Legendary Updated Hands-On
London is burning and we shoot werewolves by the river.
By Shaun McInnis, GameSpot
In the upcoming first-person shooter Legendary, you'll find yourself attempting to protect the fleeting remnants of humanity from a scourge of mythical beasts that have come spilling out of Pandora's Box. It's a battle that takes place across several major international cities, a fight in which modern weaponry is pitted against creatures such as minotaurs and werewolves. We recently took a spin through a portion of the game's London setting that let us try to blast griffins out of the sky using--what else?--rocket launchers.
Just picture the fallout of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but with more helicopters and werewolves.
The level that we saw occurs later on in the game. It begins with you strolling through an underground science facility deep beneath the streets of London. All around you are researchers and soldiers doing their part to maintain calm in the face of this newfound terror. We began by hitting up the firing range to get acclimated with the controls. For the most part, the game controls similarly to most sprint-and-zoom first-person shooters in the Call of Duty mold. The one major difference is the triangle button. (We played the PlayStation 3 version, but others will be released for the Xbox 360 and PC.) The health of recently deceased enemies lingers above their corpses in the form of a floating energy ball, and hitting this button lets you siphon that health. This goes into a pool of health that you can cash in through one of two ways: either by using it to boost your own health or by triggering a pulse attack that stuns enemies to give you an upper hand when things get hairy.
That's exactly what happened not long after we got a feel for how the weapons worked. Once we had our fill with the firing range, we headed up to where Pandora's Box was being kept. Things were calm for a moment, and then a sudden rush of evil spirits came barreling into the facility. In just a few seconds, everything turned to chaos; researchers ran for their lives while soldiers did their best to maintain order. But that wound up being a tough task with all of the werewolves climbing on the walls and the ghosts zipping through the air. We were given the order to make our way to the freight elevator and take on the enemies that had mounted the rooftop, and with that, the real action finally started.
We darted through the underground facility while doing our best to shotgun any werewolves in our way. They're a quick bunch, so it wasn't easy, but we made it to the elevator in one piece. We were met there by a group of soldiers who were diligently trying to figure out the elevator's activation switch. We bravely stepped in, offered to display our knowledge of the "action button," and were quickly on our way upward. During this slow-moving elevator sequence, several werewolves came crawling down to take us on. We gladly obliged, testing out each of our arsenal's components: a shotgun, a submachine gun, and an assault rifle capable of firing in burst mode when zoomed in or in full auto when shot from the hip. The werewolves display some tenacious AI, and to make matters even more difficult, you have to make sure that their heads are decapitated lest they regenerate and come back for more.
It's about time those griffins got taken down a notch or two.
Once on the rooftops, we were treated to a rather unnerving view of London engulfed in flames. Westminster Palace was in shambles, Big Ben looked about ready to crumble over, and even the London Eye bore more resemblance to the Eye of Sauron than its usual self. And to cap all of this off, an army of griffins was circling overhead, ready to swoop down and take us out. We got to fight these beasts in a few different ways. The first griffin that we encountered stuck to the ground and charged after us, forcing us to time fleeing sprints with extended periods of shotgun fire when the griffin was turning itself around. It was a tough little boss battle, but we made it through and carried on. We then found a cache of rocket launchers to use against the cloud of griffins fluttering like bats in the sky. They turned out to be surprisingly easy targets, which confirmed our long-standing suspicion that shooting griffins with a rocket launcher is, indeed, awesome.
That's where our demo came to an end. Legendary certainly has some unique aspects working in its favor, including the London-in-flames background and a unique combination of mythical enemies and modern firepower. If that sounds like an appealing mixture of concepts, you can look forward to Legendary arriving on September 30 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with the PC version tailing on November 4.
Mini-Survey
1. Discus which is in your opinion the most jaw-dropping, unbelievable gaming moment in history. (i.e. Part of a game)
2. What would you like to see more of in this thread? (for example.:Reviews, Hands-On, Announcements, Videos etc.)
1) The Bomb in CoD4. Absolutely amazing.
2) Eh, we've got it pretty much covered. Reviews are the only thing that's really missing, but I think those would only work if done by us, and I'm not sure how often that would be.
2) Eh, we've got it pretty much covered. Reviews are the only thing that's really missing, but I think those would only work if done by us, and I'm not sure how often that would be.
And if we would have someone willing to say something intelligent and insightful and not "It's awesome" or "It sucks".
We don't need the reviews though. I trust IGN to give me that.
