Dark Legend, Mediocrity at it’s most mediocre

I usually love, like or hate a video game.

It's always one of those three responses.

However, I just got a large collection of Saturn games from a nearby thrift store and one of those games has changed all that.

Dark Legend

I found myself actually playing it as I tested out the rest of my haul. It was a strange experience because this game left me feeling NOTHING AT ALL.

No sense of, "Hey that was kinda of cool" or "What the hell didn't they play test this game at all????!!!!".

Nothing.

It looks like Street Fighter 2 running off DOS and that's how it plays too. Even the combos and special moves in game are the same. Playing the game is a little better than sitting and watching paint dry, but without the possibility of getting a little high off the fumes.

This sort of game SHOULD be blistering fast on the Saturn but somehow the developers managed to slow down the action just to the point where you would notice it.

But it wasn't actively negative in any way either. It LOOKS like a classic 2D fighter. In fact it kind of looks a lot like Samurai Showdown. It's controls are not as bad as some of the fighters I have played on the Saturn (but they weren't great).

Play was not so hard as to make me want to beat the next guy. It wasn't TOO easy but easy enough for me too lose interest quickly. In fact using the Saturn controller was probably the only thing keeping me playing since it's such joy to use after using "modern" controllers.

It was just very very bland.

In fact the only thing that made me react at all was the horrible intro video. It shows how very little anyone cared about making this game look good. WTF is that mascot/logo THING???



I won't even rate this game.

If you LOVE 2D fighters and have enough game carts and CDs to make a small game case fort in your living room than yes, you might want to spend $5 American on this.

Otherwise unless you are a collector I can't help but think you are better off saving up for a copy of Street Fighter Alpha or X-men.

I hope to get a video of my new Saturn stuff up soon as well as rate some of the cool games I got.
You guys have been doing an awesome job of posting here!

EDIT:

If you are a collector, than yes. This game still has a place in your collection. I have recently been playing alot of really excellent fighters for the Saturn and that may have screwed up my perceptions of this game.

However, I stand by my review. It's not a great game. It's not a horrible game. If you can find it for a cheap price and like 2D fighters you will just have to decide if you want to try it out for yourself.

Sometimes a game like this is like a nice hot bowl of oatmeal or plain tomato soup. It may be a bit bland but it can still be a comfort.