Sadly, the same can't be said about Legendary's gameplay. The gunplay found in the game is sloppy at best and regularly suffers from poor hit detection. Hitting a human enemy directly in the face with a bullet should put them out of commission, and sometimes it actually does. However, other times your foes won't even react as though they've been hit at all. This matter becomes all the more frustrating when you are constantly getting in battles that mix enemy soldiers and mythological creatures at the same time.

The worst offender has to be the werewolf, as they are the creature you will encounter the most during your time with the game. While usually being picked apart by distant gunfire, werewolves will often attack you at close range using their claws. This makes aiming next to impossible until you dispatch with your hairy adversaries. Regrettably, this is often an incredibly difficult task for all the wrong reasons. Werewolves will continue to rise from their proverbial graves unless they are beheaded. Sometimes you will get lucky with your gunfire, instantly beheading your attacker. If not, you must attempt to down the creature and then decapitate it with your trusty axe before it gets back to its feet with fully refilled health. Attempting to take off a werewolf's head with the axe is a very hit and miss scenario, requiring anywhere between one to an infinite number of swings. Hitting the beast in the neck may work one time and not the next and targeting the head results in similar "will it-won't it" frustrations.

Making matters worse is the game's needlessly difficult health system. There are no health packs to be found in Legendary. Instead, players will need to collect energy from killing the creatures released from Pandora's Box and store it in the signet in their arm. Once accumulated, this energy can be used to heal yourself or for a few other purposes such as performing this game's equivalent of a force push or feeding it into different machines. Unfortunately, collecting this energy, using it, and the force push maneuver all utilize the same button. Expect to die several times solely because the game decides you are trying to collect energy instead of healing yourself in the face of the almost constant horde of respawning enemies.

While the gameplay found in Legendary is incredibly sloppy and repetitive, the game does get some things right. Boss battles such as the ones with the kraken and the junk golem are epic in scale and quite entertaining. Numerous scripted events add to the cinematic feel of the game and also serve to keep you alert at all times. However, neither of these things can make up for the game's fairly lame story, repetitive and annoying combat, poor hit detection, and completely minute and tacked-on multiplayer offering. There are just way too many better shooters available to make this game worth your time and money. If you choose to rent this title or find it in a bargain bin down the road, it can provide some cheap thrills, just don't expect a top-notch shooter by any means.

By Adam Brown
CCC Staff Contributor