Review of the PC release(though I believe they're all close to the same). I'd like to, but I haven't played the first one. This is a third-person action(meaning, not turn-based) role playing game(of which I've hardly played any, so bear with me for this), where you get to play as the X-Men. Apocalypse executes a plan to take over the world, and they reluctantly team up with The Brotherhood to take him to school. Me, I'm ecstatic that they chose to do so. Yes, it shows that they're willing to do what it takes. However, of considerably greater importance, we get to utilize their awesome powers, most of them fantastically realized, and usually working out excellently in this. You can throw enemies around(and without touching them if you use Telekinesis), pick up large objects, fly and even teleport, in this. The attack types span mêlée, radial, projectile, and various special ones. Then there are the abilities, and you're looking at a ton of stuff you can do(your opponents can do their share of nifty stuff, and that adds extra spark to beating them). There are 18 different familiar faces to play as, and each has roughly around ten skills(yup... that does make about 180 total), many of them unique. The game-play consists of you running around with a team of four(all of them chosen specifically by the player; and co-op multi-player is possible, as well, allowing up to 4 friends at the same time), fighting lackeys and doing basic adventure game stuff, like searching for, and using, items. Frankly, it can get kinda repetitive; it's clear that a lot of effort went into making that aspect fun(and it is), and thus they wound up with that being all you do. It is entertaining, and it doesn't run out of steam(actually, it may be a little short for this kind of VG) before you've completed this. The challenge of Boss battles(a couple of them creative and interesting) climbs at an uneven rate, with odd spikes up and, honestly, at times down. To its credit, this has a well-done and easy to get into control interface(well, it could do with more commands to issue), that is impossible to get lost in, and keeping it simple to keep track of stuff. The relatively dynamic camera does get in your way sometimes, so it's good that they made it so flexible, and the turning of it a mere press of the button away. Conversations with NPC's have the finesse of there being several versions of some of them, and bringing certain mutants along with you trigger them, and apart from that, they're plain(and you'll often find yourself hearing the exact same pieces of information a second time), with the lack of any impact of you choose to say rendering it entirely obvious that they're there solely for the purpose of delivering exposition. Your side of it will almost without exception be written, not spoken. They try(too hard, perhaps? It does arguably get to be excessive) to give us fans of the Marvel universe a real treat. You get to visit tons of locations(did someone say Savage Lands? What about Genosha?), face numerous famous foes(including Morlocks and Sentinels) in combat, and meet quite a few well-known characters. It's really a shame that last-mentioned mainly act as a sort of stationary library chapter, where you can just ask each of them who they are and what they can do, and regardless of what their relationship is with who you're running around as, they'll spill the beans as if they've been granted a vocal chord that very instant. Music is fitting and sets the mood well. Sound is in general well-done, if it can be limited. The voice acting is fine(and casting can be spot-on), and there are strong and convincing moments here and there, in spite of every single accent and dialect being hideously overdone. Dialog ranges somewhat, with many silly or otherwise poor ones(with that said, the majority of the taunts are well-done). This gets the personalities right, if they can be a tad exaggerated and one-note. The briefings are not really about explaining what you are to do(with that said, you're seldom uncertain what is expected of you to make progress), they're arranged cut-scenes that display interactions between the two groups(I suspect they could think of nowhere else to put them in this; heck, there are impeccable ones between them, when they aren't over the top). This has a well-done plot, with cool twists. Among the story-telling tools are utterly, righteously bad-ass fully animated cinematics, one for the end of every act and also an intro one. The mini-map is helpful enough, without taking away the mystery and fun of exploring. Levels can at times be linear and/or monotonous; on the plus side, you can largely go wherever you want(whether or not it really makes sense), provided you've already been there, or made it to that area. You get to visit nifty places, natural and science fiction ones, immediately recognizable ones and brand new ones. The graphics are well-done, with gorgeous design work, almost always well-done effects, and everything that moves is done in an appropriate style that has them looking like something out of, yup, a comic book. This uses a dependable physics engine, and you can destroy and affect a reasonable bit of the surrounding environment. AI is well-done, I've yet to see an ally go over a ledge. For the sake of re-playability, there are unlockables in this, such as concept art, training courses, comic covers, etc. You can see how many there are of the things, so you'll know if you have it all or not. This does appear to be rushed and unfinished, with shortcuts taken. There are also bugs and glitches, mainly smaller stuff. The stability could be better. There is mild violence, devoid of blood or gore in this, and language is infrequent and not beyond moderate. I recommend this to all fans of the source material. 8/10
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
(2005 Video Game)
That ancient, evil dude is in *bad* need of a serious smack-down
22 November 2009