Release Date: July 25, 2017
A 2D jRPG played from a side view and featuring elements borrowed from beat'em ups. The player takes on the role of the Princess Cecille, who tries to bring safety to her people after her father's death - the protagonist faces hordes of dangerous monsters. The experience places a special emphasis on real-time combat; the key to success here is to link the team's attacks into complex combinations.
An American studio YummyYummyTummy is popular among the players for the Nommons series, which encompasses educational games released for mobile devices and Nintendo Wii U. However, because of their great interest in Japanese RPGs and beat'em ups, the team decided to combine these two genres together. As a result, Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire was developed, specifically for PlayStation 4.
In Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire for PS4, the player takes on the role of a young princess by the name of Cecille. The ruler of Fenumia – Cecille's father – dies prematurely, leaving the task of upkeeping the country for his daughter. A mysterious talking book capable of inscribing life into steel weaponry is one of the most confusing elements of the deceased king's heritage. Apart from that, the book has concealed a dark secret behind the kingdom however – Fenumia turns out to be a less charming a place than its inhabitants thought. In order to fulfill her mission and to bring peace and safety for her subjects, Cecille has to face dangerous adversaries and monsters.
Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire for PS4 combines a set of features typical of jRPGs with an incredibly strong element of conventional, side-scrolling beat'em ups. As a result, the game obviously features an extensive story (it is necessary to make key choices as part of it) and a relatively typical character development system. However, real-time combat remains the most important element of the experience. Although the mechanics behind fighting bear a resemblance to the Active Time Battle system known from the Final Fantasy series, the element of combat was executed in this game in a way that is relatively unusual in this genre.
In combat, the player controls the Princess Cecille and her three companions that represent weapons brought to life by the magical book. Each of those companions has slightly different skills and an individual fighting style. Zulfiqar for example, can strike enemies with his powerful shield. Longinus on the other hand, is capable of cutting through bodies of the adversaries with his spear. When it comes to Apollon, he launches plenty of arrows at the team's foes. Randomly appearing cards constitute an additional modifier, as thanks to them, the player's fighters can temporarily increase their attack power, heal their wounds, or surprise the enemy using an unusual technique. While fighting, the actions of each character are assigned to one button of the controller; the key to success lies in skillfully linking the attacks of the entire team into complex combinations. The right timing is equally important, as a perfectly performed parry can stun the enemy or reflect projectiles.
Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire for PS4 is played from a side view, which is fairly unusual in jRPGs. The game's hand-drawn 2D graphics bring today's browser-based MMORPGs into mind, though in contrast to such games, Sins of an Empire is obviously of a significantly better quality.
Platforms:
PlayStation 4
Developer: YummyYummyTummy
Publisher: YummyYummyTummy
Game Ratings for Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire Video Game.
COGconnected: 50 / 100 by James Paley
The combat… my god the combat. I can't imagine playing through the entire campaign with all that frantic button-smashing.
RPGamer: 3 / 5 by Alex Fuller
Though some of the experience leaves a bit to be desired, the ideas combined with an enjoyable pace of play leads to a fun overall experience.
TheSixthAxis: 4 / 10 by Miguel Moran
Fallen Legion has a wealth of great ideas, but ultimately crumbles under its ambitions. A fun combat system helps form a strong core, but one that ultimately doesn't hold together for very long. The saving grace here is the beautiful artwork and smooth animations, which are complimented by some great music. Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend the game on those traits alone; Fallen Legion is interesting, and promising, but rarely enjoyable.
