Developer: Spark Unlimited
Publisher: Gamecock Media Group
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Audio Recap:

Review:

Ever wonder what would happen if you opened Pandora’s Box?  You know the mythical box said to hold all the world’s evil inside?  What exactly would it unleash and if it were hell on Earth, how exactly would you defend against it?  I give you Legendary; the story of Charles Deckard, a thief that’s tricked by a mysterious employer named LeFey and his associate, Vivian, into opening said box.  And as it turns out, everything they wrote about Pandora’s Box was true because all hell breaks loose.

Can you guide Charles to figure it out all and escape the wrath of The Black Order?  Should you bother even trying?

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

When Legendary begins, you’re treated to a wonderful showing of Charles and the night he opened Pandor’as Box.  It was really an adrenaline ride done very well by Spark Unlimited.  You see Charless opening the box and unleashing all kinds of supernatural creatures.  He’s also branded with a glowing sigil on his hand as a sort of punishment for doing the deed.  This doesn’t prove so bad though because it’s key to his “power”.  Think BioShock to get an understanding of where Spark Unlimited was headed with his powers.

After opening the box, you’re taken on a gameplay journey that quickly loses the emotion and thrill of the cutscenes before it.  It’s natural for most games but in Legendary it was more of a disappointment because the introduction was really that good.  I did press on though to obtain Animus Vitae, which is the life energy of the monsters you’re fighting.  After killing a monster, their Animus Vitae leaves their bodies and you can absorb it by pressing and holding the Y button.  You can heal or shoot a powerful Animus Pulse to blast the creatures with.

I would’ve loved the ability to at least level up your Animus Pulse power but you couldn’t.  You can blast enemies, heal yourself and do certain things with objects but it doesn’t go beyond that.  Most of the creatures in the game simply laugh at your rifle and other melee attacks so it would’ve been useful to give old Charles something extraordinary to blast these huge beasts with.  The normal first person shooter controls are at your disposal to do battle; R trigger to fire, L trigger to aim, RB for grenades, LB to sprint etc.

At any rate, you’re running around New York trying to figure out how to save the world and keep yourself alive amongst all kinds of winged beasts, werewolves and other evil monsters.  I can’t say the landscape was too impressive nor were the monsters.  In fact, seeing and fighting a gryphon left much to be desired.  I did enjoy the weapons in the game and perhaps because I have a little hidden talent to destroy things.  The Assault Rifle was my main weapon of choice and it just about gets it done through any circumstance.

To keep track of all these things, you’ll need to access your PDA menu.  It details the items you pickup, creatures, objectives and a few other pieces of information critical to the task at hand.

Xbox LIVE Extras

There didn’t seem to be much interest in the multiplayer aspect of Legendary.  You only have essentially one mode to battle against each other in a series of 4 on 4 matches.  You have to battle werewolves and gain their Animus to turn them against other players.  It’s a form of deathmatch and capture the flag that I don’t think pushes the imagination.  I didn’t get much out of the multiplayer experience.  That was likely due to the lack of players and the lack of options there was.

Conclusion

Legendary had all the ingredients of an outstanding game.  There were monsters, powers, Pandora’s box and a really good story but the delivery fell short.  I was excited to dive into a game that let me witness what opening Pandora’s Box would really be like but I didn’t get that feeling.  The best part about the game unfortunately ended up being the introduction of Charles and other moments when the CGI took place.

If it seems as if there is something missing from the Audio Recap or written review, then I’ve done my job because Legendary seemed to have been missing something itself.  Spark Unlimited had an ambitious project but the path was lost in the end and Legendary became just another shooter.