1) Wow that's tough. First off all, most of my experience playing Bioshock has just been jaw dropping from start to finish. It's not just that they got the polygons to look ever so smooth, but the amount of effort they put into the vintage style of the environment.
b) Gears of War - The Rain scene was also pretty incredible at the time. I've never seen rain done so well.
c) Mass Effect - Games like GTA promise to let you do just about everything, but usually there are just a handful of things I'm interested in doing. ME was the first game where I found myself doing everything, and not for the sole purpose of gaining achievements. I guess the "jaw dropping" moment came when you first leave the Citadel and see all the places you can explore.
2) Since I'm sure most of us check other sites for our news like TeamXbox or Gamersyde, this thread doesn't need to report everything. Just the hot stories that we all want to discuss.
1. I don't know if I can answer that with one answer, BUT if I had to think of one, I'd say Bioshock and everything about it from the over spliced up (and sometimes hilarious) civilians, to the incredible surroundings of the post apocalyptic world. To go back further, I'd go with the Perfect Dark of N64, the co-op was simply astounding with so little framerate problems. BUT for me, the most amazing has to be Gears Of Wars rain and combination lightning.
2. I'd like to see more announcements and some more hands on's, with some videos.
It is hard for me to list one defining moment in a game, but I agree with Afterglow when he said Bioshock and "everything about it...."
Also going back further, one of the single greatest games I've ever played was Goldeneye 007 for N64. That game provided years of enjoyment. It was this month 11 years ago that it came out. Most shooters only wish to live up to that game. I can only imagine how awesome the game would be if they had the technology from now. The Facility was such an epic level.
It is hard for me to list one defining moment in a game, but I agree with Afterglow when he said Bioshock and "everything about it...."
Also going back further, one of the single greatest games I've ever played was Goldeneye 007 for N64. That game provided years of enjoyment. It was this month 11 years ago that it came out. Most shooters only wish to live up to that game. I can only imagine how awesome the game would be if they had the technology from now. The Facility was such an epic level.
Bioshock was a great game, BUT unfortunately there weren't any particular scenes which stand out in my opinion.....Except when you battle the guy in Fort Frolic and have to take pictures of all the dead guys. Masterpiece.
One of my favourite moments has to be battling the Combine Battleship below the bridge in Half Life 2. I was terrified of falling down because the iron bars are really narrow, and to top it all the gunship was shooting like crazy. Definitely an epic scene in my opinion!!
Another breathtaking moment in games must have been the eagle dive in Assassin's Creed. It becomes repetitive, but the jump is still jaw-dropping...especially when you climb those towering church steeples and watch towers.
Last but not least, is a wild motorbike stunt from Tomb Raider Legend in Japan. Nothing otherworldly about it, but still unforgettable.
Another breathtaking moment in games must have been the eagle dive in Assassin's Creed. It becomes repetitive, but the jump is still jaw-dropping...especially when you climb those towering church steeples and watch towers.
There's a tower in Jerusalem that's, I think, the highest jump point in the game, and it's insane just how far he falls down into the hay. It's NOT for people who are afraid of heights, let me tell you.
There's a tower in Jerusalem that's, I think, the highest jump point in the game, and it's insane just how far he falls down into the hay. It's NOT for people who are afraid of heights, let me tell you.
Assassin's Creed is one of those games where I enjoyed the promotional period, more than the release. In the end I probably watched too many gameplay videos, but I just didn't enjoy the game when I got it.
The character felt too heavy and stiff, horse riding from A to B became annoying after a while, and so did the other repetitive missions in the game.
I did enjoy that one part where you invaded some kind of slave house to do an assassination, pushing people around, stealing knives from the fat guy, and the mobbed fight sequences.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned whatshername's death in FFXII
For me hmmm I'm not sure exactly what I'd say but for games I've played recently, the final section of Halo 3's campaign was pretty epic I have to say (especially the end with the warthog/Arbiter where you're just driving through the swarm with the falling platforms and stuff
We play through an extended version of the Tomb Raider demo that will be shown at next week's Games Convention in Leipzig.
Earlier this week, during a meeting with representatives from Eidos and Crystal Dynamics, we had an opportunity to play Tomb Raider Underworld for the first time. The Xbox 360 demo version that we played was set exclusively in the "Coastal Thailand" level that will be shown at the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, next week. Some of the puzzles had clearly been reworked to make them more demo-friendly (i.e., shorter and easier), but we were still able to get a really good feel for how the finished game is going to play.
