by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze
Video Game Editor
The
last time an X-Men video game was released, it bombed badly.
That game was X2: Wolverine’s Revenge, a frustrating and
terrible representation of everyone’s favourite mutant
superheroes. Activision published that game, so given its awful
shortcomings, it was hard to imagine future X-Men releases from
them being any different.
X-Men
Legends is an attempt to break this trend and it succeeds
well beyond expectations. Instead of focusing on one character
and having stealth bog down the pace, Legends fuses action
and RPG elements to create an X-Men adventure that is true
to the essence of the X-Men by being a team effort. Anyone
who’s been an avid reader of the X-Men comics (like
myself) over the years knows this all too well.
So in keeping with the tradition, Raven Software simplified
things by letting you control any of the characters you have
on the screen at anytime, as well as organizing your squad
however you see fit. You can also prompt two characters to
team up on one enemy in various ways. For instance, Colossus
and Wolverine used to do this move called the “fastball
special” where Colossus would throw Wolverine at an
enemy as hard as a fastball. That move can be pulled off in
this game, along with many others between two teammates.
The
game’s plot takes elements from past and present X-Men
stories and focuses on a storyline that dates back to the
X-Men’s first-ever appearance back in 1963: Magneto’s
dream of mutant dominance over the Earth. As the story progresses,
you’ll fight just about every major adversary the X-Men
have: Juggernaut, the Sentinels and Sabretooth are just a
few of many.
But
what obviously stands out here is the gameplay because it
seems like there’s something for everyone in this game.
The RPG aspects of X-Men Legends are largely overshadowed
by all the action, and since you rarely ever fight alone,
teamwork is naturally a major factor. Multiplayer options
allow you and three friends to take control of whichever four
characters you choose to use. This makes fighting a little
more cohesive since you can work out a gameplan for whatever
situation you face. For example, X-Men that are good at attacking
from a distance like Cyclops and Storm can complement close-quarters
combat teammates like Wolverine and Colossus.
However,
if you are going it alone and you have four characters to
worry about, you can adjust settings so that the AI will do
what I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as
refresh each character’s health once it has reached
a certain point. And by increasing skills and attributes over
time, you can enhance important powers like Wolverine’s
healing factor and Cyclop’s leadership. Taking some
time to understand what AI settings you can utilize with each
character will likely lead you to have more success.
X-Men
Legends is definitely the best X-Men video game ever released,
and the reasons are pretty clear. Fusing action and RPG elements
can sometimes backfire badly, and that may have indeed been
the case if this weren’t an X-Men title. But it turns
out that the action/RPG genre is probably best suited for
characters like the X-Men because they’re an action-packed
team that has been built for over 40 years on great storylines.
And when a game like this can also cater to gamers who may
be casual X-Men fans, there’s no question that it’s
worth playing.
|
Publisher:
Activision
Developer:
Raven Software
Platform:
Gamecube
Rating:
9/10
|
