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September 20, 2005 | 10:25 PM PST
by: Shawn Sinclaire
There once was a time when X-Men games sucked. No, seriously. They did. Before X-Men Legends, name one X-Men title on one of the current generation consoles that didn’t suck. Even prior to this generation, the best one was the X-Men arcade game. Yeah, that’s what we expected. The fact of the matter is that nobody could get the X-Men formula right. Then came Activision and BAM! X-Men games are cool again! It’s amazing what some cooperative 4-player beat-em-up gameplay with RPG elements can do for a series. Now, a year after the release of the first X-Men Legends title, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse will be hitting store shelves tomorrow and showing that X-Men games still don’t suck. Not anymore, that is.
Features
I Loathe You
One of the central focuses of X-Men Legends II is the storyline. This time around, the story centers on one particular character who is trying pretty hard to live up to his name: Apocalypse. Sometime after the events of X-Men Legends, Apocalypse takes advantage of both the X-Men’s and the Brotherhood’s weaknesses to cripple them both with a powerful attack. Then, guided by some secret prophecy, Apocalypse begins his takeover of the world. With both teams weakened, he figures it’ll be a trip down easy street. However, he didn’t anticipate that the two injured teams would band together to become one awesome team. It definitely is an awesome team, too.
The storyline will be propelled along by amazing (this should be emphasized more: amazing) CG and character specific dialogue like what was present in the first game. Fans of the first game will remember the CG was done in the style of the main game. This style was a vibrant, comic book-like look that while appealing, wasn’t visually stunning. This time around, the CG is full motion, high quality scenes with a much more realistic look and feel to them. In the trailer shown at E3, the scenes were enough to make the jaws of those present in the room collectively drop. As for the character interaction, the developers at Raven have spent tons of time ensuring that character interactions will be as true to the series as possible. The Brotherhood, even though they are helping a good cause, will be sure to voice their opinion when they think the X-Men are being weak, and certain story elements will vary slightly depending on which characters are present in a given situation. Don’t expect Wolverine and Magneto to be buddies simply because they are united against a common evil.
Now You’re Playing With Power
Those X-Men fans out there who always thought it would be fun to play as Magneto or Juggernaut can now drop to their knees with a “Hallelujah!” because that’s exactly the experience opened up to players in this title. From the beginning, the story centers around the cooperation of these mutants, now bonded by more than just a genetic irregularity. All 16 are available to play from the start, so players will have sufficient time to play around with combinations of mutants to find which ones work best together. Finding those that work well together is key. As in the first game, there is an emphasis on combo attacks that often do twice the damage of a normal single attack. On their own, however, each mutant is packing a thorough arsenal of mutant powers that are as unique as they are useful. There was a lot of effort put into ensuring that mutant powers were not just carbon copies of one another.
X-Men Legends II
Of course, having an emphasis on combo attacks wouldn’t work well without either A) Good partner AI or B) Good friends to play with (that you can reach over and smack when they mess up)
Sure enough, Legends 2 will feature both of these elements. Those who played the first game will fondly remember their computerized partners wandering aimlessly, running wildly into danger even though they are a support character, or tip toeing through infinite pits of death on a whim. Not so much this time around, as extensive time has gone into not just partner AI, but enemy AI. Expect the computer controlled characters to be faster and smarter as they take on roles. As for multiplayer modes, the GameCube features the traditional offline 4-player co-op mode, but the Xbox version of the game will be online enabled so you and your friends can yell at each other over the headsets, although this will sadly eliminate the physical abuse for ignorant co-mutants. The PSP version of the title, too, will receive not only an online wi-fi mode, but also a host of exclusive goodies like new characters and special PSP-only scenarios.
Take a Great Formula, Make it Better
The CG has been tweaked, the super powers have been tweaked, the controls have been tweaked, the menu system has been tweaked, enemy and partner AI has been tweaked, the level up system has been tweaked…the whole game has been tweaked. Essentially what Raven did was take a system that was so effective that it produced the number one selling X-Men title of all time, and made it better. For multiplayer beat-‘em-up action and a great X-Men storyline, players should look no farther than X-Men Legends II which ships tomorrow.
