Last
years X-Men Legends introduced players to an entirely
new way of bringing Marvel's merry mutants to the
videogame arena. XL bridged the gap between RPG style
character management with up to 4 player arcade style
action. Instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel,
Raven Software tweaked some of the areas lacking from
the original, included online multiplayer, messed
with the roster and created a story around Apocalypse,
a mutant so bad ass that the X-Men and their sworn
enemies The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants must form
an uneasy alliance to eradicate the threat. In short,
Raven did a lot of things right - they didn't mess
with success and that will please a lot of fans who
enjoyed their previous effort.
Since
the game starts all characters on a level playing
field, your roster of superpowered mutants both evil
and non-evil (or good, some might say) aren't exactly
what you'd call superpowered. While this might annoy
those who were expecting to load in a previous completed
save from XL, it's all in the name of good fun. A
big part of the appeal of XL2 is deciding which powers
to give characters, what teams of mutants or villains
to use in a given situation and of course unleashing
some awesome mutant powers. What's not to like, especially
now that you can kick it up a notch online with up
to four friends? Sorry GC owners but not only can
you NOT go online, but you're not even compensated.
The PC version managed to get three exclusive characters
to start with and they CAN go online. Ouch.
Anyone
who spent the 20 odd hours going through the last
game will know exactly what to expect. The levels
designs are intrinsically the same with players being
able to bust through walls, create bridges as long
as a character in the party has the ability, solve
environmental puzzles such as "There is a fire
blocking the way. Who should we use to put it out?
Sunfire or Iceman? Give me a moment, I know I can
figure this out..." Items are dropped along the
way and characters will level up the more they fight
either under your control or under the AI - the points
earned can either be distributed automatically or
manually and if you know anything about anything,
I would suggest doing it yourself. There are specific
areas where some mutants will thrive and the game
doesn't always put points into these areas for you.
Unfortunately this is one of the areas of the most
concern to me. Last year when playing XL it took me
awhile to learn how to navigate the games numerous
menu screens and stats options and this year was no
different. It was like I had relearn it all over again.
To be fair though, while it appears to be an overwhelming
amount of information, given time it will become second
nature.
Playing
the game all by your lonesome will involve having
the other 3 characters you're not currently playing
as (characters can be switched instantly at the touch
of the d-pad) controlled by the AI. Raven has once
again provided you the player with the utmost control
over the AI teammates. You can set how aggressive
they fight, when they heal etc. in the pause menu
where you can access the rest of the stats for each
character. As I mentioned those who don't like experience
management can set the game to distribute these points
automatically but you'll be missing the depth of the
game entirely. Take away the plethora of options at
your disposal and XL2 becomes a far less engaging
experience in my opinion.
Powering
up heroes and anti-heroes to incredible power levels
continuosly revives the game even when it begins to
settle into repetition. Unlocking new moves and discovering
exactly what character provides the most devastating
attack is all part of the charm. Personally if you
have Nightcrawler (yeah, go figure!) and Juggie on
one team and they're good to go, you won't have too
much of a problem taking down Apocalypse's Four Horsemen.
As an added bonus (and a great little easter egg)
Raven will reward players who mix their teams up with
a little imagination. Experiment with characters and
think hard about how some of them would be related
and you'll be tickled when it pays off.
Visually
the game hasn't seemingly improved much since the
last game. I wasn't a big fan of the blocky cell-shaded
characters and their mitten hands, but overhauling
the artistic design of the game wasn't exactly on
the menu since the last game sold like the dickens.
As they say in this business, if it ain't broke, don't
fix it and the visuals are solid. Raven added some
new characters (heroes and villains) to this years
game while removing some others that fans might be
a little verklempt over. Magda, the volcanic newbie
mutant chick from the last game is nowhere to be found
but she'll hardly be missed. Evil mutants like Toad,
Magneto, Deadpool and Juggernaut (Spyro and Sabretooth
are PC exclusives only) join the roster while Bishop,
Scarlet Witch, Gambit, Sunfire, round out the new
good guy additions. Sorry Beast fans, he's also relegated
to supporting character status. That's what happens
when you have too many big powerful dudes on one team.
Colossus and Juggernaut can certainly cover any raw
power the teams will require. You'll even be able
to unlock a surprisingly un-mutant hero to play with
once you beat the game....but that would be telling.
Voices
are provided at the expense of "over-the-top'o
meters" everywhere. If you own one and you leave
it on while playing XL2, you'll overload the poor
thing. Aside from Patrick Stewart who delivers his
lines with authority without leaping into pure caricature,
the other voice actors either sound like they're auditioning
for Saturday morning cartoons. Since it's comic book
subject matter we're dealing with, I'll let the overacting
go, but I will say that Sabretooth sure sounds like
he's surpressing a thick Scottish accent at times.
The
online and four player co-op modes are welcome additions
and I can see gamers getting a lot of them especially
if they're playing the Xbox or PC versions. The PS2
version is rife with loading screens in the online
mode. Unfortunately however, the Xbox version suffers
from a serious crashing bug which the Activision tech
support couldn't help me with beyond "Can you
get another copy of the game, sir?". Uh, no.
