{"id":1501,"date":"2009-06-30T06:30:30","date_gmt":"2009-06-30T11:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/06\/30\/negative-review-the-right-way\/"},"modified":"2010-12-29T08:11:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T13:11:10","slug":"negative-review-the-right-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.calvertgames.com\/cgblog\/2009\/06\/30\/negative-review-the-right-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Negative review, the right way."},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I was looking for some info on Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade (PSP). Why look for info on such an old game? Untold Legends was one of my first PSP purchases, but like so many other games, I never finished it. I picked it back up a couple of nights ago and could not remember exactly where I left off, or how to play. The how to play part quickly came back, but not so much on the what am I suppose to do next. At any rate, one thing led to another and then I came across this Eurogamer review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But our hopes had always been dashed before, and now we didn\u2019t care any more. We couldn\u2019t be bothered to track through the Tornwood Forest yet again. We doubted very much that Shattercove East would be much different from Shattercove West, nor from the Dreadwind Moor nor the Waning Wastes nor the Whispering Chasm, for that matter.<\/p>\n

As for the boss, we make it a general policy to avoid anyone with the words \u201cThe Hateful\u201d after their name. And whatever the Containment Shard might be, whatever magical powers it might have or glorious salvation it might offer, we realised we couldn\u2019t give a flying Fine Wrapped Baculus.<\/p>\n

As you might have guessed by now, there are some the fundamental problems with Untold Legends: Brotherhood of the Blade, Sony Online Entertainment\u2019s first game for the PSP. You might think, what with its EverQuest heritage and all, that SOE could come up with something that\u2019s at least somewhat engrossing and entertaining \u2013 but instead, it has turned out a generic hack-and-slasher with RPG elements that have been so stripped down that you might as well just buy a pencil, a set of dice and a fighting fantasy gamebook.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reviewer obviously dislikes everything about the game, giving it a 3\/10, but it is done in such an elegant way that I was really impressed with the review. The reviewer explains why the story is lacking, why the game mechanics are boring, and the lack of risk\/reward in just about every element of gameplay.<\/p>\n

I will have to read some of the reviewer\u2019s other reviews to see if there is just a general dislike for this sort of game. In the future I will certainly enjoy reading more materials from Eurogamer, if everything is put together with this level of quality.<\/p>\n

At least now I remember why I gave up on the game, and why I have no clue what to do next. It is all more or less the same sorry stuff, but I cannot help myself when it comes to hack \u2018n slash fantasy type titles. I may give this one another go before I pimp it on eBay.<\/p>\n

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