by:	September 30, 2004

It’s been quite awhile since Marvel’s X-Men were featured in a videogame that was actually fun to play. Aside from starring in Capcom’s outstanding 2-d fighting games from time to time, you’d have to go back 12 years to X-Men: The Arcade Game to find an enjoyable game centered on Xavier’s band of mutants. So it’s no wonder gamers and comic fans alike became excited last year when Activision announced that they were bringing a huge roster of characters from the X-Men comics together to cooperate with each other in a team-based RPG a la Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. The thoughts of choosing from all our favorite X-Men to build a team of four heroes with which to do battle has been enticing the minds of gamers for quite awhile now. Countless changes and some cel-shading later, the game has finally arrived to back up Fable in the ushering in of the fourth quarter feeding frenzy that the game industry is known for each and every year. What’s resulted is a solid action-RPG that puts you in control of some of the coolest comic characters ever created and wraps you in an engaging storyline, as well. Still interested? Read on to find out exactly how the X-Men fare in their latest outing.

The storyline in X-Men: Legends revolves around a relatively new character named Alison Crestmere, otherwise known as Magma, who first appeared in the New Mutants comics. The game begins with Wolverine and the X-Men thwarting her kidnapping attempt by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led in Magneto’s absence by the shape shifter Mystique. After convincing the confused girl to enroll at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to learn how to control her newfound powers, the X-Men begin their investigation to uncover just what use the Brotherhood had intended for the girl. It doesn’t take long before they learn that the Brotherhood has something terrible planned, and Alison’s attempted kidnapping soon escalates into a battle to save humanity. Though some may be disappointed by the decision to design the game in the style of the Ultimate X-Men comics rather than the well-known costumes from the Jim Lee era and the animated series, the game makes excellent use of the license and remains mostly true to the comics, so fans will find a lot to enjoy here.

X-Men: Legends is an action-RPG in the style of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance or the recent Gauntlet games, so anybody who’s familiar with the genre will be able to jump right in. Though character development and stat management involve a bit of number-crunching like most RPGs, gameplay usually revolves around exploring areas and beating up countless waves of enemies. The game is divided into missions that vary in length, with some taking hours to complete. Each mission allows you to build a team of up to four X-Men, including favorites like Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Gray, Beast, Iceman, Rogue, Nightcrawler, Jubilee, Gambit, Psylocke, Colossus and Emma Frost. Not all characters are available from the start, however. You’ll actually begin the game as Wolverine alone, and the game introduces a few playable characters at a time from then on. This allows you to experiment with new characters at your own pace to become acclimated with the team that’s right for you, which is actually one of the game’s coolest features. Having such a huge roster of heroes available to choose from is a dream come true for comic fans, and there’s no doubt that fans will enjoy experimenting with their teams to find the perfect combination. You’ll be able to switch between characters on the fly using the d-pad, as well, which gives you plenty of variety in choosing how to tackle any situation. The game also makes use of a well-built multiplayer component. Connecting additional controllers during play allows up to four people to play simultaneously, and if a controller is removed that character simply returns to being A.I. controlled. There’s even a battle mode that allows you to take any of the game’s heroes, villains or simple henchman and pit them against each other, though this mode feels a little tacked on. It’s always nice to have a good single-player game that you don’t have to stop playing when a friend shows up, though.

Combat in X-Men: Legends is simple to pick up while offering just enough variety to remain fun. There are two attack buttons to choose from, and a number of special combos that result from stringing attacks together in different ways. There’re combos that trip, stun and pop your enemies up into the air, as well as an especially long and powerful one that can take down enemies in a hurry when you have the chance to use it. In addition to their melee skills, each X-man has four character specific mutant abilities that can be used to deal large amounts of damage to their foes. In general, each character has two attack abilities and one that boosts their attributes for a short period of time, as well as one particularly damaging super skill that can be learned once you reach level 15. Combining special attacks from certain characters can produce combos that damage enemies even more than the powers themselves. In addition to the attack combos, the x-button can be used to pick up enemies and throw them into surroundings objects or other enemies, and heroes that possess inhuman strength can hurl large objects into their foes from afar. It’s important to choose your characters wisely and take on enemies using a bit of strategy, since most enemies are resistant to specific types of attacks. For instance, psionic attacks are useless against sentinels, so you’ll need to have someone along who can pummel them into bits, like Wolverine or Beast. Overall, combat is simple and becomes repetitive before long, but the beloved characters and license somehow manage to keep it afloat throughout the duration. X-Men: Legends is the perfect example of a great license making all the difference.

As in any “dungeon crawler,” exploration also plays a key role in gameplay. Each mission drops your team of X-Men into an environment filled with enemies and tasks you with specific objectives to complete. The location of these objectives shows up on the on-screen mini-map, so getting there is pretty straightforward. Whatever the objective, though, be it rescuing a companion in danger or infiltrating an enemy installation, completing that objective is usually the result of fighting your way through waves of enemies to get there and simply pressing the x-button to interact with your objective when you reach its location. As you defeat enemies or complete objectives you gain experience points and gain levels along the way. Each new level grants your hero points that can be used to upgrade his/her skills, which govern their melee damage, defense, focus energy (the game’s term for magic power) and total health. Characters can also wear a few pieces of equipment that grant bonuses to certain attributes. In addition to the core skills, each hero has passive upgrades that can be learned and upgraded as well. Wolverine’s health regeneration makes him a prime choice for a leading combat hero, while Rogue or Storm’s flying ability allows them to reach otherwise inaccessible areas that may contain hidden items or unlockables. These nuances make each character unique, which goes a long way in adding replay value. Some environments may contain areas where certain characters can make all the difference, and having the right people along can drastically reduce the challenge. Need to get to the other side of that gaping chasm? Have Iceman extend a bridge of ice so your team can move across. Don’t worry, though—you can swap out X-Men at save points which are scattered liberally throughout your mission, so you’ll be able to adjust should you find yourself in a situation that requires someone you didn’t bring along.