Lara's back, and ready to do some more climbing...
Before taking the controls, we discussed Crystal Dynamics' plans for Tomb Raider Underworld with Eric Lindstrom, the creative director for the game. He explained that Tomb Raider Legend focused primarily on action, while Tomb Raider Anniversary was heavy on puzzles and exploration. Underworld, however, will incorporate the best features of both games while also introducing some new features of its own.
The demo began on the deck of a yacht, where Lara is standing and looking across an expanse of beautiful blue water at a rocky coastline topped with lush vegetation. Sharks could be seen swimming in the water below. At the risk of making the swim to shore a little more dangerous than it needed to be, we confirmed that you can indeed target and shot at the sharks. Diving into the water, it became more apparent than before that the waves in the water are quite realistic. When we found a small rocky outcrop to climb onto, we were only able to reach up and grab it when the waves afforded us something of a boost.
Attempting to reach the mainland, it wasn't long before we were treated to a display of some of the new moves at Lara's disposal. We had opted to play through the demo without the benefit of any tutorial assistance, but the moves all fit so seamlessly into Lara's preexisting arsenal that we found performing them to be almost second nature. Free-climbing on rocky walls, pulling ourselves up onto narrow ledges then hugging the walls, and hanging from ropes one-handed while shooting with the other are all good examples of new moves at Lara's disposal, but there are plenty more. One especially neat touch, which we might not have noticed if it weren't for the fact that we were told to look out for it, had to do with making a jump from a hanging position. When attempting to jump, Lara's arms will let you know if it's safe or not. If Lara thinks she can make a jump, she'll get ready to grab whatever you're aiming for by dropping one of her arms. If she thinks you're having a laugh, she'll hold on tight. The new camera system being implemented in the game will purportedly make blind leaps of faith a thing of the past, but because it wasn't in the version of the demo that we played, Lara's visual clues proved invaluable.
As we progressed through the junglelike environment, which was dense enough with vegetation in places that Lara had to brush leaves aside, we encountered our first enemies: bats. Locking on to targets in Underworld is every bit as easy as it has been in previous games, and you're still able to perform all manner of acrobatics to avoid enemies without it ever affecting Lara's impeccable aim. Lara can even target two enemies simultaneously if she has her pair of pistols equipped, though you'll still just be using a single button to fire them both.
It wasn't long before we happened upon the ruins of a very large temple in the middle of the jungle, and after instinctively reaching for a lever near the entrance, it became clear that our goal (or at least one of our goals) was to repair an ancient elevator-like contraption. Needless to say, doing so required us to navigate our way all over the temple, solving puzzles that related to machine parts and such. Spotting ledges and handholds in the crumbling environment was rarely difficult, though none of them were obvious in a way that looked out of place.
Worthy of a mention are the tigers and lizards that livened up the puzzle-solving proceedings quite considerably. This is not because tigers and lizards are anything that Lara hasn't faced in games before, but because these tigers and lizards are quite unlike anything that she's faced before. The tigers, for example, move quite intelligently. They are fast and agile enough to do a good job of keeping up with Lara's acrobatics--following even when she uses a new move to speedily vault over a small wall. The lizards, which were referred to in our meeting as naga, also moved convincingly and were able to scale walls, as well as spit poison.
When enemies like these get too close, Lara can perform a swift melee attack that knocks them back. If you're so inclined, there are plenty of objects in the world that can be used as melee weapons as well, though doing so obviously requires Lara to holster one of her guns. During the demo, we were able to wield what appeared to be a very large pin at one point and later found that by inserting it into a hole in a wall, it could be used as a bar to climb on, grab, or swing.
..and shooting. Can't forget shooting.
Without wishing to give too much more away about the contents of the Coastal Thailand level, other highlights of our demo included using Lara's grapple to rappel down a wall, as well as noticing for the first time that Lara gets increasingly and convincingly dirty as you play. Another highlight had us solving a puzzle involving two giant statues that was epic in a way that not nearly enough puzzles have been since the first Tomb Raider game. Managing to survive our first ever "adrenaline moment" was pretty exciting because, at first, we were convinced that it was an elaborate death scene that we had no control over. Rather, adrenaline moments will be replacing the superactions from recent games. The main difference is simply that in the new set pieces, you retain full control of Lara, whereas in previous games, you've been prompted to press a sequence of buttons in something resembling a rhythm-game mechanic.
