As a huge fan of the story of King Arthur and the Camelot legend, I've been looking forward to Legion: Legend of Excalibur since first laying eyes on an alpha build last summer. Now that it is finally completed, there is a lot that's good about this title, but control issues and poor voice acting mar what could have been a superlative title.

As you start out in the game's beginning, Arthur isn't a king at all, just starting out as one member of a vast camp. It is here where your training begins as you learn how to block, slice and combo with your sword. The camp is attacked by outside forces, Arthur pops over and grabs Excalibur (which just happens to be nearby) and sets off into battle. Now, I'm all for playing fast and loose with the Arthurian legend if it makes for a better game, but I would have preferred to undertake a minimal quest, at least, instead of just moving over two screens to recover the sword. But I digress.

Combat can be best compared to the PC's Diablo, or Baldur's Gate on PS2. Different buttons are assigned to block, cast spells, slash, and issue commands. Hacking and slashing your way through hordes of evildoers is fun, albeit far too difficult initially. The frame rate is pretty steady, unless there is a lot of action going on.

Which leads me into the bad. The voice acting is, from start to finish, excreable. It sounds like Seven Studios grabbed folks passing outside their offices and stuck them in the studio - the faux accents are that bad. It is a shame, because the lousy voice "acting" really detracts from the experience.

More troubling than the terrible voice work, however, is the problem with controls and gameplay balance. The opportunity to heal wounds are few and far between, especially when first starting out. While battling your way out of the initial camp attack, you pick up other swordsmen along the way and you're forced to use them to take the brunt of the damage. Of course, since they're not as strong as Arthur, you have to come in, slash, then retreat before taking too much damage. It makes the game far too hard, especially considering that these are the introductory levels. As the game goes on and you add spellcasters to your party, you can split your party in two. Control of these other characters is hard, and the pathfinding AI isn't very well done at all.

The most unforgivable sin, however, is lack of an in-mission save. Considering how large some of these missions are, not having a way to save your progress is absolutely criminal. Combine that with the muddy, dark graphics and what we have is a title that doesn't get close to reaching its potential, which is a shame.

I really wanted to like Legion: Legend of Excalibur. It's a step away from the arcade heritage of Midway, and had a very promising premise. Unfortunately, the house of cards completely falls apart in the execution, leaving disappointment in its wake.