Chaos Legion's gameplay is a monster-heavy version of Devil May Cry.  The controls are very similar, only differing when required by a unique gameplay mechanic.  One difference is the camera, which is free-roaming and can be controlled with the right analog stick, a first for this kind of game.  The reasoning behind this is because of the level design, which is very open, and your enemies, which surround you at every turn.  As you will quickly realize, Chaos Legion is the Serious Sam of the action/thriller genre.

To defend yourself against the unrelenting threat, you have the aid of the Legions.  Legions are interactive summon monsters.  You only get one weapon (a sword that resembles the one Dante used in Devil May Cry) and have a limited number of attacks, so you have to rely on the help of Malice, Hatred, Arrogance and other Legions to get you through the game's toughest battles.

If you've ever wondered what Final Fantasy would be like if it were an action/RPG, Chaos Legion will show you.  Final Fantasy's summon monsters act only on command: you summon them, they attack.  In Chaos Legion, the summon monsters act by command or they can attack independently.  Each Legion has more than one monster for you to control and that number will grow as you level up.  With Malice, you start out with only two arrow-shooters, but when maxed out, six will be available, creating a powerful offensive and defensive army for you to use.

Legions add extra abilities to your character's ability list.  They don't just magically appear though, you have to earn them by collecting points (EXP).  As with any game, EXP is gained by killing monsters – lots of monsters.  And with an endless amount to slay in Chaos Legion, it won't take you long to rack up the millions of points necessary to unleash a Legion's full potential.

The grimly-named summon monsters fall in line with the dark storyline.  Sieg, the tall, red-headed hero of the game, begins the story in trauma.  He's mourning the loss of a girl named Siela.  The indication is that he killed her, though the story details are sketchy and reveal very little to build tension and intrigue.  Delacroix, Chaos Legion's answer to Sephiroth, blames Sieg for Siela's death.  Long story short, he's determined to collect three glyphs and use their power to destroy Sieg and reunite with his precious Siela.  Your mission is to guide Sieg through the treacherous lands, help him atone for his supposed sins and defeat the psychotic Delacroix before he has a chance to complete his mission.

The story is presented in an RPG fashion, only on a much smaller scale.  You don't chat with the locals (there are only monsters to converse with in each level!), but there are text updates and/or movie sequences shown after each mission has been completed.  The movie sequences are CG, not real-time, and have voice acting that is comparable to other Capcom games.  This is cool and all, but grows a little tired when very few details are revealed during each sequence.  It'll be the end before you know what's really going on in this game.

With so much going for it, the only thing Chaos Legion is guilty of is being repetitive.  The first half of the game is fast and exciting.  None of the stages are long enough to become repetitive, unless you procrastinate and fight unnecessary battles.  The latter half is different.  The battles are tougher, longer, and some of the "Target" monsters (monsters that must be killed to open locked gates) are, in some cases, more challenging than the boss battles.  There's something really wrong with that.  It's not fun pressing the square button two hundred times to defeat a monster, only to have to do it again when another one appears.  Don't think I'm exaggerating – some of the monsters can take several hundred hits to kill, and one hit is equal to one button press.  The Legions are great, but they can't battle the toughest monsters and keep Sieg from being attacked by the dozens of regular monsters at the same time.

It's disappointing to know that the Chaos Legion's fate comes down to repetition.  I loved the game to death, but you can only experience the same thing so many times before it becomes a nightmare.  This is a fun game that Devil May Cry fans will surely dig, but it's not a must-buy by any means.  Rent it and enjoy it till you get sick of it.

Gameplay: 6.9
Chaos Legion is a little too chaotic for its own good.  The battles are great for a while.  The first seven levels are so good, you'll definitely want to play through them at least twice.  After that the game becomes too repetitive to hold your interest long after its finished.  You hack and slash and not much else.  There are no puzzles to solve, and the only things there are to collect are health recovery items and character upgrades.  One thing that bothered me at the end was that you can't run while a Legion has been summoned.  What sense does that make?  Does it somehow make the game more challenging?  No, it only makes it more frustrating.  I can still jump away and evade attacks, but I can't move fast and rid the world of its monsters before the game becomes boring.

Graphics: 6
I'm not sure what happened here.  If you look at Capcom's other PS2, Xbox and GC games, you'll see some of the highest quality visuals around.  Chaos Legion's graphics are pretty generic, resembling that of a first-generation PlayStation 2 game.  However, saying that would be an insult to Onimusha, since it was considered a first-generation game and looked much better than Chaos Legion.  With game technology at the level it is today, bland textures and boring backgrounds are no longer acceptable.

Sound: 6
Decent voice acting, typical soundtrack.  The music isn't bad, but where's the depth and emotion?  This is a little bit of an RPG, after all.  RPGs are supposed to engross you with a deep story and a soundtrack that could break your heart.  Chaos Legion has neither.

Difficulty: Medium
Chaos Legion is easy early on, but becomes quite difficult near the end.  The boss battles are almost always easier than the toughest regular monster, which is kind of odd, but gives the player something to hack and slash to death (if you like that sort of thing).

Concept: 7
Capcom was on the right track with Chaos Legion.  It had all the markings of a good game: proven gameplay mechanics, thousands of monsters to kill, and the addition of a new and unique Legion (summon monster) system.  The game didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but its issues could be addressed in a sequel.

Overall: 6.5
If Capcom's goal for Chaos Legion was to create a Devil May Cry RPG, then they came pretty close to accomplishing their goal.  Some magic spells would have been nice, and a more involved storyline couldn't have hurt.  An improved soundtrack would have only made the experience that much more enjoyable.  However, when it came time to deciding on this game's overall score, those factors had very little to do with my decision.  It all came down to the gameplay, which failed to deliver a consistently fresh experience.  It's a fun game, no doubt about that, but the fun doesn't last.  Chaos Legion is like a train on a circular track: it goes round and round, never veering from the path.  I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not that's a good thing.