Having recently completed a few games (see my previous blogs for details), I have replaced a few of the cheaper games I had sold in order to pay rent while being unemployed. One such game was Legendary. For those not familiar with it, it's a story about a thief who unleashes mythical beasts from Pandora's Box. Great concept, huh? Damn right. Execution? Eh, not so great. Watching a multi-storied Golem tear apart New York as Griffons swoop in and swallow people off the street is pretty sweet. It's a downhill slope from there. The story is passable at best with double-crosses and secret orders, but what wowed me was that this group actually becomes dependent on the thief. "You're our only hope, Deckard!" Yeah, I really believe this guy would save your sorry butts. In fact, they didn't do a very good job of developing the characters into likeable entities. By the end, I really didn't care what happened, I just wanted to finish it and return it before the 7-days was up (sometimes, buying used from "the evil empire" pays off).

Story issues asside, let's look at gameplay. Standard FPS with a little magic thrown in. Some people called it a "Bioshock Rip-Off". No where near close to that calibur. Yeah, a glowing left hand, but that only serves to send out an electrical pulse and heal yourself. It could only WISH it could be Bioshock. Let's face it, no other FPS can compair to the sheer awesomeness of Bioshock. Yeah, I love that game. But I digress.Legendary isan ok FPS but it amazes me that all of the weapons are almost equal. Headshots were all effective IF you could get the shot. Most of the time the targeting was questionable. Collision detection wasn't much better. Many times I'd leave a werewolf in a crumpled heap with it's head in a wall or in the floor and no way to decapitate it (the only way to finish them off) until it got up again.

Speaking of werewolves, they used a few interesting mythic beasts, but there was opportunity for so much more. When I say 'few', I mean FEW. There are several human soldier types, 3 werewolf types, the irritating little Navis, Firedrakes, blood spiders, Griffons,and an occasional Minotaur.Aside from that, there's only a Kraken boss and...uhm...well, let's face it, I was so bored by the end I forgot howmany enemy types there actuallywere. So much potential, so little execution.

If you get really desperate for entertainment and have a few hours of your life to waste, give it a run. It's not worth keeping in your library, but it's not completely bad. Would have been better if it were a last-gen title, but as a PS3 game, mediocre at best. With a title like "Legendary", you'd think it would try to live up to expectations. "Mythic" would have been a better description.

Up next? Who knows. As I mentioned, I've been trying to replace a few cheap titles and I still have a couplethat I want to complete. I'm considering Alone In The Dark Inferno, Dark Sector, Silent Hill Homecoming, Folklore, FEAR, and others. I did return Legendary and replaced it with Blazing Angels. I really enjoyed it on the 360, but only played about 3 missions. Maybe it's time to take to the skies...

Cheers!

PS: One aditional note...I also completed Loco Roco FINALLY. Just never had the interest in playing through it. I'm also working on the second Professor Layton. Always a good time there.

Hello everyone...my unemployment streak continues, so I'm completing games. Well, what games I have left in my collection that is. So, immediately after finishing Heavenly Sword, I decided it was high time I got started on Prince Of Persia. Considering I've had it since the day it came out,it's probably long past time to check it out. To be honest, I really don't know what to think.It felt more like "Prince Of Pac-Man" to me. The majority of the gameyou collect sparkling light seeds. Look a lot like dots to me. And to collect these "dots", you run all over a maze-like world over and over until you get them all. Then you have 4 main boss characters that show up, one for each section,and they're somewhat "ghosts" of their former selves. Do you see where I'm going with this comparison?

It's not that I didn't enjoy P.O.P. because I couldn't put it down. In fact, I received the "Speed Demon" trophy for completing it in under 12 hours on my first run-through. Mind you, I haven't gotten every last light seed and several other trophies, but I did a fairly decent portion. What really bothered me was the lack of deaths in the game. You could miss a jump and go flailing over a ravine, but Elika is always there to help you out. This makes it feel like there are no consequences for mistakes. Basically, trial and error until you get it right. It makes the game a whole lot less frustrating than it could have been, but dare I say too easy? Especially with there only being a handful of standard enemies, and most of them you could kill with one hit if you found them fast enough. The ending also made me scratch my head. It was a "wow" moment, but really felt more like a way to help sell the DLC epilogue for those who don't like the ending.