Tomb Raider Underworld is currently scheduled for release in October. We look forward to bringing you more information on what could well be Lara's greatest adventure yet as soon as it becomes available.
3) Uhhhh...I'm not sure. I never buy anything that I don't like. Probably Lego Star Wars II, though, because I could have gotten the entire saga on 360.
4) Can't really remember ever getting a true bargain for a game. Maybe the Mega Man Anniversary Collection. LOVE that collection.
Is Lara Croft like James Bond now? They must change her and the actual human representative for each game? =\
3) Two Worlds - Apparently I was so desperate for another Elder Scrolls type game that I decided to buy this on day one. Plus the co-op thing was very appealing at first. =X Let's just say It's a trap!
4) Metriod Prime - Before this game I hated FPS. I decided to give it a chance because of their outstanding 2D series.
3. I truly never buy games I don't like. This is a stretch but I have to say Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. Lets just say that after playing RE4, this just pales in comparison.
4. I'll give the full story here. I truly never got into the Legend of Zelda series until I played the remake of "A Link to the Past" for the GBA. Then I was hooked and immediately bought Wind Waker for Gamecube when it came out. At this time I still never played Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask who most people still argue today are the best two. Then Nintendo had a promotion to get a free copy of Legend of Zelda: Collectors Edition for Gamecube which included Ocarina of Time, Majora'a Mask, and the first two Zelda's from a long time ago. Anyway, getting 2 of the greatest games of all time in 1 package for the low price of free is definitely the best bargain I ever got. So my answer is Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition.
Not far behind is Metroid Prime for the same reason as the above poster.
I think it’s best to begin this review by putting everything I’ve ever known about this game to the side, including the many flame wars it has spawned across the internet the last couple of years, enough square footage of forum board comments to reach from here to Scandinavia and back, I’m sure. I never took part in those earlier debates, for one because I thought they were silly. You can’t judge a game until you can actually judge it. Like now.
But reviewing games in a vacuum is very difficult, and putting aside in your mind all pre-release coverage, and dumb things people have said about a game on a message board or even in print is tough. I did my best. I entered in to Too Human with an entirely open mind, and only one real expectation: that it live up to its preordained status as a AAA-quality Xbox 360 exclusive.
And as far as spit and polish go, Too Human looks like one of those top shelf games. It appears to be what we hope it will be. But it doesn’t take long to see past the painstaking cut-scenes and the needless cavernous yet richly realized (artistically) levels to see that the things that are wrong with Too Human are wrong at the core. As they say, there’s something rotten in Denmark.
The action picks up quick, but gets repetitive equally as quick.
For all its pomp and circumstance, Too Human fails miserably in a couple of crucial ways. Crucial if things like enjoying yourself and actually being compelled to keep playing are at all important to your gameplay experience. The controls are bizarre and hamper more than help; dealing at all with the camera is a huge pain and inconsistent across much of the game; the enemies are repetitive as much as they are derivative; the story and dialogue seems hackneyed; I could go on and I will. But to put it simply, playing Too Human was a highly unenjoyable experience for me, and I was glad when it was over.
I’m not sure if the game started out in the wrong direction or just ended up at the wrong destination after all this time, but either way, it feels broken in so many ways. But I keep asking myself, is it just broken to me? Is this one of those completely subjective assessments where I say I just don’t like it? What about people who do play it and like it. I know there will be someone out there will, and I never begrudge someone their own personal joy. But I’m just not seeing it.
Let’s start with the story. Again, a highly subjective subject. But Nordic gods crossed with cyborgs seems like something snatched directly from the three-ring notebook of a frustrated Dungeon Master who’s into heavy metal and H.R. Giger. But again, if that’s your thing, fine. One man’s Hamlet is another man’s TekWar.
But the storyline they put forth is so predictable. After the first major set of cutscenes back at the Aesir homebase and you’ll be able to figure out what’s going to happen for the rest of the game. And not to spoil the end or anything, but it’s so clear that the designers intended as the first part of a bigger story that the end doesn’t feel like an end at all, but just the terminus of yet another nonsensical chapter. The writing behind it is pretty run-of-the-mill sci-fi pap, with actual lines like: “you’re bleeding… nah, it’s just a scratch”.
