I never got the appeal of Diablo back in '96. I played the game, beat it and was left unimpressed. Combat, the meat of the game, was a clickfest and the action was as intense and as satisfying as, well, clicking the mouse. It was all far too simplified for my liking.

In the ten years since then, however, I've come to appreciate that kind of simple gaming. I've less time to spend on games these days and I often don't feel like putting a great deal of effort into a game unless it's absolutely worth it. I love the tactical combat in Guild Wars but it's a very intensive game which often leaves me frazzled after two hours. It's nice to have a back-up game that doesn't tax you so much.

Enter Untold Legends 2: the Warrior's Code for the PSP.

I knew exactly what I was in for before I got this game but I still ended up a little frustrated because somewhere in here is a design for a really good game. If the developers had shown greater ambition, this action RPG could've been a Diablo-done-right instead of Diablo Lite.

X-rated

I can't recall ever learning what the code referred to in UL2's subtitle was exactly but I wouldn't be surprised if it involved the letter X. This is because UL2's gameplay involves vigorously hitting the PSP's X button frequently. Almost every review of the game mentions this so it wasn't a surprise to me but it still bears repeating.

There's really little variety in gameplay. Foe(s) shows up on the mini-map. You close in and hit X several times (three is good number), your character grunts, animations play and the foe drops. You pick up any dropped loot and move on.

The gameplay revolves around combat so it's a pity the combat design seems flawed. There are charged attacks, attacks of opportunity, special powers, the ability to transform to a powerful beast as well as the ability to block attacks but there's little reason to try anything other than X-X-X.

(This, at least, was true when I completed the game with a Prowler-class character. The other classes might play differently but I can't summon the enthusiasm right now to replay the campaign to find out for sure.)

Another area that's off is the game balance. You can buy better weapons, armour, power-ups and potions but you don't actually need to do that as the game is overly generous with item drops. I never felt my character was ill-equipped at any point in the game and was able to overpower foes with ease.

It's likely that the multiplayer modes might offer the challenge missing from the single-player campaign but I couldn't tell you for certain. I don't know of anyone in my neighbourhood with a PSP let alone a PSP with a UL2 UMD.

The view from the top

The default view is zoomed way up and it's hard to make out much. I would strongly recommend zooming in a little to better appreciate the animation. (Avoid zooming in too much because you might miss crates just out of camera view.) Ultimately, though, I think the top-down view was a mistake. The developers should have opted for a third-person, camera-behind-protagonist view to provide a more intense action experience. After all, an action game is not much of an action game without satisfying action to appreciate.

The one area of the game that does show ambition is the writing. The plot is standard RPG fare but the individual lines are surprisingly good. The writing is certainly on par with that of recent BioWare games and the voice-acting is impressive as well. It's a shame the gameplay lacks the same panache and craftsmanship.

For all its shortcomings, however, UL2 is not without its appeal. Levelling up a character is always satisfying as fans of Diablo or MMORPGs would attest. And as I said earlier, there are times when near-mindless action is a perfect way to kill 30 minutes when I'm too frazzled for anything requiring more thought.

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