X-Men Legends II - Rise of the Apocalypse (PS2)

(Marvel/Raven/Activision)

Always been a fan of the X-Men Marvel characters and yet to play a single game – I confess ignorance has been bliss.

I can’t always say that having good breeding and actually being able to play polo and eat cucumber sandwiches is synonymous. My point being that in some respects I wish I would have stuck with the love of the cartoons than be
fooled to think these sad facades could live up to their characters via PS2 game play.

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the almost arcade style role playing gaming offered here; almost like a tekken but with some interactive story-lines, some nice cut scenes and some homage paid to the great cartoon
genre in the form of stills and special bonus unlocks such as cartoon covers et al.  However when you get down to it, I think this is just another badged up RPG with the same follow the maze, watch your maps, engage characters who help you with clues, missions and the ubiquitous fight the ‘boss’. I could not see what was uniquely X-Men about it until I realised it was never possible with the current processing power of consoles right now. The beauty of X-Men has always been the characters, their sardonic, witty and factional banter,
costumesand unworldly dimensions, which never could translate out of a cut scene. This is the promise of things to come with PS3 I suppose, however to my detriment, my baggage always wanted them to be more than a posse of 4 characters at a time, going at it tekken style with combo moves courtesy of digit dexterity.

The actual characters almost appeared to be in the first stages of Parkinson’s with their short cycle repetitive movements when not in action – sure it cuts down on processing and gives the appearance of life, but surely not representing any I have seen of late, or that would escape their own scathing commentary on disabilities, should an X-Men been playing themselves.

OK so where do I start, the story line and objective, simply put, and I quote from the promo site itself, “A secret prophecy has fallen into Apocalypse’s diabolical hands. Unite the X-Men with their sworn enemy-the brotherhood-and liberate Earth from the ultimate tyranny”. So if that doesn’t get you in then thank god for Marvel’s collective effect on your memories which may grease
your palm when being parted with your hard earned cash.

To borrow from Charles Xavier himself “1,000s of lives depend on us and we must learn to work together”, and so it is that in order to win this game or move successfully you are advised to organise your posse of 4 into a complimenting unit. So if you have some insight into the special array of powers each character possesses then you are at an advantage at times to know which combination will work best when selecting a posse to play within the various challenges at hand – eg.  levitation powers vs teleporting through solids vs general mayhem/bullet proof style from the likes of Wolverine.

The characters generally do work together in that what you attack they follow suit, and when you apply your special power techniques they generally do likewise. Baring in mind they can also be set up to share your healing credits and accordingly your demise in battle – so sometimes it pays to be Wolverine like and selfish as hell.

My personal favourite is and always has been Wolverine (and Gambit for that matter but I did not play with as I wanted to gain as many powers with the one character as possible in my short time playing), and I particularly like his Bezerko move and his ability to just pick up objects and people to smash them (feel free to pick up people and smash them together to great effect if you are so inclined). So if you need a character to start with go for him and say Magneto for his levitating/flight powers (oh and symbolic uniting role between the two Mutant factions) – the rest you can just rotate around on as you see fit or got to a walkthrough site if you are as lame as me and get tips on your best combos.

Backtracking slightly to the game set up and play; the game generally takes the form of a mission briefing from Xavier, a review of your objectives via the Mission Computer (which you can review at any time when back at Sanctuary or their mission bases), as well as a number of characters either staged throughout the missions or at home base who can pass on relevant briefing information, tips, history etc.. to increase the immersion factor. The best thing I have to say for me was that the game is very helpful in nudging you along your path to your designated mission tasks, contact points and action points, even with some helpful “BIG ARROWS” in Boss stages – to the point where it is almost to gatewayed. It does redeem itself in some respects in that the missions are not strictly linear so you do have some flexibility using a map function to move back through different missions and objectives, which if you are at a loss or plain bored is a good option.

Other game features of interest are training simulations which you can collect via general game play, which you can visit back at home base and play independently of the missions. Also you have the ability to undertake Trivia
quizzes – so if you are a true X-Men buff and want to test your knowledge this can be highly beneficial as I understand it can unlock other powers for use in game play. You also can store your treasures collected on your missions or cash them in for power ups, which as the game progresses can be helpful.

The saving feature is helpful in that they generally appear close to the big action and can allow team changes, which as mentioned can be of use for assembling teams of special powers, potentially put to better use for the
mission specifics at hand.

My big grudge would have to be the camera angle – I found it very limiting at time – almost Metal Gear Solid like in that it tended to not offer a good enough perspective on what was at hand ie. attacking enemies. All I seemed to do was look at my head or battle the rotation to my front. I understand this is required when you have 4 players working together – but certainly limiting at times and could do with work.

The strangest thing was the unexplained action of say 1 character being able to levitate or teleport through a wall (which the other characters could not) – yet suddenly they all appear at that location unexplainably. Whilst I am
glad they followed it was some technical glitch I would have thought and someone needs to die as punishment.

In wrapping up, If you are new to X-Men then the game has a lot to offer in “historing you up” with lots of background on the Brotherhood and the X-Men and why they are at odds to be working together – so all is not lost on you kiddies.

If you love the genre of rpg/tekken style play then this is certainly worth a look-in; as for me I shall go back into hibernation until PS3 releases, when I know games like this will be given their true potential, in the form of
visually splendid characters in play and not via tastes thereof via cut-scenes.

Bring the cut-scenes on!

Rating 2/5

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