Stay tuned for our full review within the week!
Features
- 16 playable mutants from both the X-Men and the Brotherhood
- Over 160 mutant powers are unlockable and upgradeable
- Fully destructible environments
- Xbox Live compatible for online 4-player co-op, PSP has wi-fi enabled co-op, and GameCube has offline 4-player co-op mode.
- Over 70 large environments to explore
- Developed by Raven Software
I Loathe You
One of the central focuses of X-Men Legends II is the storyline. This time around, the story centers on one particular character who is trying pretty hard to live up to his name: Apocalypse. Sometime after the events of X-Men Legends, Apocalypse takes advantage of both the X-Men’s and the Brotherhood’s weaknesses to cripple them both with a powerful attack. Then, guided by some secret prophecy, Apocalypse begins his takeover of the world. With both teams weakened, he figures it’ll be a trip down easy street. However, he didn’t anticipate that the two injured teams would band together to become one awesome team. It definitely is an awesome team, too.
The storyline will be propelled along by amazing (this should be emphasized more: amazing) CG and character specific dialogue like what was present in the first game. Fans of the first game will remember the CG was done in the style of the main game. This style was a vibrant, comic book-like look that while appealing, wasn’t visually stunning. This time around, the CG is full motion, high quality scenes with a much more realistic look and feel to them. In the trailer shown at E3, the scenes were enough to make the jaws of those present in the room collectively drop. As for the character interaction, the developers at Raven have spent tons of time ensuring that character interactions will be as true to the series as possible. The Brotherhood, even though they are helping a good cause, will be sure to voice their opinion when they think the X-Men are being weak, and certain story elements will vary slightly depending on which characters are present in a given situation. Don’t expect Wolverine and Magneto to be buddies simply because they are united against a common evil.
Now You’re Playing With Power
Those X-Men fans out there who always thought it would be fun to play as Magneto or Juggernaut can now drop to their knees with a “Hallelujah!” because that’s exactly the experience opened up to players in this title. From the beginning, the story centers around the cooperation of these mutants, now bonded by more than just a genetic irregularity. All 16 are available to play from the start, so players will have sufficient time to play around with combinations of mutants to find which ones work best together. Finding those that work well together is key. As in the first game, there is an emphasis on combo attacks that often do twice the damage of a normal single attack. On their own, however, each mutant is packing a thorough arsenal of mutant powers that are as unique as they are useful. There was a lot of effort put into ensuring that mutant powers were not just carbon copies of one another.
X-Men Legends II
Of course, having an emphasis on combo attacks wouldn’t work well without either A) Good partner AI or B) Good friends to play with (that you can reach over and smack when they mess up)
Sure enough, Legends 2 will feature both of these elements. Those who played the first game will fondly remember their computerized partners wandering aimlessly, running wildly into danger even though they are a support character, or tip toeing through infinite pits of death on a whim. Not so much this time around, as extensive time has gone into not just partner AI, but enemy AI. Expect the computer controlled characters to be faster and smarter as they take on roles. As for multiplayer modes, the GameCube features the traditional offline 4-player co-op mode, but the Xbox version of the game will be online enabled so you and your friends can yell at each other over the headsets, although this will sadly eliminate the physical abuse for ignorant co-mutants. The PSP version of the title, too, will receive not only an online wi-fi mode, but also a host of exclusive goodies like new characters and special PSP-only scenarios.
Take a Great Formula, Make it Better
The CG has been tweaked, the super powers have been tweaked, the controls have been tweaked, the menu system has been tweaked, enemy and partner AI has been tweaked, the level up system has been tweaked…the whole game has been tweaked. Essentially what Raven did was take a system that was so effective that it produced the number one selling X-Men title of all time, and made it better. For multiplayer beat-‘em-up action and a great X-Men storyline, players should look no farther than X-Men Legends II which ships tomorrow.
Stay tuned for our full review within the week!
November 20, 2009
