GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Mediocre
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 07/23/2009
- Released on: 07/16/2009
- Originally published on GameSpot: Unbound Saga (PSP) Review
Tough guy Rick Ajax is a comic-book character forced to fight for the entertainment of readers at the whim of his creator, the Maker; Can you imagine such a cursed existence? Yet while Rick knows that he's a pawn in the Maker's cruel game, he remains blissfully unaware that he's also the star of the feeble new PSP brawler Unbound Saga. You'd be better off remaining unfamiliar with this thoroughly dull game, too.
Unbound Saga doesn't try very hard to convince you it takes place in the pages of a comic book.
In Unbound Saga, it's your interminable task to guide the lumbering Rick through 10 stages of boring, mindless side-scrolling beat-'em-up combat as he journeys to give the Maker a piece of his mind. Eventually, Rick is joined by former professional damsel-in-distress Lori Machete who he suspects of being tossed into his life as part of a crossover with another comic book. This core concept of self-aware comic-book heroes has potential, but Unbound Saga doesn't do anything interesting with it. The story is unfocused and features characters that appear and disappear for no apparent reason, as well as levels that end abruptly without any sense of pacing or climax. The action ostensibly takes place on the pages of a comic book, but the game doesn't try very hard to sell this concept. There's never any expository text at the top of a panel, speech bubbles appear only alongside pop-up character portraits, and there's very little that's distinctly comic-book-like about the visuals.
As Rick, you can kick and punch your enemies into submission, as well as whack them with items you pick up, such as bottles and benches. However, Rick is so slow and his enemies so stupid that there's no enjoyment to be gleaned from any of this combat. Once Lori shows up, you can switch between the two characters at almost any time, and while she looks more agile, the action is so fundamentally weak that it isn't any more fun to play as Lori. Often, just when you think you've finished a panel and are ready to move one merciful step closer to completion, the Maker's hand will pop into the frame and quickly sketch a new group of mindless thugs for you to clobber. So, by the time you reach the end of this excruciating journey, you'll be longing to clobber the Maker yourself for putting you through this tedium. Unfortunately, the final confrontation is as anticlimactic and unsatisfying as everything else about Unbound Saga.
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