorbing their energy to charge strange machines is a passable distraction.

You can even cut straight to this core gameplay in the multiplayer mode, but good luck trying to find anyone else to play against online. With so many far superior games coming out this season, Legendary doesn’t even come close to worth your money—unless you have your Blockbuster card handy and everything else has already been checked out.

Tags: FPS, legendary, The Box, werewolves

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6 Comments » The Whaler on November 21, 2008 11:07 pm How long has this game been out? madpuppy on November 22, 2008 12:39 am not long, it’s a 10.00 game. even the concept screams “don’t buy me for any more than 10.00 clams!” The Whaler on November 22, 2008 1:55 am yeah we didnt even order any of this game. It looks like it had some good potential but it just wasn’t there. R on November 23, 2008 6:35 am First I’ve really heard or seen it. Shame about the actual game though; I really like the idea of it. The Whaler on November 23, 2008 11:35 pm Yeah me too, it just didn’t deliver. There were ads in gaming magazines for it but nothing like Gears or Resistance. Pacman on November 24, 2008 10:39 am Have you heard about Serious Sam? It’s a brainwash fps. This one too. When you are fed up with everything and a little tired but not as tired that you wanna sleep, you just play this game… No toughts, no nothing. Just shooting monsters that comes right to you, begging you for a bullet in their faces… That’s right. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.