Atari promises big things from Legendary: The Box

Given its status as the gaming world’s most overpopulated genre, you’d be forgiven for assuming that publishers and developers might try looking further afield than first-person shooters when drawing up plans for a ‘fresh’ production. Atari and Spark promise big things from Legendary: The Box. Credit: Spark.

Atari and Spark promise big things from Legendary: The Box. Credit: Spark.Then again, 2007 saw the likes of BioShock, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare ably showing that there’s plenty of life left in the old FPS horse, if videogame creators know the perfect way to flog it.Bearing that in mind, Atari and Spark Unlimited have this week accepted the challenge, picked up the whip, and announced the upcoming summer 2008 arrival of Legendary: The Box.With other FPS entrants also vying for attention this year (Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, Killzone 2, and Call of Duty 5 amongst them), Legendary might find its work cut out, but that’s not something publisher Atari seems concerned with.“This exciting and original title takes the lead in our Atari Shooter line up,” enthused Mathias Hautefort, Executive VP of publishing and production at Atari. “Producing a game of this quality and scale is a major undertaking, but the highly talented team at Spark Unlimited is more than up to the job.”

More than up to the job, eh? For those not familiar with Spark Unlimited’s gaming portfolio, the California-based studio also has its name firmly attached to this year’s Turning Point: Fall of Liberty while its most renowned title to-date is likely Call of Duty: Finest Hour. While Legendary and Turning Point remain unknown quantities, there’s little doubting that the studio is attuned to the FPS genre.“This is the project we want to be working on and it’s shaping up to be something amazing,” gushed Craig Allen, CEO of Spark Unlimited. “Legendary is the type of game we want every gamer, regardless of system allegiance, to get the chance to play. We’re taking our time to ensure optimum performance, regardless of platform.”

For those with their interest suddenly piqued, Legendary: The Box revolves around the story of Charles Deckard, an art thief tricked into stealing Pandora’s Box. When Deckard accidentally opens the box, he releases hordes of mythical beasts into an unprepared modern day world. Beasts the player can expect to do battle with include the likes of werewolves and gryphons. With a full scale war raging between man, beast, and mysterious secret societies, Deckard’s unwitting actions define his as the only person capable of containing that which he has unleashed in order to save civilisation from being destroyed.

Admittedly, fighting mythical beasties in the real world all sounds very intriguing story wise. But then, so did 2007 flops Clive Barker’s Jericho from Codemasters and TimeShift from Sierra. Intriguing narrative does not a great game make. It certainly helps, but without kick-ass gameplay, it’s little more than wasted padding. Needless to say, Legendary: The Box will no-doubt be judged on the latter when it arrives on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the summer.