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 | Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade PSP SOE  If you're a proud new owner of Sony's PSP and happen to be a fan of RPGs like 'Diablo', 'Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance' and 'Champions Of Norrath', then this is game is probably your first port of call. The fact that this game, commonly referred to as 'Lil' Champions Of Norrath', is the most detailed RPG ever found on a handheld is both a blessing and a curse. No one would question production values on a GameBoy Advance title, for example, but because 'Untold Legends' is so close to the PS2's '...Norrath' title, it makes it so much harder to accept its lack of atmosphere, simple design and trimmed back options. As you'd expect, you begin by choosing your character from a collection of magic users and fighters, and the choice will determine what types of equipment you'll be able to use, whether you'll focus on ranged attacks or up-close melee attacks, and whether you'll be reliant upon "power" (kind of like mana). After creating your character using the limited customisation options it's time to begin your adventure. Unfortunately, the story is irritatingly stock-standard, which is a shame: it makes it difficult to care about the characters or their motivations. The journey has over 100 quests, most of which require you to hack and slash your way through randomly generated dungeons filled with monsters, the undead, and other uglies before reaching a boss character or collecting a valuable item for another character. Because the dungeons and monsters are randomly generated, it feels like the game lacks strategic design and therefore gameplay. Your character will become more powerful as you progress and you'll find, earn, and purchase new gear, as well as gaining special abilities. Party fiends can join up with three other players for some cooperative dungeon bashing, and this is where the game actually starts to kick it. 'Untold Legends' was obviously designed with multiplayer gaming in mind. The co-op system was also designed to be quite flexible, allowing other players to jump into your single-player game or to start a fresh adventure. The game also sets the rules concerning the dividing of riches, to help prevent too much squabbling over who gets the bounty. Unfortunately, the game doesn't support Wi-Fi play, it's local wireless play only. Call me crazy, but it seems strange that Sony Online Entertainment is responsible for launching a game for an online system which does not include online play. Graphically 'Untold Legends' feels quite bland: the environments, while varied, are generic RPG. The characters look fairly average and are devoid of personality. In fact, everything about this game feels generic. That's not to say that it's bad - there are elements in the game that work quite well - but you can tell that it wasn't lovingly created by a company who wanted to make a great game, they just wanted to release it and get on with their lives.  | |
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