The TPS Report - Games, Beats 'n' Blogs

UL is SOE's hack 'em up PSP launch title

Untold Legends is a flawed game in many ways. It's repetitive, the loot system is a mess and the characters all paper thin for an RPG. So why do I still recommend all PSP owners pick this one up regardless? Allow me to explain...

Legends is a hack and slash RPG-light, much like the older Dark Alliance games on its big brother PS2. You pick a class, level up, collect items and even interact with the odd character. For the most part though, you just bash away at hordes of enemies and big bosses.

The combat is actually rather satisfying in its own right. The weapons are large, the controls responsive and there's a pleasing range of clangs and bludgeoning sounds that give it a rock solid beat 'em up feel. Fighting is all of the real-time variety, which makes it a lot more fast-paced, visceral and down-right enjoyable than your more hardcore RPG style, even if it essentially just boils down to simple button-mashing. Thankfully you can switch to ranged weaponry and magic spells at any point for some much needed variety - a good thing too, considering 95% of the game is made up of this fighting.

Nothing Like a First Impression

Legends features impressive visual effects on its various spells

For the first few hours I was incredibly content with that too, and began wondering why on Earth this game had received the mediocre reception it had from the critics. You're given quests from the towns folk, then are sent out into the wild to accomplish them and explore, and it certainly strikes you early on what a pretty and surprisingly large game world you have at your disposal. All was well.

Unfortunately about four or five missions in it had started to become embarrassingly obvious that every single quest in this game is identical. I mean that literally. Each and every time you're sent to hammer your way through a dungeon, then confront a boss, either to recover some sort of artefact from him, or just to rid the world of his evil doing. Oh sure, the game tries to make each quest feel a world apart from the last through the storyline and dialogue, but gameplay-wise it's ultimately the same thing when you get down to it. It really is a one note game in that regard.

Enemies cover the entire spectrum of clichéd RPG stereotypes

I'd be hard pressed to tell you the plot even if I tried. Little things like character, depth and story are pretty mundane and simple in Legends. All that stuff's there if you wish to follow it, but this part of the game just didn't draw me in at all and became almost invisible.

The other major problem with the game is the item system. There are what feels like thousands of individual weapons, shields and types of armour scattered throughout the world, but both their stats and their placement is completely out of balance. Pretty much every single enemy you wipe out will drop something you can wear or use, and as a result you're completely overstocked with items and weaponry. Foes also drop generous amounts of cash, culminating with characters who posses 10,000 credits and an entire body of elite items by barely the halfway point. As you can guess, the challenge somewhat subsides around here.

It feels like a glitch got through somewhere along the line causing every single enemy to drop loot when it shouldn't be doing. As a result, spiders are dropping top of the range weapons regularly, and you're picking up so much crap that 90% of it has to be left on the floor 'cos your backpack's full.

Untold Loading

For a handheld title, the graphics impress pretty much across the board, comparable to older PS2 releases

Other probs involve longer load times than I'd like, although thankfully they are spruced up a little by some pleasing concept art to keep you amused while you wait. Legends is a good looking game in fact; textures are detailed and sharp, characters well animated and all your various weapons and armour affect your look, giving you some pleasing customisation. The particle and spell effects are also very well done, and give the game a nice polished feel.

Letting the visuals down however, is the PSP's low refresh rate; it hasn't bothered me at all in any other games yet, but in Legends it's horribly conspicuous, resulting in some major blurring every single time you move. For such a luscious looking game, it doesn't half resemble the old green Gameboy when in motion.

Sound really hit the spot for me, especially those sound effects which are nigh on perfect. Sword and armour collide with immense weight, and the snapping of bones is also grossfully bliss. The music won't be for everyone, but I really dig this kind of old skool RPG score. World of Warcraft it ain't - much more simplistic and one dimensional - but it suited the game nicely (perhaps that's a backhanded compliment...).

Hypocrisy

All in all, while the game has a pleasing opening, it doesn't take too long for that repetition to kick in, at which point you need a good story to keep you playing. Untold Legends doesn't really have that. So I ask you once again, why do I still recommend Legends? Why am I still so damn keen to play this sucker and see it through to the end?

There are two levels of zoom, but to be honest the more closer one is absolutely bloody useless

Quite simply because it does have one important trait to its name; it's the PSP's only bloody RPG! In fact, more than that; it's one of the very few PSP games with proper story, characters and a decent journey. It's not a racer, a puzzler or a sports game...that's gotta be worth something. In fact, it is - it's worth 30 of your quid.

Yeah, it's far from the PSP's greatest, and I'd snag Lumines or the recent Virtua Tennis over this first any day. But I must say, when I wanna get taken away to another world, Untold Legends is the one I reach for. It may be a repetitive, somewhat simplistic adventure, but at least it's not a race track.

It's worth noting SOE has a follow-up Untold Legends 2 well into development already. I can imagine a damn fine RPG in that, if this first game's various probs are addressed. Whether you can wait for its release or not though is another question, and in the meantime, at least I have something of this style to keep me company. It's flawed in design, but the action is vintage hack 'n' slash all the way, and in that regard it certainly holds some solid value...

...oh, and it has flippin' four player wireless co-op!

(Pictures courtesy of Sony Online Entertainment)