Dana Vinson

Legendary Review

By Dana Vinson - Posted Dec 01, 2008

Join us as we open up Pandora's Box in this X-Play review of 'Legendary' for multiple platforms.

The Pros
  • Some great monsters
  • A cool starting concept
  • Fun multiplayer mode
The Cons
  • Less than engaging story
  • Twitchy, unreliable controls
  • Terrible jumping
  • Amateurish level design

Tired of all those high-scoring holiday blockbusters? Need something a little off the beaten path, and without all that extra shine, polish, and refinement? Try Legendary, a mediocre first person shooter with a lot of potential, but way too many amateur mistakes.

Don’t Open the Box!

Legendary ReviewLegendary starts off with a great concept—what if the mythical Pandora’s Box wasn’t so mythical, and to make matters worse, someone opened it. That’s exactly what’s happened, and you get to play the dumb schmuck who opened it. The player takes the role of Deckard, a thief hired to nab the box, but for whatever reason gets stabbed through the hand and imprinted by the artifact. After that, monsters flood out into the world, lots of people get eaten, and Deckard improbably manages to stay right in the thick of things.

Part of the story makes enough sense to get by. Your former employer has double crossed you and your hot, British side-kick for reasons unknown. Deckard finds himself on the run from both mythological monsters and a private black ops organization. Eventually, Deckard and friend meet up with another paramilitary group bent on stopping the havoc and this is where the plot just goes to pieces.  Like so many below the line shooters, Deckard is tasked with all manner of objectives that he’s completely ill-suited for—especially when you are surrounded by supposedly highly-trained soldiers. Deckard inevitably gets ordered around to fix EMP devices, scout the area, find data, and do all kinds of thing that no one would ever trust a low-grade thief to do. In short, the plot progression makes no sense at all.

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Amateur Hour

Legendary ReviewIf you can get over the gaping holes in the story, there are still more nasties coming out of this Pandora’s Box. Although the game uses the Unreal engine, the level architecture manages to look distinctly retro. Worse, the overall design is remarkably amateurish. Maps are incredibly linear, puzzles are simplistic at best, and there’s very little refinement in the balance of monsters. Too much of the game is just a gauntlet run of constantly respawning creatures.

Making matters worse is the often imprecise feel of the controls. Weapons have wildly frustrating recoil, making the already twitchy aiming even more problematic. Deckard has laughably bad jumping skills as well—his standing jump is so bad, you’ll wonder if he has a gimp leg. You’ll often be fighting side-by-side with AI soldiers, but their sole purpose seems to be to die horrible deaths. There’s so much senseless death of both soldiers and civilians that it all feels cartoonishly pointless after awhile. Seldom can Deckard save anyone at all, let alone manage to hang on to a personality.

Monstrous in a Good Way?

For all those flaws, there are some things Legendary does right. The monsters are clearly where the focus of the production went, and most of them look quite good. The mighty griffons in the game are beautifully done, and the unusual take on beasts of myths keeps the player looking forward to encountering new monsters. The gigantic urban golem is actually one of the most impressive looking shooter creatures you’ll see lately—even considering the giant creatures of Gears of War 2 and Resistance 2.

Another plus is the game’s interesting variation on multiplayer. A cross between deathmatch and CTF, with monsters added, Legendary tasks teams with killing werewolves and absorbing their energy, while battling each other. It’s unlikely to get much traffic, but a surprisingly interesting twist on standard multiplayer action.

Not at all Legendary

Unfortunately, some good monsters and a decent multiplayer mode don’t really save the game from being mired down in its own mediocrity. B-grade shooters are common enough, and Legendary ends up being better than the truly awful Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, but not nearly as good as Timeshift. Sure to be doomed to the bargain bin, it might end up being worth a look for bored, cheap bastards, but can’t hope to compete with any of the other full-priced releases of the season.

Article Written By: Jason D'Aprile