If there’s one thing the Play team loves more than anything else, it’s action RPGs. We just LOVE hitting one button repeatedly, slashing through wave after wave of enemies until our thumbs become bigger than Mark Kermode’s ego. Forget Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Solid – who the hell wants to spend their time honing their skills or thinking about their approach? Nope, for us, it’s one-button-mashing or nothing. (In best Homer Simpson voice) If you couldn’t tell, we’re being sarcastic. Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code, as with its predecessor, is an action RPG.

Within minutes of placing the UMD in the PSP’s drive, we knew where the next batch of hours in our lives were going – the dojo of the iron thumb. Yes, unsurprisingly, The Warriors Code involves a hell of a lot of button-bashing, and about as much skill as is required to boil an egg. But, as the freaks (sorry, fans) who keep buying these games are only too quick to shout, it’s about so much more than that.

The key here is RPG – Role Playing Game. Unlike Dynasty Warriors or the myriad scrolling beat-’em-ups that have plagued the PS2 recently, Untold Legends is a far more character-focused experience. As with the original, the game kicks off by tasking you with creating a character from one of five classes. If you’ve ever fancied bumbling about a dungeon as an Orc, here’s you chance. We’d also recommend going outside and meeting people, but that’s a different argument for a different time. Character creation is fairly limited, save for a few funny haircuts and skin tones, but at least it allows the player to project a little bit of his or her personality onto proceedings.

After the ‘fun’ of building your chosen warrior, it’s time to head into the dungeon. As a lesson in how not to start a videogame, Untold Legends should be dragged out at developers conferences for years to come. In a 30-hour epic RPG, at no point should the idea that starting proceedings in a sewer with more brown than a Rick Porter fashion show come to fruition. Unfortunately, the chaps at Sony saw fit to spoil the first 20 minutes of its title with possibly the most tedious opening sections of any videogame. Ever. It teaches you the basics (to hit a button), but aside from that, it takes a strong constitution to not fall asleep.

Mercifully, after this exercise in auburn has passed, things begin to pick up considerably. The rest of Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code’s top-down action takes place in sprawling dungeons, fields and arctic tundra, giving players plenty of scope to learn the complexities of the combat system (occasionally holding the attack button – woo!). More importantly, all the buttonmashing leads to the real meat of the Untold Legends experience, namely the process of ‘leveling up’. Warrior’s Code contains one of the more complicated and comprehensive examples of this RPG staple. Every time you level up, you can select which attributes to add stat points to, and then choose spells to suit your playing style. It means that after a few hours, every player’s character will be entirely unique. Doesn’t stop the game being thoroughly dull, mind.

Yes, Untold Legends’ greatest downfall is its unbelievable repetitiveness. It’s a perfectly pleasant videogame; the character design is solid; it’s smooth and accessible, and even the cutscenes are a vast improvement over the previous title. However, the story is by no means strong enough to warrant 20 to 30-hours of button-mashing and the inevitable migraine that the bird’s-eye view causes. The original came out when the PSP’s library was still fairly limited, and as such enjoyed a modicum of success, but now gamers are spoilt for choice. What would you rather play – Syphon Filter or this? Exactly.

Even the inclusion of a two-player cooperative online mode is not enough to hide the fact that there about 20 moreinteresting titles available for Sony’s sexy slice of portable gaming pleasure. The RPG aesthetic, when carried off well, is unparalleled in its ability to tell a story and completely engross a player in its universe. When it’s performed merely adequately, however, it can be bloody tedious. Guess which category Warrior’s Code falls in to.

Untold Legends: The Warrior’s Code has nothing essentially wrong with it, but there’s so little of interest it will really only appeal to the RPG hardcore. Character customization is perfunctory, the plot and narrative mediocre at best, and the hacking and slashing very much an acquired taste.

You already know if you want Untold Legends. You already know if you love dungeons, warlocks, orcs, spells and wizards. You already know if you spend your evenings licking a picture of Peter Jackson while you log in to MMOs using nothing but your eyes. If you do, we’d still recommend looking elsewhere. No one wants a boring life, do they?

Jon Denton