QJ Review – Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom

While mostly everyone’s in an R:FoM boot-strapping mission, I decided to take the road less travelled and pick up SoE‘s Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. Yeah, we know it’s one of the more un-hyped (some would even say the black sheep) among its generation of PS3 titles, but knowing that its previous PSP installments made a bit of ruckus in the scene, this third title in the series was worth a shot.

Besides, it’s been a while since I got my fidgety hands on a hack-and-slash game, and the way I see it, these kinds of games are built like being able to ride a bicycle – once you’ve learned how to play this kind of game, there’s no need for you to re-learn it. It’s almost like a pick-up-and-play, but with a lot more frills on the side. It’s an action-RPG, after all, so I was really expecting all the levelling up and equipment, menus and spells, save points and bosses.

Just a quick rundown of how the game fared:

Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Fun Factor: 8/10

Total: 38/50 = 76%

So, on to the fray! More about sliding cut-outs, bullet-time sequences, pseudo-Rumble features, and a billowing cape! Click the “Full Article” link and let the legend be told! We review the graphics, gameplay, controls, and sound, all behind the jump!

While mostly everyone’s in an R:FoM boot-strapping mission, I decided to take the road less travelled and pick up SoE‘s Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom. Yeah, we know it’s one of the more un-hyped (some would even say the black sheep) among its generation of PS3 titles, but knowing that its previous PSP installments made a bit of ruckus in the scene, this third title in the series was worth a shot.

Besides, it’s been a while since I got my fidgety hands on a hack-and-slash game, and the way I see it, these kinds of games are built like being able to ride a bicycle – once you’ve learned how to play this kind of game, there’s no need for you to re-learn it. It’s almost like a pick-up-and-play, but with a lot more frills on the side. It’s an action-RPG, after all, so I was really expecting all the levelling up and equipment, menus and spells, save points and bosses.

Graphics
Let’s start with the first thing that jumps out at you: graphics. Frankly, it doesn’t take a Leonardo da Vinci to see how much the game lacks on this aspect. Compared to the other titles available on retail right now, some would even say that it looks as fugly as a PS2 port. Kinda harsh, but it’s all superficial. It all boils down to that age-old argument of judging a book by its cover. To say that a game is bad solely because of its eye-candy let-down is a bit overrated. Some people take it to heart too much.

Comments on our blogs have mentioned how gay it looked for the PS3; someone even stated how laughable it was. While we can’t really berate you for your own opinions, let’s pull some skeletons out of this game’s closet:

• The “cinematics” aren’t really cinematics in the way that you’re used to. When the game goes into story mode – as in the introduction and in between missions – it’s told and shown in a comical way. No, not comical-silly, but comical-“like comics”. There are 2D cut-outs that slide around the screen to give you that graphic novel feel. Mix in a couple of effects like fire, mist, and wind, and you’ve got a “cinematic”. If you want 3D animated cinematics, the most you’d ever get would be from in-game cut scenes.
• Since we’re talking about visuals already, what about the camera? Honestly, it gets funky at some times. If you end up pinning yourself into a corner, the camera swishes erratically from one angle to the other, confusing you even further and leaving you stuck running in place for a few seconds. The only salvation one has is the right-analog which allows you to rotate the camera, zoom in and out, and lock on to the target. Although sometimes, this doesn’t seem to make up for its funkiness.

However, there are some other elements worth noting. One of them is that the spells and little effects are actually well done. All those sparks, light streaks, and jets of steam look cool surrounding the character and their weapons. Also, one nifty feature of the game is that, when you connect a combo successfully, a mini bullet-time scene would trigger: at the end of the combo, the camera and all the objects will slow down, and right when you connect the last blow, the camera speeds up again. Impact wise, it’s a stunning little quirk I enjoyed seeing.

Gameplay
Ah, the brunt of the matter, and what lots would deem as the most important aspect. Given that it’s a hack-and-slash action-RPG, it instantly creates a niche market that it would tap into. All games have this. There’s not one game out there that will please everyone, and as they always say, to each his own. Now, I’m not a die-hard action-RPG fan, and as I’ve mentioned, I haven’t played one for god knows how long. That didn’t stop me from enjoying this game though.

All hack-and-slash elements are there: equipment, hordes of enemies, magic, hordes of enemies, experience points, and, did we mention hordes of enemies character classes? Yes, that’s one important thing here. Depending on what type of gamer you are, you’ve got to suit your style to whatever characters you can choose from. In this case, you’ve got the three basic roles: Warrior, Scout, Wizard. It’s pretty much the same with other 3-tiered classes. You’ve got the Human, Elf, and Dwarf. You’ve got the strong one, the fast one, and the smart one. And as always, the pros and cons of each of these characters even themselves out.

