by: Dakota Grabowski

October 30, 2005

In terms of gameplay, it remains the same and nothing has drastically changed. There are four characters per team with the user only controlling one at a time. Changing characters is simple with the use of the D-Pad and won’t cause any frustrations if you have played the first. Your computer A.I. will usually be of great aide to have around due to that Raven Software didn’t make them sissies to team up.

The leveling up is simplified for beginners and for the lazy. You can have Auto-Level set for those who don’t like taking their time to level up the characters. It may be useful due to that your characters level up fast and often. I usually level up all my own characters for complete control on how they will end up in the end of the game for my boss battles. Also you’ll be able to manage your team better with changing the way the A.I. uses items, how the attack and assist you.

The graphics are a little better then the original but I feel they are still behind in this generation’s graphics. They don’t match up that great to other games in the same genre (Action-RPG). The cel-shaded look is nice to have but doesn’t catch my interest for more then thirty minutes. The environments have had work done to make it feel like more an X-Men game rather then a dungeon crawler. The camera though sadly is still lacking on the technical side. It became extremely hard to navigate at times and not fall off the levels (sometimes I jumped off assuming I could fly but the camera caught me off guard).

I am sure most are reading the review to read about the online play. Online you can creating your own game or if you are once again too lazy, just join a pre-made one. The most popular online mode is the co-op of course but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others that may grab your attention. If you made it to a certain point in the game, you can finally jump online and fight one-on-one with a human opponent. Whatever the case you wanted online for, it is sure to be there since both head-to-head matches and co-op games are available.

The sound department does pack some heat with its punch. Patrick Stewart (Professor X in the movies) is on board delivering the voice for Xavier in the game. The dialogue is decent but the cut-scenes tend to become repetitive. Usually Professor X stands in the middle as two Brotherhood mutants stand to one side and two X-Men stand on the other. Usually one of the Brotherhood mutants teases an X-Man and the other X-man stands up for his fellow mutant until Xavier steps in to make sure they are all on the same page. Each cut-scene (mission briefings are the ones I am speaking about) is predictable and they use the same format for each one. The soundtrack isn’t what I come to expect from X-Men but does its job to at least add to the game and not detract.

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I still miss some of my favorite X-men that appeared in the original such as Emma Frost, Psylocke and Beast. Though their loss isn’t one that is sorely missed, I’d love to have seen Raven round out the roster with at least an even twenty mutants and have a few more unlockable rather then give the gamers everything right off the bat. Gameplay pretty much remains the same but the presentation is ten times better. Not a dramatic improvement overall though, but if you are a fan of the series (X-men that is), RPGs, or just need a new game for the Xbox (not too many currently releasing that are ‘AAA’), I suggest you pick up X-Men Legends II.

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