Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade
Score: 78% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment Developer: Sony Online Entertainment Media: UMD/1 Players: 1 - 4 Genre: RPG/ Action
Graphics & Sound: As a fan of hack n’ slash RPGs, it doesn’t take much to get me into a game like Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade. Just give me a sword, some magic, and a few health potions, and point me in the direction of the nearest horde of enemies. Even though all of these elements can be found in Untold Legends, they come with a dull feeling of déjà vu. Although it’s a decent entry into the hack n’ slash genre, no new elements are presented in the game. As is the case with most games in the PSP launch line-up, Untold Legends really knocks you out once you pop it in. It’s still hard to believe that you’re playing a great-looking 3D game on a handheld. Once the “newness” wears off, you begin to see some of the game’s flaws, dulling some of the luster. Environments take you through nearly every fantasy-inspired area imaginable; lush forests, dark dungeons, and even the requisite frozen wasteland. Also, characters animate and look nice, but there’s the same lack of variety found in Champions. You can set things like hair color and skin, but it’s really hard to make one character stand out from another, which sucks away some of the “personal” feel of characters. As nice as these details are, there are a few nagging issues. Frame-rates are unstable and really become choppy, especially when the action picks up. The fixed overhead camera also causes a few minor problems. In Champions, the camera can be rotated, and can zoom in and out, to get a better view of what’s going on around you, giving you a comfortable viewing position. The wider PSP screen makes it easy to see what’s going on around you. However, the locked position and lack of rotation hurt. It seems like every time I reentered the game, the camera was in a different angle which threw off my sense of direction for a few minutes. I eventually got used to this, but I really wish I had some kind of control. Sound is kept to a bare minimum and, when compared to other launch titles, is a letdown. None of the story sequences are voiced, so expect a lot of reading if you want to know what’s going on. Music fits within the game, but is rather flat. Sound effects are what you’d expect for this style of game.
Gameplay: Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade is a no-frills, hack n’ slash RPG. In some cases you could even consider it the handheld extension of the PS2’s Champions series since you’ll tread what looks like familiar ground on many of your adventures. The concept is very easy to grasp and fun if you can shake the feeling that you’ve already done this. As always, you begin by selecting one of four character classes: alchemist, knight, druid, and berserker. Untold Legends differs in that you’re given a slightly different set of characters to choose from, but once you get down to character abilities, each fits a more common type related to classes we’re already familiar with. Knights act much like warriors in other games while the druid more of a tree-hugging version of a cleric that can also use pets. For the most part, each class plays the same way, only with slight differences in which items each can equip (or can’t equip) and abilities they can use. Alchemists are decent fighters, but also have spells to make up for a smaller damage output. Knights, on the other hand, are pure melee fighters, but are also rather slow and don’t have many ranged abilities. Once you’re settled into your character, the game follows a rudimentary formula. Get a quest, find the item in a monster filled dungeon, and return. Lather, rinse, repeat. No smokescreen is put up about your missions; everything is straightforward, what you see is what you get. Even for the more hardcore of hack n’ slash fans, the action can get rather dull and has a definite “been there” feeling. Story elements are told via text between missions and, to be honest, isn’t all that engaging. Basically, it’s your typical “chosen one” story. You start by saving a small hamlet and eventually graduate to saving the world. Granted, these types of RPGs tend to focus more on action than story, but considering how generic the action is, I needed something to keep me playing. Unlike most of the PSP’s lineup, Untold Legends really doesn’t feel like much of an “on the go” type game. Load times are easily the longest of all the launch games (with some taking up to two minutes), and dungeons are rather long. A “Quick Return” option is available for when you need to get out of a dungeon quickly. But once you return, you still have to trudge through empty hallways in order to continue your quest. Both elements make the game better suited for waiting in the line at the DMV rather than the bus stop. Multiplayer helps to give the game some portability since you can join an ongoing game whenever you want, but this still isn’t something you can jump into and play for a quick game. It’s a real shame that Internet multiplayer isn’t available, since it would have really helped give the game something extra to go on.
Difficulty: Untold Legends isn’t really that hard a game. Enemy A.I. isn’t too bright and is more about overwhelming you with hordes rather than tricky gameplay. As you move up in both character level and in the story, enemies become much stronger and show up in greater numbers. This requires some strategic thinking as to what spells work best or how to tackle certain enemies. Fights also boil down into simple races to see who can hit the attack button the fastest. In these cases, it’s best to stock up on health potions; you’ll need them. You also have to pay more attention to how you set up your character’s skill points. Otherwise you could come up short in some of your character’s strong points. There’s still enough wiggle room to experiment, but it makes little sense to dump all of your strength points into a character that is primarily a spell caster.
Game Mechanics: Adapting to the PSP’s analog nub is one of the more challenging elements I’ve found myself having to deal with. Untold Legends forced me to become aquatinted with the stick very quickly as it’s the only movement option available. Once I got a hand, or should I say thumb, on the situation, I found the controls to be responsive and easy to learn. Attacks are limited to a button press, making for boring yet effective combat, while spells can be assigned to the other face buttons for quick access. Spells can also be quickly called upon using the D-pad, although this option does require a little more time. Shoulder buttons are for quick use of both health and mana potions. The same thing that prevented me from enjoying Return to Arms kept me from enjoying Untold Legends; it’s too much of the same. Gameplay is repetitive and fails to break any ground. It’s still an enjoyable action game if you enjoyed Champions. Otherwise, this legend is best left untold.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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