• Golan Kor the Warrior: This guy was my personal fave. Controlling a well-rounded and extremely powerful meat shield, I was waltzing through missions thinking that his armor didn’t make much of a difference. Not once did my health bar drop to critical levels. His combos dealt massive damage, and despite the lack of a Rumble feature, his bigger attacks made me feel as if the vibrations were really there in the controller.
• Zala the Scout: I could imagine this chick to actually whoop Golan Kor’s warrior ass. Zala’s like your Chun-Li among the three. She might deal minimal damage, but she’s very quick and can string long combos. In fact, she moves so fast that I could hardly distinguish her arm from her leg from her thigh from her face, every time she strings cartwheels, slides, and drop kicks together in a combo. Uncanny.
• Malakesh the Mage: Honestly, I didn’t last long with this guy. It’s not because I died, but simply because he wasn’t my cup of tea. Call me choosy, but this guy just really sucked compared to the previous two. For some reason, the whole hack-and-slash feel isn’t the same with Malakesh. His spells do massive damage, but I found it hard to connect combos especially since his attacks are long range (plus, the camera just doesn’t work with you). The only cool thing about him is his flowing cape. Seriously.

Anyways, the game is pretty linear and surprisingly “free-reigned” at the same time. It’s linear because of the the quests and missions that you have to accomplish, but open in the sense that the map (for a particular mission) is fully explorable. Some areas, however are sealed off until you trigger an event or object, say kill all the baddies to advance or flip a lever to open the gates.

Some of the maps are huge and include whole sections of evil hordes to slash through. Here’s a tip though: some of the maps are extremely massive that it’s easy to get lost. You can toggle the map viewer and chart your progress, and make sure that you take note of the different icons that indicate certain objects on the field.

Controls
As mentioned above, the controls here are easy. Somewhat pick-up-and-play without having to consult the manual or in-game options screen every twenty seconds. Although the training mode kicks off your journey, I thought it was overdone, especially since I already knew the ropes (i.e. how to ride the bike). For beginners though, I imagine that it’s going to be useful.

One nice feature about the game is that when you string combos, a sequence of buttons appear on the lower left corner of your screen. These buttons show you what possible combos you can do by choosing which to press next. There’s also a menu in which you can view all of the combinations that your characters have learned in the game. While I only took note of this menu and never really used it much, I found that button-mashing was just as exciting (with an exception in Malakesh) as memorizing the combos themselves.

Sound
They surely weren’t mistaken to have gotten Laura Karpman on the project. The soundtrack really impresses me and catches me off-guard sometimes. The background music during missions and even those in cinematics capture the feel of epicness. It goes well with the story and doesn’t fall short of becoming too over-powering.

The only gripe one can say about the sound is the voice acting. It’s a bit forced. Yes, you’ve got weird old English wordings and cadences, monotonously delivered lines, and all. But maybe it’s really supposed to be that way, considering the back story. Y’know, kingdom under chaos – a Dark Ages sort of thing going on…

With regards to sound, SOE’s pretty much gotten it down pat. Just don’t mind the bad voice acting.

Conclusion
To cap things off, there really are a lot of good and bad things you can say about this game. It’s a fun game to play if you don’t care about graphics and bad voice acting. Button-mashing can take you places you never knew imaginable.

Of course, that’s one way of looking it, and that doesn’t mean say that I’m reducing it to a mere button-masher. Because for those gamers who are familiar and are willing to take a crack at this kind of game, there’s lots of other stuff to enjoy. The story might be cliche, but remember: the fun factor is not in the story itself, but in the telling. Although the graphics aren’t drop-your-pants-off quality, I can still see all the artistry and creativity put behind the objects in the game.

In fact, I had fun playing it and decidedly so, I actually plan on finishing the game with Makalesh, even.

Given that the game didn’t have much hype surrounding it to begin with, I’d say that it wasn’t a let down at all. Now for those of you guys who still think that it’s laughable, laugh if you want. But no matter what, you can’t simply dismiss it as a non-next-gen. Because seriously now, if you compare it with the PSP versions, this third title is still by far, a great improvement. While it doesn’t sit on the top of the list, it nonetheless pushes above and beyond the generation of its PSP counterparts.

Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Fun Factor: 8/10

Total: 38/50 = 76%