For the past several years, Creat Studios has provided a whole bunch of downloadable games from various genres on the Playstation 3 home console. While they do not appear to be overly complex, they still bring this certain to the table. Well here comes another game this time from the dungeon crawler genre called Labyrinth Legends. Will Creat Studios still be able to knock your socks off with its action-oriented goodness?
While the controls are really basic, they serve to be quite effective. Performing different attacks is accomplished using both the square and triangle buttons while the L1 serves to block. There are other functions including action which you need to keep track of, but in the end, it’s really easy to figure out and get started immediately.
In Labyrinth Legends, your character’s bride unfortunately gets kidnapped at the alter and it is your objective to bring her back to safety. As you embark on this quest, you’ll be facing a bunch of baddies through the ancient ruins. At first, the game may appear to be like Diablo where you’ll constantly be attacking your enemies and collecting items. However, the gameplay is a bit more simplistic yet enjoyable as well.
Addtionally, there’s no randomly generated levels as presented in Diablo. Essentially, your levels are laid out consistently in advance, so with every playthrough, you’ll know how to get around easily and determine where the secret locations are. In order to progress in Labyrinth Legends, you need to earn a certain number of stars before you can exit the level. While a quick run through could land you wit ha couple of stars, you could get up to five stars in each level, thus encouraging you to revisit the levels and find what you have missed. Occasionally, you’ll come across boss battles that too are challenging but in time can be predictable. Basically, you’ll need to figure out the attack patterns as well as unravel their weaknesses.
Within Labyrinth Legends, you’ll come across various elements of puzzles that will challenge your mind. You have tiles on the floors that can trigger a deadly trap, switches that indicate a path of a maze, and blocks that you can push around while you’re inside a room with toxic gas. While the puzzles add some entertainment, they can prove to be more difficult to the point of frustration. For example, trying to solve a puzzle while an endless number of enemies coming at you can be daunting when concentration is needed.
Where Labyrinth Legends can also bring quite a few players to be upset is its lack of a save system or even a check point. So this means that you can get pretty far in the level, but when you die, you’ll have to go all the way back from the beginning and start again. Every puzzle you’ve solved would have to redone and this can be really frustrating.
Besides your single-player campaign, you can engage additional players to join in on the fun. But sadly enough, there’s no co-op mode in this respect. Rather, you’ll engage in three modes that will have you competing against your friends. This will prove to be a short-term enjoyment. On top of that, there is no online feature so you really need to depend on some of your friends to come over to add to this fun.
In terms of the presentation, Labyrinth Legends is littered with some impressive graphics. Everything from the menus to in-game environments have some visual awes attached. While the lighting and shadow effects are executed quite well, the frame rate does slow down at certain occasions. Audio-wise, the music fits appropriately with the game’s overall mood. As well, the sound effects complements the cute yet artistic approach taken by Creat Studios here.
In retrospect, Labyrinth Legends may have a few moments of frustration. However, its creative implementation of a dungeon crawler game design coupled with some puzzle elements prove to add some enjoyment later on down the line. Currently, you can get this downloable game for $9.99 at the Playstation Network. If you’re looking for some simple entertainment that will keep you occupied for several hours, this game is definitely worthy of your attention.
