Chaos Legion: Impressions and a Short Review
Chaos Legion is Capcom's latest title on the PS2. It's supposed to be an action game with RPG elements (or, "Action/RPG"). Judging from the videos I've seen from E3 and the info I've read, this game was supposed to be at least somewhat good and interesting, but Capcom failed to please me.
There's a number of things wrong with this game so I'll just start randomly. The first, and most important con about this game is that it is pure repetitiveness. I can sum up the game in a few sentences:
1. View a cutscene.
2. Go through several "scenes" in one stage, defeating mosnters in the process.
3. Fight the final boss of the stage.
4. Repeat until game has been complete.
... and that's it really. I found myself to get very bored of the game after the 4th stage. Not only that, but the later stages become much harder, and are filled with much more enemies, which really just takes out the little fun that was there in the beginning. Sounds like Capcom's other action series, DMC, right? Yes, well, that's basically what it is.
The only thing different is the slight mix of RPG elements and that you can summon Legions. Legions are summons that will help you fight. They do make certain battles much easier, and I can say that if it wasn't for the Legions I would have quit the game by the 4th stage. The main RPG element is experience, as you fight, you gain experience points (and so do your legions). Experience points can be used to upgrade the stats of your legion (like attack, defense, etc.). You can also upgrade stats by using certain items that are left by enemies.
The game also lacks a good story. The main point, from what I've seen, is to colelct the remnants of the Ultimate Legion, that are scattered throughout different stages, of course.
You can also use an additional female character. It really doesn't improve the gameplay at all, however.
The graphics in Chaos Legion are pretty good. You'd have to see if for yourself, but most of the enemies and characters are detailed well enough.
The sound is basically just reglar techno-style battle music. Nothing special. If you played other games like this, you'll know what to expect. There is voice acting, however.
The control is good, but nothing more. The left analog is used to move, square will make your character attack, x is to jump, o is to target, l1 summons your equipped legions (you can have 2 at a time), and l2 will switch bewteen your legions during battle. You can also move the camera angle with the right analog. The camera angle isn't too bad either, but sometimes I found myself having to rotate it to get a good view of the action.
Well, my bottom line is that Chaos Legion is a boring, repetitive, DMC-ish game that Capcom just seemed to throw together. I guess you can call it a cheap version of Devil May Cry 1, with slight RPG elements. DO NOT buy this game, rent it if you must, but I recommend only renting it if you love pressing the square button over and over -- because that's exactly what you'll be doing.
Graphics - 8
Sound - 7
Gameplay - 4
Control - 7
Replay Value - 5 (if you like to do the same thing over and over, then maybe this is your game....)
OVERALL - 5.1
EDIT: I'm also going to add that I've been very unpleased with Capcom lately. First they ruined the BoF series with that Dragon Quarter crap, and now this? .... Hopefully their future titles are of better quality.
Last edited by Crono : 08-08-2003 at 02:05 PM.
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