Being one of the first games announced for the PlayStation 2, Legion has had its ups and downs since inception. Seeing numerous delays and quite a few major graphical and gameplay overhauls, it seemed as if 7 Studios first entry would never see release. Now after more than a year of delay, Legion is finally upon us; and is nothing of what is once was. More akin to an action/RPG now, Legion has shed its original RPG/real-time strategy originality. Sadly, upon doing so, Legion becomes just another forgettable game with a bucket load full of problems.

Most surprisingly, Ive found that the now finished Legion actually looks worse than the preview builds of over a year ago. Im not quite sure how that happened, but Legion really isnt a big step above a PSone game. In builds we had seen previously, all the main characters sported excellent detail, which really brought the Arthurian legend to life. Now all the characters are low-poly and display little detail at all. The engine is capable of handling quite a few at once, but at the expense of some pretty severe slowdown. The magic effects look pretty good, however with even only a few enemies present on-screen, slowdown once again rears its ugly head. In terms of the environments, only one word needs to be said, muddy. Low-res and bland, the games locales are anything but special. On the bright side, the cinematics are actually really nice and crisp. But the bottom line is Legion just cant hold a candle to Baldurs Gate, or almost any other PS2 game for that matter.

Much like how Crystal Dynamics (Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen) delays their games forever only to release unpolished, unfinished mediocrity, I cant quite understand why Legion took so long. The game is so extremely unpolished and suffers from flaws even the most brain-dead of testers would have noticed. First and foremost is the progression system, which only allows you to save between quests. This problem is compounded greatly when the horrendous pacing of the missions becomes apparent. While some (few) of the 13 missions are quick and easy (and pointless) most are excruciatingly hard and long. So when you die right at the end (and you will oh you will!) you can look forward to having to start the ENTIRE mission over! Further ramping up the difficulty is the idiotic A.I of your fellow swordsmen. If I had a nickel (Canadian nickel even) for every time five enemies were pounding on me, only to see my brethren continuously running into a frickin tree, Id have enough to buy up every copy of Legion just so I could burn them all!! Anyways, I did enjoy picking different hero characters (Lancelot, Gwenivere, etc.) for each mission, although controlling them in battle is a different story. Trudging through ugly, unintuitive menus in real-time (whilst getting killed) ruins the entire process. Like most action/RPGs, Legion possesses a lot of cool magic items that can be bought and/or discovered, and is probably one of the games highlights (perhaps the only?). Other negatives include inconsistent blocking and poor collision detection. I could go on, but I think you all get the picture.

Legions sound is a very mixed bag, although for the most part, I didnt enjoy it. There is a good score accompanying the action, but its nothing spectacular. The sound effects are even more forgettable, as they basically define the word mediocre. However, like most games, its the voice acting that steals (a.k.a. kills) the show. From the ridiculous, repetitive war cries of your enemy to the painfully fake English accents, the voices had me inventing war cries of my own. Cries of tears. Tears of horror. Oh god, the horror... The voices, they still haunt me at night

Legion consists of thirteen missions, each ranging between 10-30 minutes each. Thats it. Thats everything. If you finish the game (IF you ever can) there is no real incentive to ever play it again. Unless you really love the game (very, very doubtful) or you simply must play one of the missions over differently, once through Legion all your left with is a fifty-dollar coaster. I do want to point out that there are some interesting DVD extras on the disc (much like in movie DVDs) that I enjoyed, probably even more than the game itself. I hope more companies do this in the future, as Ive always thought its a great idea.

I didnt like Legion, and am pretty sure you wont either. If you want a good action/RPG to play then grab a copy of Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance, which is much more enjoyable (and polished). Its a wonder what Legion would have been like had they stuck to their original formula. At the very least it would have been something new and different. Instead Legion stands as just another mediocre game in the PS2s massive library. Dont rent, dont buy, heck dont even touch this game.