X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse Review

I can't say I was ever a fan of Marvel's X-Men comics. What little interest I had for the franchise kept me from seeing the X-Men Hollywood movies, and held true right up until I played the first X-Men Legends game on the Xbox. I was somewhat encouraged by the positive review from our very own Vince "Moesha" Massa and I thought I'd try it. I ended up liking the game, and as these things go, I went back and saw the movies, read a few comics, etc. I'm still not a huge fan of the universe itself, but I must say that I *am* a fan of the games.

I could've at least let me keep my pants, X-Men bastards!

Cyclops has a mean left jab.

Having played the first game, I think I have some insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the sequel. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is a story-driven action RPG experience, taking you deeper into the intricate world of mutants and the men, beasts and well, other mutants trying to get in their way.

To defeat the greatest evil, the X-Men will join forces with their greatest enemy. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse tells a tale of an uneasy alliance between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in a fight to reclaim Earth from Apocalypse's grasp. So who is Apocalypse? For the uninitiated, Apocalypse is the world's first and oldest mutant. He's the big boss, and is served by the aptly named Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are searching for very special mutants with specifically mutated DNA strings in order to achieve their grand schemes. They have laid waste to the X-Men base and taken Magneto's son, Quicksilver, captive and now it's up to the X-Men and The Brotherhood to join forces in a fight against the greatest threat to our planet. Apocalypse believes in the survival of the fittest. So who will be the last mutant standing?

As was the case in the previous X-Men title, the story is backed up by a marvelous display of voice acting (some of the best I've heard in a while) and effective cut-scenes, making the linear romps through the levels purposeful if you will. The game itself is divided into five chapters. The X-Men and The Brotherhood will travel all over the place as they first fight the Horsemen and then the big, bad boss of all bosses.

The sequel is the fist game to make its way onto the PC platform. Clearly, this one is tailored for the gamepad, and having to play it by using your keyboard and the mouse for clicking on stuff is very awkward and simply not effective. Instead, I recommend using the WASD setup in combination with the Numpad keys. Using the keyboard solely for playing X-Men 2 is more effective than using your mouse - If you play the PC version, take your hands off the mouse, and slowly back away. It takes a little while to get used to, but you'll soon get accustomed to it and then the action will flow smoothly. This wasn't the greatest porting job I've ever seen, meaning that the camera won't follow the action as it should at all times, and there's an odd glitch with the keyboard - really weird keyboard lag when browsing through the option screens and the team management screen. It gets really irritating after a while.

As far as the RPG aspect of the sequel is concerned, it has been expanded with more stats, a bunch of gear that you can now pick up (even the rare stuff, unique to specific characters), many new skills, and of course the very fact that you can now play with a great number of characters from The Brotherhood. (Not to mention that the game introduces some all-new mutants into the fray.) One very tangible improvement over the original game is the ability to go back to the base at any time during the missions by using the portal created by one of the mutants, Blink. This is a VERY useful feature, as it makes saves work like a cross between the console-like checkpoint system and the ability to quick save at will, as if you would in any inherently PC title. This is also good because you can restock on pots, skills and gear during the missions, in case things don't go as planned. In addition, the ability to go back and forth between areas does create an illusion of not being led on rails through linear levels the entire time... if merely an illusion.

Gameplay-wise, Raven has done a superb job of increasing the difficulty and making the game progressively more challenging so that that very aspect will get you hooked on it. Combine that with a great story that has a genuine comic book feel to it, and X-Men 2: Legends becomes an addictive gaming experience.

Our heroes stand defiant.

You need to level up, Wolverine!

The boss fights have been upgraded too, in the sense that they've been divided into sub-chapters if you will. It'll take you several or more battle sequences to defeat the main bosses, which gives you a sense of greater accomplishment once their limp carcasses are lying beneath your mutated feet. (If you have mutated feet, do you get mutated toe cheese? - Ed.) (You're a frightening individual. - 2Lions) In addition to the variety of enemies that the game will throw at you, your team will get to muse itself with a number of mini-bosses, some of which will all but wipe your entire team. This for me was a great experience, as I would often defeat a mini-boss with just one character left and with just enough health on him to call for a portal extraction. There's something truly satisfying about hanging on to the skin of your teeth and still winning the day, and that is another testament to the amount of playtesting that went into the sequel.

Where you could say that Raven went wrong is the dumbing-down of the puzzle elements, and the inconsistent quality of the level design, both visually and conceptually. While the gameplay is still great and engaging because of the way that you use your team's special abilities to overcome challenging combat sequences, the rather uninspired level design takes some of the fun out of it. On the bright side, the level design is not as bad as to significantly thwart the gameplay experience, so stop narrowing your eyebrows and shaking your head like that!