Publisher: Southpeak Games
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ryan Asher

As professional thief Deckard, you’ve been duped into opening Pandora’s Box, dooming mankind to a plague of mythical, violent beasts. (Way to go, smarty-pants!) As if the end of the world isn’t a big enough problem, your double-crossing employer, LeFey, has sent his paramilitary squad to put the finishing touches on your life. Mercenaries? Werewolves? Fire engine-sized griffons? Good luck surviving the next several hours of Legendary.

From the outset it’s obvious developer Spark Unlimited wanted to do something a little more inspiring than their last shooter on the Xbox 360, the painfully generic World War II-era Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Thankfully, at least one developer has realized we don’t need another WWII IP clogging game racks. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Legendary isn’t as cliché-ridden and uninspired as they come. There’s a business-elite, double-crossing main villain; a sexy (I guess) female sidekick named Vivian; two rival, mysterious factions; and a painful signet binding you to Pandora’s Box, which also subsequently gives you special powers…right.

Let’s just say if Legendary were to be turned into a movie, Uwe Boll would direct it, Michael Bay would produce it, Nic Cage would star in it, Roger Ebert would pan it and there would probably be a Metallica tune in the trailer. Who really needs a great story when you have the opportunity to blast minotaurs and griffons in the chops with a shotgun? Anyone who has played an FPS in the past 10 years should feel comfortable with Legendary; the gameplay is so archaic, the original Half Life would seem refreshing by comparison.

There just isn’t much that Legendary does well. The thing it does best is online multiplayer, but this is really nothing more than a tacked-on, throwaway feature. The online team deathmatch-esque game is Legendary’s most compelling mode, because while you’re pitted against rival humans, your main competitors are the creatures who attack both sides. You collect the soul juice of every creature you send to the afterlife and use it to fill up your team’s node, which wins the game. If the teams are balanced, online MP can provide some intense entertainment, but good luck finding other players.

As for the rest of the game, it’s just very poorly designed. There’s no melee, which is inexcusable when the creatures’ sole purpose is to get in your grill. Add to that the unskippable cutscenes and the amount of ammo it takes to gun down the bigger enemies and you end up with some very frustrating moments. How about giving us packs of weaker creatures instead of forcing us to waste so much ammo on one target? Sorry if I find the backwards circle dance to be an art form from the FPS past. And while Spark boasts about the different mythical beasties you can battle, you really only fight one type of creature 90 percent of the time (griffon and minotaur appearances are few and far between). The soul-sucking health feature also does nothing but ruin the pacing of the game; who seriously believes standing around for three seconds after every creature kill is a good idea?

The FPS market was fairly slim in 2008, but that doesn’t mean you should drop more than half a bill on Legendary. If you’re desperate enough, you’ll get a lengthy campaign, just be wary of the poor execution. Fact is, no one will remember this game in three months, and if they do, it won’t be for a good reason.

Our Score: