Published by: Sony Online Entertainment
Developed by: Sony Online Entertainment
Genre: Action RPG
Rated: T (Teen)
Players: 1-4
Release Date: March 24, 2005
Written by: Matthew Prunty












When Sony was heading into the releasing of the Sony PSP, they wanted to have a diverse lineup, so they enlisted the help of many big name developers (Namco, EA), as well as throwing several titles into the mixture. From sports titles, to action, to adventure, there was a little bit of everything for gamers to sink their teeth into. But once genre that was left off the map for the launch was RPG. Seeing how Sony has quite an in-depth library of RPG series, it was expected for them to deliver an epic for their first portable gaming machine on the market. And that’s what they did, with the eventual release of Untold Legends: The Brotherhood of the Blade.

Several analysts and gaming communities alike have been wondering if such an in-depth title could be pulled off on a handheld, and it looks like Sony aim to try their luck with the matter. How well did the succeed in the matter, well you will have to read on further into the review to find out all about this epic journey brought to us by Sony Online Entertainment.

Once you fire up your PSP, and get ready to start on your epic journey, you have to choose between one of four character classes that you will do battle with. Once you decide between a Knight (male), Alchemist (Female), Druid (Male), and/or Berserker (Female), you will have the ability to alter their appearance. This feature doesn’t really go into any sort of depth. You have your chouse between a few different skin shades and styles of hair. Beyond that, the only way you can alter your fighter’s look, would be through body armor, swords, etc (which we will get to later). Once your character is established, its time to set out on your epic journey, and this is where some gamers will get impatient (especially if they aren’t use to RPG titles). It takes a little bit for the plot to get going, but it doesn’t keep your from wondering around and exploring several different areas to get yourself familiarized with the game. And for those who wonder the lands, you’ll have a much easier time than those who just get straight into the various quests that you are sent on.


Time to power up!!

Though one of your primary goals of this title is to complete the vast amounts of quests and tasks that befall you in order to progress through the game, but you cant ignore the barrage of monsters that are sent you way. And for those gamers who are familiar with the Baulder’s Gate series, will know that a lot of these monsters will often times chase after you if you try to flee a battle. These types of situations can prove vary dangerous, especially when you enter territories like Splinterfull Woods and Gloomfall Wastes, where there are tons of monsters attacking, often times boxing you in with no way of escaping. So when you think about this, it makes you choice on your character, all that much difficult. You have to decide to you want a character that can attack from a distance using bows and arrows, and magic spells, or do you want someone like a Berserker who attacks head on.

You will also notice that the game plays from a “slightly top-down perspective”, which gives you a broader angle to view oncoming monsters from. But for those who find that viewing angle uncomfortable (who would), you are able to zoom in much closer to your character, but the drawback is that you can see all that much of the area ahead of year and behind you. The main reason why I feel that wondering the land is important to this title is mainly because you can get a up close and personal look at what you will have to face in the upcoming quests, which at times, the battle sequences can get out of hand. This game offers up more than 100+ locations to explore, and this can become a useful tool in keeping your self-alive, though if worse come to worse, you can always warp back to The City of Aven.

That little trick will also come in handy when you are loaded with weapons and armors that you acquire from various monsters you kill or treasure chests that you open up. Each character class form the get go, is only able to carry a certain amount of weight on them (includes weapons, armor, potions, amulets, etc.), but as you level up, you are given points that you can use for the following:

Strength (how much damage your character does with melee attacks and how much weight he/she can carry) – recommended for Berserkers and Knights
Intelligence (how much power your character has) – recommended for Alchemist and Druids
Dexterity (damage done by your character) – recommended for Knights and Druids
Stamina (How much health your character has) – recommended for Berserkers and Alchemists


No one fights fair anymore...

You are also able to upgrade and acquire new abilities (various abilities depending on your character class). So for a Alchemist and/or Druid, they are able to strengthen their melee attacks, while at the same time acquiring magical spells like Quake (sends a shockwave through the ground, which can knock back and slow down enemies) and Tranquil Thoughts (which allows you to increase the power regeneration of yourself and anyone you are playing with within a certain radius).

But to what I was mentioning earlier, when you warp back to Aven, you can either sell the various weapons and armors off to a merchant (the ones your character can’t use), or if you are playing in the multiplayer mode, you can trade with other gamers. But another way to clear up space to pick up more items would be to combine some together. You can combine virtue stones with various weapons and even body armor, to increase your defense, magical presence, and even give your weapon a special ability like freeze or instant death.

Not going too far into the gameplay (don’t want to spoil anything for future hopefuls), but there were a few problems that were kind of evident if you actually paid attention to the game. For one, after awhile, the immersed battles can get repetitive (seeing the same monsters over and over, just in different areas and locations). Another gripe with the gameplay would have to be in terms of limited features that were available form the get go when you were establishing your character. It would have been quite interesting to have more character classes or even a wider variety of outfits to choose from.

Some people will argue that Untold legends graphics aren’t up to expectations of what a PSP title should have, and this is where I have to disagree. For an epic title, the graphics does the game justice. Making full use of the PSP’s TFT LCD screen and display features, every single monster, magical spell, item lying on the ground and be seen very clearly. You will also notice little touches here and there like how the skeleton creatures take a few seconds to dramatically fall to their deaths or how when you kill possessed monsters, smoke emits from their bodies. You will also notice in certain areas, you will see subtle weather effects like rain, or fog engulfing the land.


Looks like twice the fun...

Due to the time constraints that SOE was facing with getting this title out for the launching of the PSP, a lot of potential was left on the drawing board, but seeing how there Is a sequel already in the works, hopefully we can see what the PSP truly can do with an epic title like Untold Legends.

When it comes to the sound within this title, you will have mixed feelings. Though the sound effects of the various monster screeching and moaning as they attack and die are a nice touch, or the way your sword sounds when it connects with a monster’s body is like heaven to your ears, the actually music within this title just leaves you unsatisfied. I was one of those gamers who was expecting to be engulfed with the big orchestrated music expected from a title of this caliber, but all in all, the basic synthesized themes were ok. Lets just hope that SOE takes the extra step with the sequel.

Seeing how there are tons of weapons and armors to discover, sidequests and immersive battles to tie you up for many hours, there is no way that someone will put this game down anytime soon. But the finest addition to this title has to be the inclusion of online multiplayer (via Wi-Fi connectivity of course). After you have played through the game via single-player mode, you can do it all over again with three other characters, from some insane battles and fights to collect weapons and armors that are left lying along the ground. Once you are done wit playing the game online, you can continue where you left off by yourself, without the hassle of starting all over again.

All in all, this title is worth playing it through once again, after all you do have four character classes, so there are four different ways to play the game.

Personal Thoughts
The first major gripe anyone will have to say about this title is that the loading times are too long. Well you have to realize that the handheld is cd-based, so loading times are expected. Though 12 seconds can be a little bit too long, when it comes to this game, it’s all worth it. Great attention was paid to the overall detail of this immersive project. The characters and monsters flowed very fluidly, with very few slowdowns, unless there was a ton of huge monsters on the screen at once. I say to anyone who wants a game that will take him or her hours upon hours to beat, and who would love an immersive multiplayer experience, to pick up this title.

7.5/10

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