Metascore
47 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 39 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 39
  2. Negative: 17 out of 39
  1. Legendary is a fantastic thrill ride that you won’t soon forget.
  2. The game tells a compelling story, is loaded with exciting combat, and is chock full of memorable moments. It could have used a bit more polish in certain areas, true, but as an interactive summer blockbuster, Legendary delivers.
  3. While the formula feels a bit dated now, the result is a shooter that is still incredibly fun. [Dec 2008, p.90]
  4. Now that I’ve beaten the game and stand back to surmise my feelings, I can honestly say that although there were a few times when my blood boiled and I was tempted to reach for the teabags, cups and saucers(because of cheap moments); Legendary is actually quite compelling and solid fun.
  5. This could well be a surprise hit for those willing to invest the time. Despite a lack of polish, there's a relatively deep story for fans of mythology.
  6. Legendary is sure to be lost in the shuffle this holiday season, which is sad because it's actually pretty good.
  7. Accept that Legendary won’t wow you with the gameplay polish of a budget-busting title, and you’ll likely have a good time fighting to shut Pandora’s precious package.
  8. When I first heard of Legendary I was honestly very excited for the concept of shooting mythological creatures and monsters with guns because it is a rare concept. The final product has me on the fence with is it a worth while game to recommend for first person shooter nuts like me, or to leave it be and forget you ever saw it. As a person who enjoys Clive Barker’s Jericho for its unique first person shooter story and gameplay mechanics I would say this is an easy rental.
  9. 68
    Everything about Legendary from the story to the set pieces screams epic proportions and honestly I really wanted to like the game a lot more. However, the small setbacks really take away from the experience and cause the game to go from legendary (pun highly intended) to just plain decent.
  10. Legendary isn’t the most involved or technically excellent shooter to come out this season—Left 4 Dead and Gears Of War 2 outclass it. But it’s a fun change of pace with some extremely satisfying combats.
  11. Legendary is by no means awful — it’s just about as vanilla as first-person shooters get. It all wraps up with a completely unsatisfying “wait for the sequel” type cliffhanger. We’ll see.
  12. 65
    Spark has produced a shooter that crams as many fun monsters and insane action packed scripted events as possible into one game and lets gamers shoot them to their hearts content, which makes it perfect for a weekend rental.
  13. Legendary’s problems would be easily forgivable if the rest of the package came together well enough but it doesn’t. With only four different enemies to fight for most of the game (one is a second breed of Werewolf), a mostly useless selection of guns and annoying bosses paired up with a story that doesn’t go anywhere the game fumbles its execution totally.
  14. Legendary is an acceptable, sometimes frustrating game, a simple entertainment until the great first-person shooters of the year are released.
  15. Beside some drawbacks in graphics and speech the idea around Pandoras box - for itself really great - cannot get off. The world isn't really interacting with the player, the gameplay is very sterile.
  16. A frustrating mix of good and bad - we'd take it over "Blacksite" and co though. [Christmas 2008, p.63]
  17. The problem with this is that Spark is relentless at throwing a huge number of beasties your way, crowding you into a corner and ripping you to shreds. There's not enough breathing space for you to heal yourself and absorb energy to use it effectively as a defensive measure. To say this had us throwing the controller at the telly and cursing is an understatement.
  18. Even though this game is built on top of a great mythology, the one about Pandora's Box unleashing chaos onto the world when opened, developer Spark never manage to make the actual game interesting in any way. The game structure is linear, the presentation is bleak at best and the gameplay is rather poor. This sums up to one mediocre experience.
  19. 50
    Though it brings gusto, wit and a sharp eye for horror cliches, Legendary is still at its core a clunky, mediocre first-person shooter that’s likely to vanish under the mountain of topnotch actioners shipping this month.
  20. There are just way too many better shooters available to make this game worth your time and money.
  21. The Minotaur says with his sad cow eyes glistening “Don’t worry guys, everything will be alright”, but the Minotaur knows it’s not going to be alright… it’s not going to be alright at all.
  22. Spark has made a better game this time around than its previous attempt but it still isn’t on par with the elite of the genre. In the end, Legendary is a cool idea wrapped inside an average shooter.
