Chaos Legion Review
What is Chaos Legion?
Imagine if you took the single player action of Devil May Cry 1 and 2 combined it with a healthy dose of the insanity from the Dynasty Warriors series, the result is a graphical action-fest that takes the player on a dark and sometimes frustrating journey into a twisted and macabre story. The whole game is played from a third person viewpoint with a rotating camera and bares some resemblance to the aforementioned adventures of Dante and crew, except where you fought alone in those games, here you have the Chaos Legion to call upon.
There are various Legions that can be summoned to do battle against the vast amounts of enemies that populate the rather linear levels in the game, for that indeed is one of the major downfalls of Chaos Legion. It looks gorgeous, it's beautifully animated and full of nice special effects, but the levels are linear and seem to consist of a number of stages where you have various objectives to achieve.
Gameplay
If it isn't broken, don't fix it? That's the byword of the industry most of the time, Chaos Legion brings a few nice touches to the third person action hack and slash genre with the addition of the Legions themselves, but it's not really enough to lift the game into the higher echelons. You are in control of the young Sieg Warheit, the Knight of the Dark Glyphs, a young man who has the power to summon and control Unearthly Forces - known as the Chaos Legions. Basically it boils down to you hacking and slashing your way through countless enemies which are either flesh based or mechanical, different Legions have different powers and can effect the flesh based monsters or mechanical ones.
Thankfully summoning a Legion is as easy as choosing the Crest and tapping the L1 button to bring them into play. There are a number of special powers that Sieg can call upon while the Legions are summoned and while they're un-summoned. If you don't have a Legion with you, you move faster and do more damage with your weapon. Sieg hasn't got the finesse that Dante has but he really doesn't need that kind of acrobatic faffing around, he's got the Legions to use and when you have up to 20 or so Monsters on screen at one time, well...put it this way, he doesn't need anything else.
The Legions can be directed through the very simple system of controls, and there are numerous Legions to find in the game. Two of my favourites are the Sword and Archer Legions, who can provide excellent offence and great ranged weapon attacks, also the Sword does more damage against flesh based organics, and the Archer Legion does more against the Mechanical Monsters. See where this is going?
Gameplay is a mix of frenetic button hammering and Legion summoning as you plough from screen to screen, Monsters being hacked to pieces left right and centre and that's about it, add to the mix some cutscenes using the nice graphics of the in-game engine and some very nice rendered CGI scenes, the story of Chaos Legion unfolds and drives you further into the game just to find out what has really happened.
As you battle on, the Legions and yourself gain Experience which can be used to upgrade with new powers and new abilities, it's a simple nod towards the RPG'er in most of us, yes even you there.
AI
It's Monster AI, it doesn't have to be the best AI in the world, and it's not seeking cover or deciding to attack with carefully orchestrated plans. Its only desire is to mob you until you fall down and die. Monsters come in groups and just keep coming, Sieg can be seen, sword flashing and various combo hits hammering the tightly packed groups of enemies while his Legion can be toggled between passive and offensive modes, attacking or defending as the player desires. Again at the touch of a button, this is where Chaos Legion really shines - the control system.
Graphics
Chaos Legion is full of nice graphics, good frame rates and colourful characters. The enemy designs and monsters are pretty imaginative and the main character, supporting characters and Legions all show the twisted minds of the designers in their organic and mechanical machinations. The textures are solid and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of stretching or major graphical glitches in the game. The graphics are nothing mind rending but they're not too shabby at all, and the CGI is especially nice, there's just enough of it to keep you wanting to play to find out what's really going on.
Level Design
Very simple basic linear levels with not much in the way of choice. You're propelled from one fight to the next with hardly a time to breathe, add in the usual large several stage and attack based Boss Monsters along the way and you've got the idea. What is outside of the main levels, that which you can see brings to life the crumbling Cities and decayed ruins of the world of Chaos Legion however. It's good, but it's nothing absolutely stunning.
Animations
Again the game has enough in the way of animations to satisfy, Monsters move in a particular alien way and the main hero has a gorgeously long and flowing cloak-coat which moves with his every motion. The characters have just that, character and come alive with various sweeps and moves, the combat system tied to the animations fluidly and there's no sign of missing frames or stuttered motion. It's fast, it's furious and most of all it's a good-looking game in that respect.
Sounds, Music and Voice
As per usual with the Capcom games, this game has the usual mix of good to bad Voice Acting, the sounds are average in places but it's not really trying to be anything more than an out and out action game, which is all it's really billed as. The Music is nice, spot effects and spot music match the look and feel of the game as you progress deeper into the world of Chaos Legion, the Music seems to change to reflect the darker soul and sinister aspect to the heroes' plight. It's all very dark and decidedly gothic in places, or I think it is.
So if you want a good hack and slash game, then this one's definitely got an edge over the others, while not really ground-breaking or bringing much new to the genre of action games, it has enough surprises and character to keep you wanting to play. As for replayability, I do know that you can control a very different character from beginning to end but sadly I didn't have time to play the game to the end. I shall be finishing this one, because I am determined to find out what's going on.