Chaos Legion

The packaging of Chaos Legion describes the game as a "savage gothic opera" but with a lean, clich? story and easy combat it's really an uncomplicated brawler with goofy costumes and camera problems. Action fans might find the game a temporary diversion, but it has no staying power.

Some people can say lots of negative things about Japanese videogames (for instance, I find most of them too colorful or flashy), but you can't deny the fact that most of the greatest beat 'em up and sword slashing games come from our Japanese friends. Capcom is one of these friends and they have already demonstrated their developing skills with games such as Resident Evil or Devil May Cry. Especially that last title was awesome and their newest action game Chaos Legion often reminded me of that particular game. Let's have a closer look.

Chaos Legion is one of the great unsung brawlers of the PS2. So the story is cliched beyond belief. So the characters are forgettable. Maybe its presentation could have been executed better. Big deal. The game is overflowing with some of the toughest brawling action you’ll ever face. Considering the vast hordes of diehard foes and an unforgiving learning curve, you’ll be in for quite a challenge. What the game doesn’t boast in style, it makes up for in content. Obtaining all of the Legions, maxing out their abilities, and learning to use them effectively in battle makes for a unique experience. Never mind the inevitable comparisons between Chaos Legion and the Devil May Cry titles; this game is in a league all its own.

Overall Chaos Legion is a very good, very polished game, but not one to be taken lightly. The difficulty level and general learning curve is horrific, so this really isn't something for casual gamers. As scary as it seems, while this game made me cry out in pain when I was killed for the hundredth time, I enjoyed every sick little moment of it, and I think that a lot of other people would too.

Fortunately for Capcom, most people don’t look to their favorite button mashers when they want a good story. Chaos Legion is a better than average action game that requires a little strategy thanks to its RPG elements. I rate this one at least a rental, but would go as far as saying if you love your action in the Devil May Cry or Dynasty Warriors vein, run out and buy Chaos Legion today.

Due to the shortness of the game, and the overall lack of polish, I don't recommend a purchase here. This is a three-night fling that will give you a diversion from some of the other games you're currently playing, and will temporarily quench your thirst for hack 'n slash action.

Basically it's a good gothic flavoured action game that is easy to get into and the legions are a good inclusion. However Capcom themselves have spoiled us with masterpieces such as Onimusha 2 and in comparison Chaos Legion doesn't look special.

In the end I'd say rent it and find out for yourself if you feel like dropping a good 50 bills on the puppy. You just may get sucked into the chaos of Chaos Legion, then again you just may want to visit and get out some frustration. If you’re still in a fix for some gothic action, pick up the original DMC for 20 bucks or save those hard earned greenbacks for the new Castlevania, which is sure to rock your world.

Voilà un titre qui s'aventure courageusement sur le terrain délicat des purs softs d'action. Mais Capcom connaît son affaire et trouve, à travers le système d'invocation des légions, un excellent moyen de servir l'action épique de Chaos Legion. Malgré tout, l'ensemble manque cruellement de saveur une fois passé les premières minutes d'éblouissement, et c'est un titre de moyenne envergure qui se révèle derrière le caractère faussement ambitieux de cette production.

Il est regrettable de mettre une note bien basse au vu de la bonne volonté des développeurs. On sent en effet que Chaos Legion a bénéficié de beaucoup d'attentions (les superbes cinématiques et le système de légions en témoignent) et que ce beat'em all était promu à un grand avenir. Malheureusement la progression du jeu est trop arcade, trop découpée (via des zones très courtes au sein d'un même niveau), et si les premières minutes du jeu laissaient présager un divertissement de haute volée, la pression retombera bien vite devant un produit certes défoulant mais bien trop redondant.

Despite Capcom's protestations of Chaos Legion being some 'intense gothic opera' fusion of action, RPG and strategy, it's still an essentially simple game at its heart, and might not be as involving as many would like. But if you want to feast on non-stop action with an interesting power up mechanic then there are few games out there that can match its challenge. As with any game you're not entirely sure of, try before you buy. The chances are if you like the idea of a whiter version of Devil May Cry, you might like it.