  23. The only reasoning I can see behind playing Legendary is to see the awe-inspired mythological creatures in action.
  24. The dev team has an eye for spectacle – a towering golem comprised of cars and other metallic detritus is a visual highlight – but these moments mostly serve to illustrate how dull your actual actions are by contrast. [Dec 2008, p.98]
  25. Every hour, you are presented with the ideas that the developer had but simply couldn’t afford, and that only serves to make Legendary’s unrelenting run-and-gun approach harder to swallow. [Christmas 2008, p.96]
  26. What we've ended up with is a shambles, a game that looks boring and plays badly - a game that feels as ancient as the mythical beasts that you must vanquish.
  27. So many cliches, so little time. [Issue#40, p.103]
  28. A game that simply doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Constantly spawning enemies. A lead character with no hands. Unskippable cut-scenes you must continually sit through. Solid walls that light can leak through. NPCs that can be shot at, but not harmed. Action sections that feel like a movie you just happen to be walking through, and not interacting with.
  29. The overall experience left us with a bad taste in our mouths and an almighty “WTF?” resonating from our lips. Sigh.
  30. Constantly spawning enemies… Solid walls that light can leak through… A bad first-person shooter experience.
  31. This frustratingly bad first-person shooter is not the stuff legends are made of.
  32. All together, Legendary had a decent idea behind it that's been marred by some poor design decisions. Shooting and controls feel ok, but everything you shoot at, interact with, or run through is lackluster, broken, or just plain boring.
  33. All things told, the game reeks of derivation.
  34. 25
    The gameplay comes across as messy and incomplete, the arrangement of hazards and threats from monsters is ineffective at best and boring at worst.
  35. 25
    By the time I'd defeated my 10th werewolf, I was already tired of needing to cut or shoot its head off so it didn't regenerate. By the time I defeated my 200th, I just wanted to turn the game off.
  36. 20
    The basic ideas behind Legendary were quite sound. Unfortunately it seems they were never properly realised, instead cobbled together with the digital equivalent of shredded newspaper and masking tape.
  37. Legendary is the gaming equivalent of cheap supermarket own-brand beans, but instead of costing eleven pence it costs the same as a prime steak cooked by a top chef. It's a bad, bad game. One of the worst I've played on this generation of consoles, in fact. In that regard, at least, the title is surprisingly accurate.
  38. Legendary is in the same league as Battlefield: Earth and Turok of how not to do something. How bad is this game you ask? It's Superman 64 bad. Well, maybe not quite that bad, but Legendary sucks more that a Hoover on overdrive. It's bad like ET for the 2600 bad. You might even say it's Legendarily bad.
  39. Legendary is something of a marvel. While I've played a lot of terrible first-person shooters, I never realized that there would be one that missed the mark so completely.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 67 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Negative: 2 out of 12
  1. 10
    I really like this game of true action fps with a world very detailed
    Fun is sure
    I must say this game is underrated and I don't understand
    why eweryone have to play this awesome game
    The only thing I don't appreciate was the abscence of the multiplayer players (not working or don't know why)
    But surely they are playing the campaign of this very interesting game (Y)
    Full Review »
  2. 5
    Legendary isn't necessarily bad, but while it had an interesting idea for a game, fighting mythological creatures instead of humans and aliens, it didn't do much with the idea. Also while the very first part of the game is very impressive visually, it just feels like a walk in the park cause you're not really in danger. While some of the enemies, especially the werewolves seem interesting, they quickly become annoying by the way you have to kill, and the game don't always let you do it. And while the game has some very amazing visual effects, most of the graphics are below average. And I get that this game had an unfortunate release time, being released alongside other expected-to-be-great games but that is not an excuse for poor work. This game could have been better, and I for one hoped it had been. But the story isn't all that bad and the shooting works fine most of the time. If you're a fan of first person shooters and the idea of fighting mythological creatures are interesting to you, then you should buy it. I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money on it, but if you find it for cheap, then go ahead and give it a try. Full Review »
  3. JustinG
    4
    The story line to this game is awesome and really unique, but it could have been way better in a lot of things. For example graphics and controls. I mean the graphics weren't terrible, but they were not as good as i was hoping. And the controls are not that bad either, but the aiming seems a little off and the difference in the weapons strength is a bit ridiculous. Im not so fond of the jumping either. Its a good game still, but a lot of it is just plan annoying. All in all the whole thing about pandora's box is awesome, now only if they could have fixed a lot of other things. It was a good try at a game though. Full Review »