Publisher: Sony Online EntertainmentDeveloper: Sony Online Entertainment
Genre: Action RPG
Players: 1-2 (1-4 online)
Rated: T (Teen)
Release Date: November 15, 2006
Written By: Matthew Prunty
Screenshots: Link
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Sony Online Entertainment has made a living off of hack n’ slash titles, with the Untold Legends series being no different. With two titles already released on the Playstation Portable, there was a mixed crowd when Sony announced that the series would debut on their next generation console, the Playstation 3. Publications, online media, and even various video clips were used to hype the cross-over and the new features expected of the newest installment. Veterans of the style of gameplay, or even newcomers, will find the gameplay rather easy to adapt to, with countless RPG elements throughout the title.
One you fire up the game, you will learn of the treachery and deceit that is going on within Dureth. As a member of the Dragon’s Shade and a servant for King Halasker, the kingdom ruins with the king being corrupted by malevolent forces, you must uncover the source of corruption and sever its head (metaphorically speaking). During your quest, you will come across some powerful adversaries, scenes of citizens from the Kingdom of Dureth being slaughtered and tortured by the demonic army running ramped through the civilization. These violent scenes are told through cut-scenes, which give off a very dark and dismal tone to the game. Now that we got the details out of the way, it’s time to get down to work.
Before you can begin your quest for truth and salvation, you must decide between three fighters, which one will you lead in battle. You have choices between a warrior, the scout and of course, the mage. Each character has his/her strengths and weaknesses, so deciding on which character to use may all come down to your style of gameplay. Are you the type to runt into battles head on? If so, then I would go with the warrior. If you are the type that likes to attack from afar, then you could either go with the scout or the mage. But no matter which one you choose, you will still have access to various magical spells, only of which four can be used at any given time. For those who are use to hand-t-hand combat, each character has his/her range of melee and strong attacks that could be strung into multi-hit combos to wield damage on your enemies.
During the game, you will come across several instances where you will have to either figure out a difficult puzzle or accompany a computer-controlled character. Even though S.O.E. utilize these various twists and turns, the game’s fallout is rather predictable in its outcome. Within the two PSP titles, there were several branching paths within the story you can embark on, but within Dark Kingdom, those paths are no more, and you are given a more straight shot to the end goal. But along your path, expect to do battle with various creatures including golems, zombies, and even you favorite demons (both old and new) within various environments like dungeons and abandoned villages.
Since we live in the age of downloadable content, most developers opt to leave out extra items, to later use for extra content, whether free or for a fee. This tradition is true for Dark Kingdom. When you visit the various checkpoints, you have the option to refill your vitals or buy pieces of armor. If you decide to pick up some stronger shielding, you will notice there is only like two pieces in each category. What makes the situation worse is 9 out of 10 times, you best armor will be acquired in the field of battle, rather than at the shop. But at the same time, this aspect keeps the action moving, knowing that you don’t really have to stop unless you want to refill your health and mana.
There are also a few changes within the fighting and collection scheme of the title. As you progress through the game, killing various enemies, you will earn experience points. Once you acquire a certain amount of points, you have the ability to level up, boosting stats in either the health, mana, attack power, magic power, melee defense, and even spell repel. Also, while on your killing spree, you will come across enemies that will either drop different-colored orbs or various pieces of armor. Where the change lies is in the fact that you can no longer pick up weapons from the vanquished enemies, which was an element within the first two Untold Legend titles. Through the game, you will pretty much be using the same weaponry. The only difference is that you can add new special abilities to your weapon by combining it with certain magical orbs. While this is still a workable design, you are hindered by the fact that the slots for the gems can only take certain shape items, so throughout the game, you will have to make the choice between keeping this particular stone, or swapping it for another.
Untold Legends Dark Kingdom is a very visually impressive title to say the least, but doesn’t stack up well against the likes of Gears of War, Resistance of Men, or even Lost Planet. Even while playing the game in 720p HDTV resolution, you cans till see instances of which this title was, at one time, a Playstation 2 project. With the capabilities of the PS3 being known, you still see lack of fluidity in the way various enemy creatures move and the design layout of the various environments. There are even instances within the game where there is a slowdown within the frame-rate due to several enemies on the screen at one time. For the most part, they go un-noticed, but there are a few times where the slowdown is evident.
Dark Kingdom, while a massive title, only takes a dozen hours to complete. But for those who want to add some spice to their adventures can have a friend jump into the battle with a character of his/her own; for some co-op action. The beauty of how the multiplayer aspect is set up is that a second player and join and leave the game at anytime, thus not making it rather bothersome when one person isn’t into the game no more. But if you want to have a party, you can log into the online structure for some 4-player action. But unlike the co-op option, if you decide to go online, you must start a whole new campaign and a new character specifically for this mode. No longer can you cross over with your established stats and advancement within the game to further gain from the multiplayer action.
Not stopping there, S.O.E. was also able to include the PC-based Xfire application. While this is a nice feature, allowing current users of the program to log into their accounts and chat with fellow Xfire users, at the current moment, it doesn’t show its worth of being included within the title. Maybe at a future date, we will see some downloadable additions that will utilize this feature and more of the online structure, but for right now, there are one too many faults to fully enjoy the experience.
Personal Thoughts:
While this series made a perfect fit on the Playstation Portable, it lacks what it needs to be a successful console title. The Playstation 3 has a lot of potential, while that is known, it seems that this title doesn’t live up to what the series and the console is truly capable of. Hopefully with time, and more understanding of the hardware, SOE and other developers will be able to crank out Action RPG titles that are worthy of the console’s capabilities and of the masses buying potential.
This is still worth the purchase if you are a gamer who loves a good ole fashion fight, or just loves those hack n’ slash titles. Either way, this game is destined to succeed, but not the way S.O.E. originally planned.
7/10
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