Het heeft gewoon een zeer hoge arcadefactor die veeleisende PC-gamers waarschijnlijk snel voor het hoofd zal stoten. Maar ik heb er toch wel even van genoten. Stiekem weliswaar, anders krijg ik in de toekomst elke console-port aan mijn cape. Hou je van klassieke arcade chop, hack & fightgames, dan kan deze Capcom titel je wel even boeien. Anderen houden de boot liever af!

However, when it came time to deciding on this game's overall score, those factors had very little to do with my decision. It all came down to the gameplay, which failed to deliver a consistently fresh experience. It's a fun game, no doubt about that, but the fun doesn't last. Chaos Legion is like a train on a circular track: it goes round and round, never veering from the path. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that's a good thing.

Chaos Legion is an interesting example of Capcom's Devil May Cry phenomenon at work. It's gothic in look, "stylish" at first impression, and filled with a character who seems to have attitude. It's a product of Capcom's attempt to try new things, but in the end, it's not all that.

More style than substance and more slashing than strategy, Chaos Legion tries to be an innovative action game and barely manages to be an average one.

Chaos Legion is a difficult game to recommend to many gamers. If you are looking for a good story, while you will find a fairly solid premise at the beginning, the lack of significant plot development and character depth will disappoint you. If you are looking for an intellectual challenge or at least interesting locations to explore, the bland levels and endless action in Chaos Legion will make for a miserable experience. However, if you enjoy the occasional pure action game and just want to spend a few hours hacking and slashing your way through throngs of monsters, Chaos Legion might have something to offer. The interesting legion system and the colorful boss fights might be enough to keep you entertained for some time.

Chaos Legion is a difficult game to recommend to many gamers. If you are looking for a good story, while you will find a fairly solid premise at the beginning, the lack of significant plot development and character depth will disappoint you. If you are looking for an intellectual challenge or at least interesting locations to explore, the bland levels and endless action in Chaos Legion will make for a miserable experience. However, if you enjoy the occasional pure action game and just want to spend a few hours hacking and slashing your way through throngs of monsters, Chaos Legion might have something to offer. The interesting legion system and the colorful boss fights might be enough to keep you entertained for some time.

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.

Reasons to give Chaos Legion more time of day than a simple one time run through are scarce unless you desperately need more of a chance to absorb the convoluted storyline. Going back through the game a second time lends the chance to blow enemies out of the water with Thanatos and collect extras, but in the end this game is still a relatively short experience. Hardcore Devil May Cry fans will find more to keep them playing than the casual gamer, but either group could get by with a Friday night rental.

Chaos Legion is repetitive, ugly, short, nonsensical, and boring -- a beat-'em-up that gets almost everything wrong, and that's wildly overpriced at $50. (Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick provides superior hack-and-slash action for $20.) I'm confident that Capcom will pull out of its slump before much longer, but mediocre action games like Chaos Legion won't help its cause.

The game features a lot of unlockables, made available by beating the game. Too bad the biggest replay incentive of them all is missing - namely, a compelling game experience. With Devil May Cry, Capcom single-handedly resurrected the classic action genre. With Chaos Legion, they take a big step backwards. It seems as if Capcom forgot that the things that made character-centric action titles of the past so great weren't cool main characters or non-stop action - it was perfect gameplay and varied level design.

All in all, there is nothing that would distinguish this third-person action game from many others, and even less that could possibly maintain the players' attention. It is fun altogether, but only for a short while, until the player sees all this game has to offer... which is not much. Not only will you have no desire to play it again once you finished it, but you are also highly unlikely to be sufficiently motivated to finish it once, in the first place (and I have to reiterate: only if you are not Smapdey - Six). The only good use for this game is getting rid of the anxiety by slaughtering the creeps. But you can get that from practically any game on the market. Capcom obviously had a good idea, but they didn't execute it properly - at least as far as the PC iteration is concerned.

The PC port of Capcom's PS2 survival-horror game Chaos Legion has an interesting feature: It installs in nine languages. Unfortunately, if you got the game at release, the only thing this enabled you to do was say "dead on arrival" nine different ways.