Publisher Gamecock and developer Spark Unlimited have announced today that “Legendary”, formerly known as “Legendary the Box”, is on schedule and set to hit the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC this summer.

Legendary is a fast paced first person shooter, set in a modern world, with a mythical twist. It tells the story of an art thief by the name of Charles Deckard, who is tricked into a stealing and ultimately unleashing Pandora’s Box.

According to Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimited, Legendary is the type of project the company wants to be working on and they believe it is shaping up to be “something amazing”. He also made it clear that they are taking the time necessary to ensure an optimal experience across all systems, which should come as good news to gamers.

“I’m happy to report that the team on Legendary is well on target for a simultaneous multi-platform launch this summer,” said Rick Stults, Console Chief for Gamecock Media Group. “It’s no easy feat to pull this off on a game of this caliber, but Spark Unlimited is a talented group.”

We got our first glimpse of this game at Gamecock’s EiEiO Conference last year, and our own Emily Balistrieri had a chance to preview the title in November as well.

Charles Deckard opened the original can of worms when he stole Pandora’s Box. The Box even knows he’s the won who did the deed, and the brand it leaves on his hand connects him to the “animus” magic inside. Of course, all hell literally breaks loose and whether it’s the Council, the Black Order, or Deckard himself, it’s going to be a hard time trying to coop it all back up.

You’ve probably seen the immediate aftermath already in our EiEiO preview: huge gryphons swooping down on the city, biting people’s heads off, grabbing cars in their talons and hurling them down the street. It’s complete and utter chaos as the museum evacuates during those first few minutes after the box is unsealed. Recently, though, we got the chance to go hands-on with some bits from later on in the game.

First off, there are werewolves, but not exactly your typical breed. Developer Spark describes their angle on mythology as “a game of telephone” where what we’ve heard down through the ages isn’t necessarily what happened. Even then, what people were getting superstitious about wasn’t unshakably proven, but rather an idea.

There’s wiggle room in there– for example, the wiggle room to make a golem out of slabs of busted avenues and bits of concrete buildings. The main idea stays the same, but the interpretation can vary.

The wolf dudes keep their distance at first. Spark thinks about their creatures in terms of the effect they have on the environment and, “chucking stuff at you definitely makes them feel real.” So chuck they do. As you continue to assault them, however, they’ll move in for melee and bare their fangs pretty quickly. All the creatures have phases like this, which along with variable AI behavior, makes fights much more dynamic and interesting.

Whether an enemy runs along the wall or chooses to vault over a piece of debris doesn’t seem like it would make a huge difference, but it does. When creatures start attacking Black Order soldiers instead of focusing their attention on you, that behavior also makes a big difference. Then you can start choosing who to focus your attention on: the soldiers for their ammo, or the creatures for their health recovery?

We also got to check out the first minotaur fight. The minotaur is just another baddie, albeit in the fresh “telephone game” style (I did end up asking to make sure that’s what I was fighting). To show off his behaviors and let you really experience what an encounter will feel like, the introductory showdown takes place in a graveyard arena-like setting.

It’s not the easiest fight, considering his rage culminates in a series of charges that you’ll have to step pretty lightly to avoid. Taking him down only brings you one step closer to a nasty tentacle monster sprouting arms out of graves, ready to grab hold and never…let…go…

Which is where our demo ended! With all the high-tech engines people are coding on these days, frantic energy with stuff flying all over the screen is completely possible, and it’s got me really excited. This first taste of Legendary: The Box has me eager to experience more of Spark’s particular flavor of chaos, so we’ll see what the coming months bring before the June release.

We were completely blown away by what we saw at Gamecock’s EiEiO Conference this year. One of the games that stood out the most to us was a title called “Legendary The Box” being developed by Spark Unlimited.

If you have not heard of this game, now is the time to start reading up on it. Set in modern times with backdrops that range from New York City to London, Legendary The Box is the story of an art thief by the name of Charles Deckard, who unwittingly opens the mythical Pandora’s Box unleashing evil creatures into the world and setting a war in motion that only he can end.

The visuals are amazing and the team at Spark utilizes the Unreal Engine to its fullest potential. The amount of stuff you see on screen in real time is utterly amazing. For more information please visit www.legendarythebox.com.

Below is some edited video we shot of the game at Gamecock’s EiEiO. Please note that this is video that was displayed on screen and not a direct feed, so the actual quality is much much better.

Click here to view the embedded video.