Untold Legends was one of the surprise hits of the PSP launch and while it didn’t always get glowing reviews, it was embraced by many people who felt the PSP was strapped for a decent RPG. Similar to the Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath titles in more ways than one, Untold Legends was a promising hack and slash RPG that while repetitive at times, was an enjoyable romp that kept the PSP running longer than most other games did at the time. When the sequel was announced, the question then became whether the original’s success was a fluke or a preview of a great series to come. Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code doesn’t exactly prove that, because while it makes improvements in a few key areas, it’s the gameplay that doesn’t seem to know whether it wants to take steps backwards or forwards. 

The story of The Warrior’s Code revolves around a small group of fugitives that have the ability to change form into fierce creatures. Their kind is being wiped out by a corrupt Emperor and it’s their mission to set things right in the world. You’ve heard this type of story many times in books, movies and television shows before, but that’s because its workable and allows for the type of adventure you play through here. The biggest addition to the Untold narrative is that most of the main story segments are fully voiced. Not always the best acting is presented, but it’s most definitely solid throughout. For the most part, the plot serves simply to throw you in the middle on a bunch of dungeons with hordes of enemies to hack and slash over and over again.



For the hardcore supporters of the simplified hack and slash action RPG genre, no matter what anyone says, they will flock to this game like geese to a pond in spring. For them, the game includes many more dungeons to explore and items to collect. They really won’t care that the game hasn’t changed all that much. Like the last game, Untold Legends features a set of pre-made character classes that determine the type of warrior you will be. The game’s new set that includes the Guardian, Mercenary, Disciple, Prowler and Scout are all takes on the common genre mainstays like the Warrior and Mage with slight differences (mostly statistical). From a gameplay perspective, the characters from the first Untold Legends felt more balanced, but these new ones are definitely more appealing visually. The look they seemed to aim for seems to almost hit an anime tone with odd proportions and crazy hair styles. As with most games in the genre, you pick your character and then distribute a couple of points to the four attributes that you control, strength, stamina, intelligence and dexterity. As stated before, the game’s story has you traveling to many different dungeons.  

As we know, where there are dungeons there are plenty of beasts to slay. Moving your character around is controlled by the analog nub and you attack with the X button. Combat will feel like a typical action game to some people as you continuously press X to hack the enemies in front of you to pieces. Combat is generally smooth although its main issue is with aiming your attacks. The game is presented with a top down view and while this is theory would make for a better view of enemies surrounding you, there isn’t actually a targeting system to focus on any one of them. So after downing one enemy you will have to position yourself in front of the next enemy, sometimes slashing at thin air in the process. A new gameplay addition called the “attack of opportunity” is a neat concept. When an enemy misses an important swat at you, the opportunity icon may appear, and holding down the square button will initiate a special attack that will usually allow you to deal quite a bit of extra damage. The idea is neat, but sometimes the attack fails and you are then put in an even worse position. It feels that all it really does for the game is make it easier. Playing through the game never felt particularly challenging and one of the best aspects of the original was to be able to fail and come back with a different weapon set up or with a different attack plan. The enemy variety is ok but you will find yourself fighting many of the same goons and they aren’t exactly the smartest enemies on the block. The boss battles are quite fun, although sometimes a little frustrating. It’s nice to see a few of the encounters try different things as opposed to simply having a big room and a boss coming straight at you with only one move. The bottom line is that as long as you keep upgrading your weapons and armor every once and while, pressing the X button constantly will get you far. There is rarely ever a shortage of the handy dandy potions to call upon and it seems that you don’t even need to call on the use of your magic abilities as much (unless of course your class is primarily a magic user).



Defeating an enemy will give you “essence” and when the ring holding it is filled you can then transform into a beast. When transformed, you have better defense and can deal a great amount of damage. While not exactly necessary, they can help in some of the few difficult battles and of course, playing the beasts is quite fun. As with the last game, the ground will be littered with potions, weapons, trinkets and armor. Most of the weapons you come across on the field will be less powerful than what you already have and sometimes not useable by your class. Every once and awhile though, you will find something superior to your current equipment and it will be sure to put a smile on your face. You can also use weapons vendors to buy and sell items with the money you find around the world. The inventory from the first game was cluttered, clunky and sometimes difficult to navigate, but what it lacked in polish, it excelled in showing you just how varied the items in the world were. Warrior’s Blade features a streamlined set of menus that while easier to manage, can be pretty boring to stay in too long. They still you show all of the statistics for the various weapons and rings you can equip but the original’s sense of personal customization is what kept many players interested over long periods. This with the addition of the game’s newfound ease can sometimes make it all feel like a hand-holding affair. Putting all of this into perspective, the game is still a lengthy adventure and still succeeds in being good fun the first time through. There just doesn’t seem like a lot of reason to play through the story mode again, at least in single player. It must be said though, that putting all of these to the side, the single player experience can be quite a bit more fun than the original if you stick with it. 



The multiplayer on the other hand was probably the most flawed aspect of the original Untold Legends. It had everything anyone could expect out of a handheld action RPG except of course, online play. Considering the name of the game’s publisher and developer is Sony Online Entertainment, it would be very odd for anyone not to question why the game was missing that one seemingly vital component. Putting that behind them, Sony Online has presented players with a full fledged online component that has proven to be a smooth experience so far. You are now able to play online with two players in a co-op campaign and up to four players in either head to head or team modes. Aside from a slight delay in actions, the campaign ran smoothly in most situations with little lag. The other multiplayer modes which notably includes Capture the Flag felt a little less inspired but being able to use your character from single player online is definitely a plus. Playing the game online with either someone you know or a cooperative stranger is really quite fun and adds a little length to the game when it’s no longer fresh playing by yourself.



As stated before, the character models in the game are quirky and even quite colorful. The environments they inhabit haven’t exactly made a transition as severe but they feel more varied than in the original, even if their design still feels a bit repetitive and bland after awhile. Impressive water effects, improved lighting, some sharper textures and flashier effects highlight the improvements to the engine. The framerate is generally tolerable and only becomes a nuisance is a few isolated areas (still slower than we would have liked overall). The biggest issue with the game from a technical sense is that the load times still feel overly long. In most cases the load times feel just about as long as in the original game and as was pointed out in many reviews of the time, they were quite long. This is very disappointing and “on the go” gaming shouldn’t be highlighted with a bunch of load screens. By far the worst aspect of Brotherhood of the Blade was that its music was absolutely horrid. Repetitive, generic are some words that come to mind, but let’s just say that a lot of people turned their sound off just to get away from it. Luckily for us, the music has improved significantly. It’s nothing amazing, but in addition to some decent voice acting and sound effects, it’s come a long way since last year. 



While PSP owners are still waiting for a worthy traditional role playing game to place on their shelves, the Untold Legends series (which will undoubtedly continue) manages to help those people pass the time. For hardcore fans of the genre, The Warrior’s Blade will be an instant purchase, but for others, it all comes down to how simple they want their RPGs and how much repetition they can stand with their action. The game isn’t all that difficult, but it’s still lengthy and the newly included online play will give it some more time in your PSP. This sequel is still just a promising game looking to explode into something great. The series still hasn’t addressed all of its issues and hasn’t made any big leaps forwards with its gameplay, but in spite of all of this, it still manages be a lot of fun if you’re in the mood to hack up some monsters on the go.