Your PR company sent me this one. After some online
investigating to see if I was the only one experiencing
this troublesome problem, I discovered that unfortunately
I was not and the problem was confined to the Xbox
version. From one persons explanation, the Xbox suffers
from needing to take a RAM dump which if too much
info such as levels loaded, collectibles etc are in
RAM, the game will freeze up. And it will continue
to do so. The person seemed to know what he was talking
about as he provided a necessary fix that actually
cleared up the problem. You will need to rid your
inventory (for each character) of useless items that
you pick up and will never use. Keep the rare items
but rid yourself of the ones you tend to see time
and time again. This should alleviate the crashing
and freezing which tends to occur in the New York
levels for some reason.
Promising
at least 20 hours plus gameplay (not including the
multiplayer facets) is nothing to sneeze at. X-Men
Legends 2 isn't miles away from the original which
will please fans of the first game undoubtedly. Extra
costumes and more playable characters as well as three
difficulty levels will ensure subsequent playthroughs
are equally as entertaining. XL2 is a solid, well
put together game that is sure to have mutant-lovers
everywhere firing up their favorite system in a bid
to save the world.
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Preview
By Gooseberry
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Activision
released some screens for X-Men Legends 2: Rise of
Apocalypse and lots of new details.
As
the title suggests, Apocalypse comes out of hiding
and strikes at both the X-Men and the Brotherhood
of Mutants, who discover that they have to work together
to defeat this threat. Similar to the original Legends
title, up to 4 players can pick from a roster of 16
mutants. Every level allows for four-player fun rather
than people wait while the leader fights through a
one-player mission.
Characters
announced so far include: Magneto, Wolverine, Storm,
Cyclops, Bishop, Juggernaut and Nightcrawler. Sabretooth,
Mystique and Toad can be seen in intro. Each mutant
has also had the amount of available active powers
doubled. There have been some changes to avoid overlapping
powers between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Nightcrawler,
for example, now fights with two swords. With the
addition of the Brotherhood mutants, many more combos
are now possible.
Some
mission locales have been revealed, like Genosha,
the Savage Lands, the temples of Madripoor, and Egypt.
Players can also return to the HQ at any time, there
will be more than one throughout the game, rather
than having to run through already completed levels.
The
big revelation of the Legends sequel is the addition
of four-player online support for PC, PlayStation
2, and Xbox. GameCube users, while not online, will
still be able to duke it out with a four-player split
screen mode. Both the Xbox and PS2 support this, as
well.
Features:
- From
hated foes to united force: Experience the amazing
saga of X-Men and Brotherhood rivals bonded by a
common enemy. Create, customize and control a punishing
team of 4 powerful Mutants, selecting from 16 playable
characters -- many playable for the first time.
Choose from your favorite X-Men character -- including
Wolverine, Bishop, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Storm
-- and Brotherhood Mutants -- such as Magneto, Toad
and Juggernaut. Instantly switch between team members
mid-fight to take full advantage of their unique
abilities. Combine their powers for even more bruising
combo attacks.
- Unique
superpowers and customization capabilities:
Each of the 16 playable characters has 10 individualized
superpowers at your command, including awesome fighting,
melee or ranged attacks and devastating extreme
powers. Instantly upgrade and customize your characters'
levels and powers on-the-fly with just the touch
of a button so you never have to leave the action.
Empower your character with a huge array of completely
unique equipment items. Switch costumes between
Ultimate, Astonishing and other styles.
- Upgrade
attributes such as Strike, Ability and Focus:
Intense online and offline multiplayer action --
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse's online multiplayer
enables up to 4 players to engage in an exciting
story-based co-op mode and enjoy exclusive online
content. Both online and traditional offline multiplayer
modes feature dynamic joining that lets your friends
jump into the action at any time. 6 multiplayer
skirmish modes offer head-to-head "versus"
action, side-by-side battles against enemies and
more.
- Open-ended
storyline and choices: Immerse yourself in an
all new, flexible storyline with compelling gameplay
and theatrical-quality FMV created by Academy Award
nominee Blur Studios. Take advantage of over 70
free-roaming zones to regroup, begin new missions,
complete unfinished missions, gather information
and stock up on equipment. Get creative using your
super powers to solve challenging puzzles. Every
time you turn a corner, unexpected surprises keep
you on the edge. In addition, new difficulty settings
allow you to play at your skill level. As you improve,
revisit levels using tougher difficulty settings
for increased replayability.
- Amazing
array of enemies and environments: Demolish
over 100 different types of enemies, from hordes
of Apocalypse's henchmen to Lady Deathstrike and
Apocalypse's 4 Horsemen. Fully destructible locales
are more expansive, requiring even more exploration
and containing many hidden items to uncover. Visit
X-Men locales like the Weapon X facility and the
Infinite Factory plus intriguing spots around the
globe such as Egypt and the South Pole. Everywhere
you go, discover hidden equipment and paths.
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For Media
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System:
PS2, X, GC, PC
Dev: Raven
Pub: Activision
Release: Sept 2005
Players: 1 - 4
Review By Vaughn |
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RATING
(OUT OF 5)
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OVERALL |
4.0
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GRAPHICS |
4.0
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CONTROL |
4.0
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MUSIC/FX |
3.5
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VALUE |
4.0
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