Considering how engrossing the events surrounding Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table, and the legendary sword known as Excalibur are, it's surprising that a video game based upon this time period has yet to make the console rounds. One might think that this engrossing story of betrayal, love, and honor would find a suitable home in the adventure genre, but 7-Studios has instead decided to flesh out these happenings in the form of a strategy RPG.

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Set in the fifth century, Legion: Legend of Excalibur makes use of the same characters that are found in the popular folklore surrounding King Arthur, but the events have been altered to suit 7 Studios' developmental ambitions. You begin play as Arthur, a lowly page whose half sister, Morgan Le Fay, has murdered his father. Le Fay, a powerful sorceress in her own right, has enlisted the services of three knights to mount an attack on Arthur's territories. After pulling the legendary Excalibur blade from a stone and staking his claim as king, Arthur sets off to defeat the three knights, discover Camelot, and ultimately impose some sort of retribution upon Le Fay. Popular characters such as Sir Galahad, Sir Lancelot, Nimne (the lady of the lake), and Merlin become playable allies throughout the game and offer insight into the missions or enemies at hand. Mythical locations such as Avalon also make an appearance in Legion, enlivening the game with the legend's mystique.

Swordsmen, mages, clerics, and archers are all at your disposal. You may control only one at a time, but four may be in your party at once. Switching characters is as easy as pressing the corresponding shoulder button. Pressing the same button again lets you scroll through a list of commands. Though Eric Yeo of Command & Conquer fame is part of the development team, Legion's real-time strategy elements are streamlined. You can instruct your allies to attack, guard, or flee, but it's impossible to set a character's armies up on one side of a level and take up the offensive somewhere else with the main character. Even so, commanding them to protect you while you dish out punishment can often mean the difference between completing a level and having to try again. Controlling any of your four party members is fairly simple. The X button triggers the light slash attack, and timing your slashes with the flash of your blade results in combos that can deplete your enemies' hit points rather quickly. The square button is your character's heavy attack, and it provides quite a bit of range and effectiveness when compared to the traditional slash. Special moves come in the form of elaborate spells, and they are performed by pressing both the X and square buttons at the same time. Using the heavy and special attacks costs your character mana. Mana replenishes itself with time, so managing your attacks carefully infuses planning and strategy into the game.

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Hordes of bots will follow your characters around the levels, attacking any enemies you come into contact with. Not far into the game, you discover Camelot and the Knights of the Roundtable. Once knights have been obtained, you may select your party members before heading into battle. Characters are rated in five characteristics: hit points, attack, defense, mana points, and category. The category rating increases the strategy involved in Legion considerably. Using a knight with an ice rating, such as Sir Lancelot, makes defeating enemies with fire attributes much easier. Medieval projectile weapons, such as the catapult, the ballista, and the trebuchet, are scattered throughout the levels, and once you breach the last protective line of enemies, they fall under your control. You can control some projectile weapons manually, while others fire on the enemy automatically. As you progress through the game you are awarded with attribute points that are automatically dispensed to your character's four statistics. Gold may also be collected within the levels to purchase and upgrade troops or to revive fallen Knights of the Roundtable for the next mission. Magical items that can be used to drastically increase character attributes are awarded to those who are adventurous and stray from the beaten path.