Legendary
Preview
Unreal engine 3 powered mythic beasts coming at you
by Keaton Arksey
previewed on PC
Onslaught
You won’t have to face all these dangers completely alone. Besides the beasts and the Black Order, there is a third faction in the game: the Resistance. Resistance fighters will aid you wherever they can, but without special powers they may turn out to be little more than a helpful distraction for your foes.
While you will spend some time doing ‘corridor-shooting’, the true action begins when you enter large areas made for arena battles. In these areas you will have to fight both the Black Order and mythical beasts. They are bound to come at you wave after wave and we can tell you now that the onslaught won’t be a pretty sight.
Anger levels
The developers have taken an interesting approach to the AI design. Mythical beasts have different ‘rage levels’ and this determines how violently they react to you. A lone Werewolf might not be all that interested in you at first. Shoot it and its rage increases, making it far more aggressive. Enemies are also capable of determining which parts of the environment can be interacted with. If an object can be used as a weapon or destroyed to gain some sort of advantage over you, they will not hesitate to give that a try.
Ridding the area of beta wolves won’t be much of a problem but the Alphas are incredibly dangerous and should be dealt with as soon as possible. The game doesn’t make it easy either; unless you shoot off their head, they will heal and get up to fight you some more. Werewolves will rarely take you head on. They prefer to flank you and actively try to stay out of the line of fire. When it gets close enough to lunge, a button-pressing mini-game occurs that results either in a shotgun fired right in its face, or… becoming lunch.
A cocky game
Only two of the three factions are playable in the multiplayer part of the game. The beasts are AI-controlled while players can crawl into the skin of either Resistance or Black Order soldiers. This could lead to some of the most interesting multiplayer gaming we have seen in a while. Consider leading a Gryphon into a group of enemies and then run off to lure some more beasts while your enemies are stuck dealing with the mighty Gryphon. Sounds like good fun.
Publisher Gamecock is new to the gaming scene but seem to have a solid title on their hands with Legendary: The Box. Interesting foes, a Tomb Raider-like setting, strong AI and innovative multiplayer are a mix that will make many a gamers’ heart pound a little faster. Keep your eyes on this one.