But again, highly subjective, and if you dig it, you dig it. I didn’t. But it’s harder to defend some of the other design choices, especially when it comes to gameplay. Choosing the type of character you want to play is really choosing about two different disciplines with some gray areas covered in between by the other classes. Shooting and melee are your two basic play styles. The shooting allows you to argue that the game is not really a hack n’ slash game after all. But it’s hardly a shooter either. It’s a hack n’ slash with some shooting, but you better not pick the ballistic class because as much as you like to shoot you’re going to need some good melee skills later.
So really, hacking and slashing is the really important stuff here. And like any good RPG-lite, Diablo-inspired game with a third-person action view, the meat of it – the carving up of enemies – is fun. Yes, there is something fun about Too Human, something that will weigh more heavily in the eyes of those who do enjoy the game. But it’s something that couldn’t save the experience for me. Yes, the melee combat can be enjoyable; but after fourteen hours of the same maneuvers delivered against hordes of samey enemies, even the best thing about Too Human gets old.
Yes, I would figure the average game time to finish Too Human, provided you run through it fairly quickly and don’t waste too much time dying and getting slowly picked up by that loafing Valkyrie (can we hurry this up lady?) should be about 10-12 hours. But I died. A lot. Guess it’s my bad for playing as a beserker, but maybe its also the bad of the designers who only make health available through pickups.
Yes, I know certain characters can heal you, but I didn’t want to play as the bio engineer, no matter how much they ninja-ed up his costume. Oh, but I could have played co-op with a friend who was a healer, and together we could have made a harmonic team? Now we come to another point; not only is this game better when played co-operatively, it kind of feels if co-op is the only way to play that will truly realize the designers intentions. Single player almost feels like an afterthought.
You don't want to get too close to this guy.
Myabe I’m just being a wuss about the enemies and the bosses. No, I still think they do some cheap stuff. Maybe I would have had a better time if I played with a different class. But I should have a good time playing any class, shouldn’t I?
And here’s another thing I should do: look awesome at all times. Too Human is full of loot drops, meaning you have tons of weapons and armors to try out and even craft. The problem is, they often look totally dumb on you in some combinations. I had to spend one incredibly long cutscene looking at myself in some gear I would be embarrassed to leave the house in.
And the whole inventory system, especially the system of runes and the upgrades they can give your weapons and armor is kludgy and hard to understand. So I have runes that work like achievements where I have to do a certain thing to activate them, then they go on some huge board replacing ones I’m not sure if I still need then glued on to weapons to make them more powerful? I like having a lot of control over my items, I even like having a lot of items, even if they have ridiculous names like Merciful Reinforced Tumble Pads of Reinforcement or Proficient Shockplate Greaves of The Cunning. Loot drops are good, it’s just the system they employ for managing these items will leave you feeling lost.
Speaking of feeling lost, Too Human does an amazing job of getting you lost in its worlds. Figuring out your next objective, especially when you’re back at the Aesir hub is not that easy, and you usually have to look at a wall map to tell you your next objective. A map during battle would be a nice thing to have too, considering the branching paths some levels take.
For all my frustration with Too Human, I often see really good ideas sneak through. The system of magic wells that allow you to transport yourself to the magical realm is a cool idea, especially when it lets you do things like open doors or solve puzzles in the “real world” of the game. Only problem is, these are rarely “puzzles” in the traditional sense. More like, hey look at this big switch over here! Use magic to push the button! OK, now go back to the open door. There are secret dimensional portals littered about too that let you enter into a timed battle arena amongst other things, but again, it’s all the same disappointing gameplay.
Usually when I play a game I don’t like, I can point to one or two things and say, “if only they would have gotten this right”. But there are too many things like that in Too Human. I’ve barely scratched the surface on all the things that bug me about this game (zombies? Really?) but I hope I made it clear how much I disliked it. I hope I also made it clear that you may like it. In fact, it’s a guarantee that someone will. Just not me. I don’t need games that make me this mad for so little payoff.
Gameplay - 6.8
I have to believe that if they fixed the camera it would improve gameplay, but maybe I’m just wishin’ now. Really only halfway enjoyable in co-op where you can complement each other.
Graphics - 7.5
They definitely spent some good money on artists for the game. Should have thrown a little bit of that scrill at the programmers though.
Audio - 6.4
The bombastic music is only occasionally occluded by the stupid dialogue.
Longevity - 5.5
Not much reason to play through again unless you’re an absolute level junkie.
Innovation - 5.6
The melee attacks on the right stick are cute, but seriously, it’s Diablo.
Probably Lego Star Wars II, though, because I could have gotten the entire saga on 360. 