Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion review for PS4, PS Vita

It took me awhile to get through Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion because every single one of my playthroughs followed the same pattern. I?d start playing, and it would take me awhile to get used to the game?s unique spin on turn-based combat. I?d inevitably die due to a massive spike in difficulty, causing me to quit in a huff. I?d come back to it once I?d had a chance to settle down, only to discover that I?d completely forgotten how to play. And then I?d start over at the very beginning so I could get a refresher on the game?s controls.

In other words, it made for very slow going. It also made it hard to really enjoy the game, since, again, I was constantly rage-quitting and restarting. A lot of that, to be sure, is on me, but it also speaks to Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion?s approach to…well, everything.

Take the controls, for starters. You have four people in your party, and each of them is controlled by one button. However, you?re also limited in the number of actions you can take at any given time, and it takes awhile for those actions to recharge. While you?re keeping an eye on the status of your attacks, you also need to watch your enemies, since you get amply rewarded for well-timed blocks. However, this is made more difficult by the fact that groups of enemies will occasionally attack together, and while you may block one of those attacks, you probably won?t get both. You can get health back from your party healer, but, as with the attacks, you have to wait awhile for that healing energy to recharge, and you have to make sure that you?ve timed it for when your party is next to you, rather than attacking.

None of this is impossible, of course, but it does mean that you need to play Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion slowly and methodically — there?s no button-mashing here. Your taste for that will, obviously, depend on how much you want to take your time advancing down a battlefield and never letting your concentration waver for a moment.

There?s also the matter of how Flames of Rebellion looks. To be blunt: it borrows heavily from Vanillaware. If you?ve ever played games like Odin?s Sphere or Muramasa and admired their artwork, this game will also appeal to you. At the same time, however, it leaves a lot to be desired as far as creativity goes. There?s a thin line between homage and theft, and I?m not at all sure that Flames of Rebellion falls on the right side of that line.

All of which is to say, Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion will appeal to a very specific type of player: someone who loves Vanillaware RPGs, and is eager to try out a game that isn?t afraid to try something new when it comes to controls. I?d be lying if I said that applied to me, but if it describes you, you should absolutely check this game out.

YummyYummyTummy provided us with a Fallen Legion: Flames of Rebellion PS Vita code for review purposes.