Other than minor details, this was quite a good game. The graphics are beautiful and the controls are fairly decent. (I did have a few spots where the prince wouldn't do as he was told.) The puzzles aren't terribly difficult, but the seed locations can get down-right tricky. And even though it only took 12 hours or less to complete, it seemed to be just the right length. Some areas got a little repetitive as did the lack of boss battle variety, but overall,I can highly recommend this, especially for those who loved the POP:Sands Of Time trilogy.Just don't go in thinkingit's gotas much action as the previous titles...this one's more ofa platformingadventuresimilar to the very first POP.

Next on my list? Silent Hill Homecoming has been patiently waiting...there's also Alone in the Dark Inferno and Dark Sector. We'll see what mood hits me in the next few days. All the best everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Cheers!

So, for Halloween, I stayed inside and played Mirror's Edge all night. I swear, that game has some freakin' irritating controls! It is one of the best looking FPS games I've played in a while (based on cost...can't afford games like Killzone 2 yet) but what were they thinking??? I had so many deaths due to the character not doing what she's supposed to. A lot of it could be from poor hit detection. I'd jump off a ledge instead of wall-running, punch past an officer's face, slide into a rail instead of under it, and the best...jump up and down like an idiot trying to climb a pole in front of my face while being slaughtered from behind by a machine gun 2 buildings away. IT REALLY HAPPENED, FOLKS! I did manage to finish the game though, and what a great story it was. The really disappointing part? The final "boss" battle. I was expecting a big, flash-boom-bang battle, but no. A coupleof quick, simple button presses and it's all over. Quite anti-climactic.I have to say, though,that I really did enjoy it despite it's flaws. I did come up with some colorful language to describe Faith and her clumsy exploits, but it was still worth playing through. Especially since it's under $20 now. Be aware, though, it is only about 8 hours worth of game time unless you look for every secret and trophy.

After completeing Mirror's Edge, I promptly moved on to another female heroine...Heavenly Sword was the whole reason my wife wanted a PS3 (I wanted Uncharted, but that's another story). We've had this game on our shelf since the first douple of days that we had a PS3 and she never finished it. In fact, she never got past the second chapter (but that's pretty far considering there's only 5 chapters...I think there's officially 6 but it's the final boss battle, so it doesn't really count). It was high time I tried out this little gem. First impression; God Of War copy. Upon further play, I still felt the same. Then you get to play as Nariko's little sister, Kai. 3rd person shooting like Resident Evil 4, but with a twist. And what a difficult twist to get used to! I don't always sit straight up while playing video games. I strongly reccommend you do so playing this game. The aftertouch controls on the cannon balls, arrows, etc.can be a bit tricky, and if you're tilting your controllerwhen you let an arrow fly, it'll drop straight to the ground before you realize it. Oh, and the controlls for the targeting are a bit off as well.Not only the controlls, the camera for the whole game can get a bit funky at times too. Especially during boss battles where they change sides suddenly and the camera follows. Those little issues aside, I have to say I was expecting a much more difficult game. Once you figure out the quirks in the controls and get used to the different enemy types, it pretty much a breeze. Until you get to the afore mentioned final boss battle...Talk about a serious screw job! I was not pleased with the final boss at all. Seriously difficult attacks to dodge and/or block, and many times I couldn't tell if I was actually hurting him and if I was successfullyblocking any of his attacks. With much more colorful language and a bit more persistence, I found my way to the end of yet another game. I think my total timewas around 8 hours, so another shorter game, but the beauty of the graphics, solid voice acting,and the interesting story (complete with twists!) make for a really good weekend experience.

So, what's next? I've got a few games en que that I've been itching to play through. We'll see what catches my eye next...Cheers!