X-Men Legends

What might as well be the greatest X-Men game to date is also one of the greatest third party multiplayer games the Cube has to offer. X-Men Legends single player is a blast to play and playing the Co-Op with friends is even more entertaining.



There's no large campaign mode behind Legends, its more of an open ended hack and slash title with an intersting story. But instead of hacking and slashing in dungeons your summoning lightning and lasers in a modern world wrecked by destruction that looks much like present day earth - aside from the occasional 4 story robots and mutants roaming the streets. X-Men Legends unfolds throughout a variety of indoor and outdoor enviroments; you'll duke it out in freezing cold Canadian winters, New York style city blocks, you'll even go underground and battle evil in city sewers and caves.

The levels are also completely destructible for the most part, you can destroy and pick up barrels and other objects and you can also break through walls to advance to secret areas. Everything flows smoothly and controls well for the most part, the isometic camera angle can make battles awckward though - and when the screen is crowded with enemies you often end up mashing buttons because you can't see where you are. This can be fixed to an extent by changing the camera angle, but sometimes neither of the three angles can do any justice.

The interesting and interactive locales never fail to impress, and always have a resident boss or large army of enemies to overcome. For the most part you will battle enemies in groups of half a dozen, you'll occassionally run into tanks and other mechanized monsters guarded by flame throwing thugs and other tougher enemies. And at the climax of each environment there's always a boss battle going down, which involves team strategy when playing with friends or if your playing alone it requires one hell of a thumb to survive all the changes between characters you will need to pull off. Switching through your four X-Men creates variety in your attacks and combining your X-Men's powers is always more effective than sticking to one single person. You can not only combine powers of each X-Men, you can combine single characters moves to steam awesome combos. Storm can summon huge gusts of wind that throw barrels at her enemies then summoning lightning to burst those barrels into flames. Mixing each characters moves together can string some impressive combos and unleash devestating power.



The graphics are not the games selling point, but they get the job done. There are nice explosion effects and all of the X-Men look like their comic book counterpart. They also have interesting and nice looking super powers. For example Wolverine attacks with his claws and has a raging power slash as his special attack and he can also be picked up and thrown into enemies and heals without the aid of potions, and Storm can fly around summoning lightning from the heavens. Their powers are not only used for kicking butt, they also come into play when crossing through levels, for example IceMan may have to use his ice-blast to create a bridge over a canyon. The X-Men's mutant powers are put to use extremely well and its always fun to watch.

There a wealth of upgrades and powers to be bought from the experience and money you recieve from fallen enemies. Hardcore RPG fans will appreciate the depth that can be found in the customization options, while casual gamers can just as easily appreciate the simple interface and options.



There is also a training section called "The Danger Room" that offers players hours upon hours of no-worry battles. Its ultimately a training room used for honing your skills and gaining experience, but later on the levels and challenges become so interesting and demanding that this part of the game can somewhat overshadow the story aspect of Legends. Its great for newbies and experts; it offers simple tasks such as destroying barrels and more complex tasks like battling bosses over and over again. When you get stuck in the story mode you can always retreat to the Danger Room to gain needed experience and money.

Legends plays like the X-Men game we've all been waiting for. It also looks and sounds great, and is one hell of a blast when played with friends. Dedicated X-Men fans will find everything to love about Legends as its true to the series and packs incredible depth and replay value and there's alot of unlockable content to uncover (You can collect comics and explore character bios to name a few). Even if Role Playing games aren't your thing and X-Men seems as interesting as Teletubbies you should still check out Legends, its an incredible action game that should be enjoyed by anyone who likes games