You'll need to use both the Council and the Black Order to make your way through the game, with different paths available at key instances as you look to save the world - and create a new box of some kind. Along the way we'll meet a love interest, the lovely Vivian Carter, and Alexander Lexington, a good guy who is from the Council who will aid you in your quest.

While choices are available progress through the game will generally be linear, Spark opting for a focussed, tight experienced, driven heavily by set-pieces and the overall story - rather than anything you might describe as "free form" or "sandbox". Again, this is all about battling amazing beasts in epic locales, not to mention a solid storyline.

Combat is likely to be enhanced by some beastly AI Allen describes as among the very best the genre has witnessed. For example, we were demonstrated what a werewolf can do, the creature avoiding gunfire, using both walls and ceilings to attack our hero. Attacks can come from all sides, we're told, and a palpable sense of being hunted is promised. Creatures may not choose to attack Deckard immediately, either, our foolhardy protagonist at the heart of a three way tussle - as the forces of the Black Order and the Council also attempt to right the world and seize control.

Allen also introduces to us a Fire Drake, a fire-breathing toad-like monster that will literally set the world ablaze; the creature showing off a unique fire system that could make for some interesting set-pieces and level design, if well-implimented by Spark. Overall, the sense of epic destruction, of world's colliding, is very impressive, and while environments may not be as detailed as other offerings - the scale is vast, the interactivity of the world (especially as the griffin destroy buildings, the minotaurs smashing through stone walls) notable.

The game's plot will take us from the US, to London where we'll seek information to help us create a new "box" before journeying to historic Durham in order to battle the nasties through the cobbled streets, and in the ruins of the huge cathedral. A few twists will lead us back to New York, where we'll need to face yet more moral 'issues' before finally looking to end the creatures' reign of terror over mankind.

Allen reveals that our faith, resolve and morality will be tested throughout the game, and a mix of horror, suspense, and good old fashioned is promised - the game taking in spooky graveyards and the like as well as the overrun city streets.

We're also told of a rather unique spin on that will be included in Legendary. The beasts themselves will be included in multiplayer bouts, which will see Council and Black Order forces battling for control. These creatures will be used as a "tipping point" in the action, although the epic titan creatures will not be included for obvious reasons (one such beast is a gollum, a creature composed of real world structures, brought to huge life) from the outset (DLC is planned, however). Another multiplayer mode might also offer a Safari experience, players competing for the most kills.

As our preview draws to a close Spark's chief reminds us that Legendary is still in development, with lashings more polish still to come. Even so, it is looking like an interesting twist on the FPS genre, and if the beasts really are as much fun to battle as we're told, Spark might just deliver on their promise of something completely new, despite intense from bigger-name franchises.

A late summer release is promised.

By Luke Guttridge