The missions themselves are the bread and butter of this X-Men toast, however, and the variety among them is rather good. Some missions are long, taking upwards of a couple hours, some are short and sweet, and some missions deal with search and recovery, rescue, or even protect scenarios. The basic premise behind each and every one of them, however, is breaking a lot of heads. The environments in the game are not particularly varied, as you’ll often revisit some of them, but each one of them definitely serves the aforementioned purpose. Depending on the level, nearly everything is destructible. Everything. You can pick up that random barrel or crate and hurl it at your foes, or you can pick your foes up and throw them through the walls. There is nothing sweeter than the tingle you feel when whipping your opponent through a friggin’ cement wall. While some walls won’t break all the way, the majority of them at least crumble to bits. The wall breaking serves a purpose other than being just cool, because often you can find new paths by breaking down walls or corners and walking through the rubble. Ever been in a game where you wondered why your super hero with super powers couldn’t break through a door? You can actually do this in this game. Just like the rest of the environment, many doors are destructible, allowing you to make that dramatic super hero entrance you dream about.

What about the RPG elements? Thankfully, it appears RavenSoft spent as much time programming the environments as they did programming the RPG system, because both turned out very well. Leveling up gives you skill points that you can use to both boost up certain attributes, as well as apply towards unlocking and beefing up mutant powers. While beefing up your mutant powers is left solely to the player, leveling up your stats can be done automatically so that the points go to the appropriate spots, ensuring you don’t end up with a Jean Grey who is stronger than Colossus. However, this isn’t necessary if you know what you’re doing. The points system is very awesome because it does give you the ability to level up what you want, when you want, how you want.

It’s NOT Cel-Shaded!

Read it. Know it. Believe it. While the characters may look cel-shaded, they are not. Check GCA’s interview here (INSERT LINK) if you don’t believe me. The outlines are simply bold, and the characters colorful. It’s not cel-shaded. The look fits the game though, but at times the graphics are a little too simple. The look of the game is pretty, but does look rather dated, particularly during certain cut scenes. Listening to the games voice acting during these cut-scenes, however, is actually pleasant. X-Men Legends features some of the best acting to be found in a game, although some accents are a bit overdone (Gambit is a little too Cajun).

Of course, there are a few things that hold X-Men Legends back. The difficulty scale of the game seems to go from ‘Holy Colossus, this is hard’ to ‘Well, this is too easy’ without a lot of middle ground. Initially in the game, you’re only allowed 10 health potions, and sometimes they’re hard to come across. Starting at the low level you do, you’ll get your ass handed to you repeatedly some of the earlier levels. You’ll find your team suddenly swarmed by soldiers, all with resistances, and then you’ll just plain die. Later in the game, you’ll be leveled up and will destroy hoards of enemies with two mutant power attacks. The curve is pretty steep, and can be really frustrating at times. Choose your teams wisely, because that really can determine the difficulty of a level. Also, there tend to be spots in some levels that look rather appealing and safe to jump into, but end up being really bad ideas. These death traps pop up frequently and can leave you cursing from the loss of your team member. What’s worse is that sometimes, if conditions are right, your A.I. teammate will fall to his or her death. Quite annoying. Other little nitpicking things include the lack of environment variety and the large amount of load screens.

Pounding it All Together
X-Men Legends is a great action RPG for X-Men fans and X-Men newbies alike, and should not be overlooked. Its blend of great storytelling, great combat, and attention to environmental detail are enough for anyone to get hooked on. True X-Men fans will appreciate the game’s sticking to the facts and staying true to the comic versions of each individual character. There’s tons of fun to be had in unlocking new mutant attacks and finding the perfect team combinations. If you have 3 friends with you, it is pretty easy to pick up, and both co-op and battle mode are fun. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

My Rant

I had to do this. These are things that should be fixed in the sequel, but didn’t necessarily affect the score. You hear me, Ravensoft?!?

Gambit’s voice was way over the top.

Gambit took too long to be as uber-cool and uber-useful as he is.

Jubilee and Emma Frost are useless. Useless, I say!

Psylocke was unlocked far too late in the game

I maxed out Storm’s flight, because Storm flies. While flying, Storm should be able to use lightning. Why can’t she use lightning while flying? WHY?!?

Magma is hot. Okay, not really a complaint, so good job, team!