Official Website

Platform: PSP

Genre: Action RPG

Number of Players: 1 - 4

You can have any type of game you want for a console when it debuts, sports, racing, puzzle, but if you don't have an RPG, there are people that aren't going to be pleased. There used to be a time when it seemed that companies in the United States didn't quite understand that there was a core audience for the role-playing market that would buy just about anything, and these days it seems like there is at least one new RPG out on a system each month. The PSP couldn't be without an RPG, and though most would think that Square-Enix would be the first company out of the gates, it's Sony. Instead of a classic turn based RPG though; they are going the path of action RPG.

Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade isn't quite your cookie cutter RPG in terms of having a pre-designed hero to control, and instead you'll create one of four character types before the tale even begins to unfold. You can play a brave knight, a deadly berserker, a nature loving druid or even a crafty alchemist. Once you've decided what class you will be, you need to decide how to distribute your attribute points, and then it's off to the city of Aven.

The story of Untold Legends is quite a familiar one indeed. Aven itself is a peaceful city; at least it was until recently. Citizens have gone missing, there has been an uneasy air about the residents, and now monsters have started making their presence known all across the world. As the hero, you will be put through a series of trials and tribulations. A number of quests will have you rescuing those believed to be gone forever, defeating fearsome monster bosses, and trying to restore the peace that Aven and the rest of the land knew for so long.

If you played either of the Diablo games, or anything else of the same variety, then you're already familiar with Untold Legends, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad game and in fact, it's very, very addictive. In Aven itself you will be given missions. Look on your map for non-player characters that have a yellow question mark above their head as they have a task for you to complete. The nice thing is that you can take on more than one at a time, and should you forget what you're supposed to do, your sub-menu has record of everything. Getting around is no problem either as Aven has a teleporter linked to locations, though you will need to find and active them in order to use them.

The type of character you select is going to be a very crucial role. To begin with, you have the option to equip your character as you'd like and you will find pieces of armor, weapons, and even gems and skulls that can be used to grant power and defense to weapons. However, there will have both level and class restrictions placed on them, though you can sell them back in the city, and this will become a necessity as you also have a certain weight that you can carry. Once you reach that level, you will need to start getting rid of things, either by dropping them or making a trip back to the bazaar in Aven. As you level up, you will be given points to add into your stats as well as points to spend on special abilities and each class has different skills. The skills themselves can be levels up and like armor, there are ones that have level restrictions placed on them.

Fighting is easy, but there are things to pay attention to. The first and most obvious is health, but you can used potions you've collected to regain it and your special skills and attacks also have their own meter that is depleted each time you use them. Again, potions will help bring that total back up as will simply not using them. You can use these skills in battle, jump in and attack with handheld weapons, or even use ranged weapons to lure the enemies in. With a great number of skills available however for each class, you can't use them all at once, but there is a skills wheel that can be used to assign them to different keys, and this can make all of the difference in battle.

Untold Legends is a huge game with quite a few different areas to hack and slash your way through and a number of different monsters, though there are those times when you deal with the color pallet swap. If you get lost though, you do have a map that you can access that will show you what area is linked up with others, making your journey a little easier at times, or showing you that you have quite a trek ahead of you.

Playing solo is one thing, but this is a game that will allow you to play with up to four different players. This means you can get each character type together in one game, you can get all of the same types of characters, or any combination. This makes restoring peace to Aven that much easier, though this won't help you in story mode, and multi-player is a completely separate gameplay option.

The graphics aren't bad, but I can't say they are outstanding either. The monsters tend to be a little unimaginative at times, and their attacks visually aren't too impressive. The details in the areas though makes up for that, and you'll notice there really tends to be a lot to take in much of the time. I do like the fact however that changing weapons and armor will change the appearance of your character. This is much better than having the same look from start to finish.

The only real complaint that I have is that when you leave and area and return, the direction that the screen is up with tends to change. This can make it interesting to try and get a grasp on where you are, so if you think that you know an area inside and out, finding it switched around can be a bit puzzling at first.

There is always place in any RPG fans heart for an action RPG, and Untold Legends is going to be the one on the PSP that others try and equal up to. Although I'm getting my review done a little later in the game on this one (I picked it up on my own accord as we will support Sony no matter what) there has already been a sequel announced for the game, and it's been an outstanding title in terms of sales. Tired of racing, no movies to watch, can't get a hirer score on Lumines; give Untold Legends a try. You'll find the rest of the world just disappears.
 

-mike-