Dark Legion VR Review (Verdict: Good, Shame About the Bugs)

Hello my fellow VR enthusiasts,

We have another game review for today, Dark Legion VR.

I actually don't remember how this game got into my library, I think I must have picked it up on a freebie. It's a shame I couldn't find out for sure, because when you can get your money's worth out of this game depends on whether you paid a very small amount or got it for free.

Which doesn't bode well I know. However, this game does have some redeeming features that at least might merit some further interest if you can pick it up for a steal. It's not as bad as some other rock-bottom VR titles, like the awful Marlene Act 1 Betwixt I reviewed in my last post.

Dark Legion VR - The Plot

Orange leather doesn't stop her from getting left behind.

As is often the case with Indie VR titles, the plot for dark legion VR is quite thin. I've seen worse, however.

You appear to be some kind of space mercenary. You start off the game in your main ship, in a training arena, with your ridiculous orange-leather-bound female companion there also. Your companion takes you on a walk around the area showing you all the features, and then there is an achievement for completing certain tasks in the shooting range and other areas.

Actually, as far as tutorials go, it's quite well done. There was only one thing I wasn't sure about, because there were not any visual cues as to whether I was doing the exercise right, but otherwise it's a great introduction into using the weapons.

So you go on your first mission and, whilst you are in your shuttle, something goes wrong. You crash land and need to find a spare part to fix your shuttle and move on.

Whilst looking for a spare part (in the middle of nowhere) you start getting attacked and you apparently quickly forget about your shuttle (and companion) and go wondering off trying to find the source of the aggression.

The Game Mechanics

Thankfully, I found the core gameplay for Dark Legion VR to be very enjoyable. Weapons work well and you soon get into a rhythm of managing shots left and reloading. Combat is urgent but geared such that you aren't forgetting yourself and running into your real world walls trying to dodge projectiles. As you get further into the game you can slip into a well-worn cover and shoot mechanic to battle most of the enemies, and every so often the game tosses into something slightly different to shake up the gameplay, such as snipers you can't simply shoot from far away, riot shields that block standard bullets, and bosses where you are forced to get out of cover and take on much more directly.

So despite some depressingly familiar bugs, which is why this game doesn't actually get a thumbs-up rating (explained later) the core game entertained me well enough that I stuck with it through the bugs and to the end. It's about 3 hours gameplay and so, if you are picking this up for a pittance, not bad value.

More Details

The pistol is great fun to use, and the iron sight works well.

With the high level overview of this game explained, I will slip into the good, the bad and the ugly for more details.

The ugly first:

• The game crashes on every level transition, including when defeating the last boss. Normally, it autosaves right before the crash so you can just reload the game, jump back in and carry on. On killing the end boss however, the game crashes instantly (again) and when you reload, it dumps you in an empty boss room with no way to progress, so.... you don't actually get to see the end game movie/credits/whatever.
• It bears repeating, on top of crashing in-between every level, I persevered through the crashes and my reward was to know I beat the game but never get to see the ending.
• As many others have stated, the dumb little flying robot is idiotic, it frequently gets right in the way of where you want to shoot whilst you are getting shot back.

Now the good a.k.a. why I persevered with this game:

• The graphics in the game are pretty good. They aren't outstandingly beautiful, and they are a little basic, with a lot of flat surfaces. However, the graphics do work well, particular for seeing and aiming at things at reasonable distances. Visual cues are also apparent without standing out like a sore thumb.
• I actually quite like the main duck/cover and shoot mechanics on how you do most of the fighting. It's a bit contrived, with extremely basic enemy AI particularly, but nonetheless I quite enjoyed ducking in and out, popping off a few shots and reloading.
• Weapon selection and reloading is again nicely done for the most part. You can pick up weapons off your belt in either hand and use the other hand to pull clips from the back of your belt, pop the clip in the gun and, depending on the gun, also pull the lever to prime the gun and start shooting.
• In particular the pistol, which is the first weapon you get, is great fun to use (although that is also a bad thing).
• The bow as well is quite well done. It's been done well in other games too but it works well here also.
• Depth perception is spot on, which means you can shoot from the hip, shoot round corners, but also use iron sights very effectively for well placed headshots.

It's a shame this robot is bullet-prood, stupid little git.

Finally, the bad (or perhaps just not so good):

• Although the graphics are quite good, the sound is a little lacking. Sound effects are basic although monster noises do a good job of alerting you of what's around the corner. The music is quite dreadful however. Mostly it is background noise, but the overly dramatic music on boss fights grates after you hear the one minute song on loop for the fifth time.
• The controller-trigger activity depends on the context of what your hand is pointing at, and the game can get very confused. If you are struggling to pick up a gun from your belt, it's probably because your hand is pointing at something on the floor or wall you can interact with.
• Weapon balancing is iffy. I spent most of the time using the pistol because it is a) easy to reload b) has no spread, c) the iron sights are extremely accurate and d) the pistol has infinite ammo. The shotgun is little more than useless, the automatic rifle has too much spread, you only use the bow when you need to because drawing arrows takes time, and the rocket launcher is squandered if you use it on anything except bosses.
• The sniper rifle is worth singling out. It has a top-mounted zoom display so you can try those round-the-corner shots. However, the zoom level is quite high and my hands are just not steady enough to use the rifle effectively. There has to be a way to solve a lack of steadiness for long-range weapons in VR games, it's not like you can lean on anything to steady yourself.
• Your female companion, who helps you through the initial tutorials, is ridiculously dressed. The arse-tight leather and pointy nipples will appeal to the young lads I'm sure.

The game breaking level-transition bug is a real shame, because that is what stops me from giving this game a thumbs-up. However, without such a stupid bug, Dark Legion VR is a fun little Indie game that is fun to while away a few hours in, so I don't have the heart to give it a thumbs-down either.