Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade

Haven't we all been secretly waiting for a PSP game that will blow our minds? Yes, its true, but I'm afraid to say that this isn't it... but it is far from disappointing.

Constructed by Activision you'd expect nothing less than perfection and they are close to filling this perception with Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade.

It was the only multiplayer role playing game (RPG) available when the PSP was launched but even if there was competition, Untold Legends would be likely to be best in the field. Unless that competitor was the sequel of course!

Untold Legends follows along the lines of games such as Baldur's Gate which enable you to follow the path of a character as they battle their way through quests and missions where you are required to kill enemies who stand in your way.

The game starts off with corny, but surprisingly good, music which sets the mood. You then choose from four different types of character. First, the knight, who combines fierce combat with heavy weapons and artillery and a good range of magical skills. There is then the Alchemist who is female and a good transition from what you'd expect to be an all male cast in a game like this. She is relatively weak when you start off but as you progress her impressive range of magic will have enemies fleeing from your path! The third character is the Druid (who I chose for the game). They use nature to fulfill their goals but are also skillful with heavy weaponry and advanced spells. The fourth and final character is the Berserker. Resembling a Resident Evil zombie, the berserker is perfect for the more brutal gamers who like nothing more than forcing their way through walls of enemies with as little finesse and as much power as physically possible.

The feature I liked most about this game is the ability to customize your characters and at the beginning of the game you choose what abilities your character will possess. You can choose strength, intelligence, dexterity and stamina. All four are vital to a successful adventure, but if fine tuned to your character it is much easier to succeed in the game.

Once your character has been chosen, you enter the Untold Legend realms. You start in Aven which is a peaceful village, being overrun by evil. A traditional good vs. evil scenario is used for this game. Hit the select button at any point in the game and you will enter the very user friendly Untold Legend tab. From this tab you will have the option to look at the current quest you are doing, the upgrades of your character, health and power of your character, potions you own, armor you own and also weapons that you are currently holding. This tab is great to choose what you want your character to be wearing, what weaponry and if you want to have a check up on any quests you may have. The tab is well designed and is easy to master. At certain points in the game when you earn enough experience points you can upgrade your character. You choose what upgrade to have. You may opt for better attacking, defensive or magic capabilities, depending on what character and at what point in the game.

You explore through deep caverns and villages, speaking to villagers and knights as you go who give you advice and warnings relating to the current quest. When that quest is complete simply move on to another. There are quests in the game like finding antidotes to cure a disease. The antidotes surprisingly located in an enemy infested cavern.

The view you have during the game is from behind and above your character so you can easily observe your surroundings with a wide scope of scenery and enemies. The graphics on the game are nothing spectacular but are quite sharp and definitely do the game justice. The graphics are perfect for showing you and a handful of enemies, being giant spiders or skeletons with swords, battling it out in a forbidden cavern.

There are only two modes available for this game, single player story, and multiplayer story. I only had the opportunity of playing the single player mode but from the enjoyment I had I can definitely picture me and a couple of my other PSP owning buddies questing our way to the end of the game with only the five hour battery life stopping us!

I didn't find much wrong in this game apart from the options you have during play. The different paths you take in the game are fairly limited and you are unable to wonder off into the depths of the wood or caves for example and you pretty much have a set route you have to take. The quests you are given throughout the course of the game are interesting and challenging but there is no option to reject that quest and begin another which you may find more interesting and you have to follow the story of the game. Also characters follow the same set of quests in the game so you get no variation between characters other than their abilities and also different weapons and armor that only certain types can own. These faults in the game are not disastrous but are a little disappointing and should be rectified in any more Untold Legend games in the future.

I really enjoyed the look and feel of Untold Legends and the game play is slick and satisfying. There are scenes in the game which are great, mostly involving you and a large weapon. There were also scenes which weren't so great, sometimes a pretty lame quest. However, I found the game really enjoyable and once you've picked it up it's easy to get lost in the Untold Legend world.

This is what I want from a game and considering that this game is on a handheld console, it is quite remarkable how much detail is achieved in the game. Quality was not sacrificed in this game and some of the details are What dreams are made of I would recommend this for any gamer who is intrigued by the magical and fighting side of the PSP experience and who is looking for a challenge and also some fun from a PSP game.

7.5 out of 10