At a glance...

Reviewer	Platform	Publisher	Developer	Players	Screenshots
Matt Bailey	PlayStation 2	Capcom	Capcom	1	Here
Requirements				Also on...	Buy from Amazon.co.uk
Memory Card				PC	Click here to buy Chaos Legion.

Chaos Legion review

Once known for the Megaman and Street Fighter series, Capcom have in recent years become quite famous for their 3D action titles. Of course, Resident Evil began it, and is still the most famous, but in recent years we've also seen the Onimusha and Devil May Cry series, each of which improve upon the action formulae that Capcom created and have been developing upon. The likes of Devil May Cry 1 & 2 are known for their hack-and-slash action, and the same vein comes Chaos Legion - a pure, back-to-basics approach to action gaming that Capcom has decided to take; stripping out the ever-growing RPG elements which don't please hardcore action fans.

The game stars Sieg Wahrheit who, like Devil May Cry's Dante, wields a pretty mighty sword. You are a battle-hardened warrior, and your aim in the game is to pursue and prevent your old ally Victor Delacroix from bringing the world into chaos. The "Legion" part of the title refers to the seven different legions who are present in the game to help you in your quest.

As mentioned above, Chaos Legion's core gameplay is hack-and-slash action, and thus consists largely of fighting vast numbers of enemies and bosses with your sword, as well as a range of powers. The game starts off rather boring - and make be off-putting to casual gamers. Its nature means its easy to pick up and play, but the beginning of the game gets too repetitive, and the story is slow, and at times seems pointless. However, things do pick up. When you start collecting the Legions the game is more enjoyable, and the story is more understandable. The variation of the Legions' abilities makes them all worthwhile to collect, and their subsequent growth for your actions makes the game that much more satisfying than how it starts. However, despite this, your freedom is somewhat limited in the game; the Legions don't appear to have much affect on gameplay, so the basic hack-and-slash nature seems to reign supreme, and unnecessary linearity rules.

Like Capcom's other hack-and-slash title, Devil May Cry, Chaos League is packed full of style. It has a gothic feel that features throughout the game, and this is carried through in the great textures of the surroundings. The enemies themselves are impressive; both in terms of sheer numbers, as well as the amount of detail on their carefully styled bodies. The 60Hz mode is welcome, and the game regularly sees 60 frames per second, which again is impressive due to the large number of creatures on-screen. Overall, the graphics are pretty good, although there seems to be an overuse of fogging to avoid loading in an textures from the next section. To be fair, the limited rooms actually allow the game to achieve a great graphics quality than the likes of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City which has to load in whole city regions.

The game's replay value does depend on your interest in the title. There will be those who found the story rather boring, and may decide that the game is simply not worth repeating. However, for the fans, there is scope for replaying the game and collecting further items.

Ratings

Graphics	A great amount of detail even when there are large numbers of enemies on screen. Possibly too much fogging and spliting up of levels, but it does impress.	8/10
Gameplay	Can be enjoyable, but the game has a slow start. You'll enjoy it later on, if you don't find it too repetitive.	6/10
Value	With similar title Devil May Cry 2 available for cheaper, there isn't much incentive to pay full price for this.	6/10
Lifespan	A reasonable amount to do, with some replay value if enjoyed the game and want to collect all the available items.	7/10
Audio	Music isn't bad, and can accompany the game's atmosphere.	7/10
Overall	Enjoyable for fans of the genre, but may will find more pleasure picking up Capcom's other 'hack and slash' title, Devil May Cry 2.	6/10

Click here to buy Chaos Legion from Amazon.co.uk.

Copyright Information

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License, except where otherwise noted.

Some screen captures on the site were made with HyperSnap-DX by Hyperionics.

Smileys taken from Crack's Smilies.