If you’ve ever played a game and felt that it had a solid enough concept only to watch in horror as it all falls apart in front of your eyes then you’ll have a good idea of my experience with Legendary. You play as a professional thief who can be described as a modernised Indiana Jones who must deal with all manner of mythological creatures which have been unleashed by the ill-advised opening of the ancient artifact, Pandora’s box. A group of individuals hired your character to steal the box which you inadvertently opened, unleashing a powerful evil into the world, and you find yourself tasked with keeping this deadly weapon out of the hands of your shady employers who wish to use it to rule the world. It’s all suitably dramatic as well it should be but as you play through the game the realization that there’s actually not that much on offer will hit you hard.

This game can be summed up by describing one of the early missions where you find yourself climbing around and hopping from crate to crate in a warehouse. The aim is to make it to the top level in order to reach a switch which will open a door and let you progress further. This is a ridiculous mission which is made all the more frustrating by the fact that you must walk across conveniently placed beams while dealing with a never-ending supply of werewolves with the sole intent of pissing you off.

The sound is nothing to write home about and the graphics, while not the worst I’ve seen, show a lack of imagination especially considering the otherwise interesting creatures they had to work with. The developers attempted to add a cinematic feel to the game with a large number of time-released events which generally play out in the following way: you enter an area, something is blocking your escape, this blockage is removed in some strange way, you’re then free to continue. These moments only serve to slow the game down and since they’re so easy to predict they lack an element of surprise which ensures that they come across as a desperate attempt at lengthening this wafer-thin game.

For an FPS game the aiming can be annoyingly erratic and something I found peculiar with most enemies is that running up to them and swinging a fire-axe can often be more effective than firing a weapon. While playing this game it didn’t feel as though I was being led by the hand so much as unwillingly dragged around and with every objective being flagged it ruined any possible sense of exploration.

This isn’t quite the worst game I’ve played recently and it’s saved from that tag only because the idea offered great potential but, having said this, how the creators managed to go so astray from such a solid base is anyone’s guess. There are plenty of good FPS titles on the market and I advise you to avoid this game unless you’re in the mood for some spectacular mediocrity mixed with a strong dose of boredom.

3/10

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