X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse Review

As somebody who grew up reading Marvel Comics, the X-Men, to me, are the ultimate team of superheroes and the ultimate expression of the superhero genre. The games that have been released in the past few years featuring superheroes were less than super however; in fact the number of games released for the PC featuring Marvel superheroes has been even less impressive.

When the folks at Raven and Activision released X-Men Legends last year, it marked the first decent action game featuring the X-Men since the days of the arcade games. Legends utilized an action-rpg formula and featured hours of button-mashing, destructible environments and famous villains from your favorite Marvel comics. The story--while interesting--was not as engaging as I would have liked, but for the first game of its type, it was easily one of the best superhero video games ever released. Where else could you have a team with Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus and the rest of the X-Men on the screen at one time fighting some of the best villains the Marvel Universe provides?

Earlier this year, I reviewed the movie tie-in game for the Fantastic 4 . Fantastic 4 was a game that also featured a team of four superheroes on-screen at one time featuring all the button mashing and combos one could ask for. Fantastic 4 also borrowed from X-Men Legends , featuring areas where your characters' powers are necessary for making it past some of the environmental puzzles. While I enjoyed Fantastic 4 , I always felt that it could not quite capture the magic of the Legends series. So, the major question remaining would be: Is X-Men Legends 2 better than the first game? Perhaps a better question is whether or not the game is even playable on the PC platform.

The evil genius Apocalypse has resurfaced from parts unknown and has kidnapped Professor X. The forces that Apocalypse has raised are too much for the X-Men to handle by themselves, and to handle the challenge they will need allies. For the first time, both the X-Men and Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants find themselves facing the same foe. Only by working together can they hope to stop the vast armies of Apocalypse and his mighty Four Horsemen. It will be up to you, utilizing a team comprised of the some of the most powerful mutants on the planet to stop Apocalypse before he succeeds at last in conquering the planet.

Gameplay

Utilizing my Logitech Wireless gamepad, I found this game to be surprisingly similar to the X-Box version of Legends that I played last year. In fact, despite mouse and keyboard accessibility, this game is simply easier to play with the gamepad and my review will assume that like me, you will choose to use a gamepad for play. Once you choose to use the gamepad, be careful to properly map the controls using the very-easy-to-manage control options. For me, the only downside to the controller was learning which button was which. Failure to learn the controls could cause you to make some critical blunders in-game; so be warned. It also bears noting that there are a number of easy to use hotkeys in the game for those who choose to use the mouse and keyboard, so people who like tweaking the controls should be pleased with what they find.

X-Men Legends 2 is an action-rpg played in the third-person isolinear perspective made famous by the Baldur's Gate series of games (although this game is really more like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance meets the X-Men.) If you liked games like Fallout: Brotherhood of the Blade , Dark Alliance 1 and 2 or Dungeons and Dragons Heroes , then you will find this game easy to get into and subsequently master.

In the single player game, you will control a four person team, which will essentially break down to actively controlling one character and having the other three operate under the AI. The AI has tweak-able options allowing you to dictate when your fellow teammates use healing potions and even what type of special attack they will use. There is also the option of determining how aggressive or defensive they'll fight while around you. You can also call your allies to help you by pressing the “C” button, which stands simply for "call allies." All of this serves to help you make use of your entire team, while still focusing on the character that you are currently using. Also, simply hitting one key allows you to switch characters without delay, allowing you to ensure you always have the right mutant for the right occasion.

In X-Men Legends 2 , nearly everything on the screen throughout the game is destructible--from the walls, to the statues, to the very doors and tables you encounter throughout your journey. Typically, you will find the two most crucial items in the game--the health and energy potions--in chests and canisters that you will encounter. The potions work as you would expect, the health keeping your character alive, and the energy potions providing you with the energy needed to power your mutant abilities. This is also how you find extreme power pieces and the tech bits needed for purchasing training and items back at your camp.

Each mutant that you are capable of playing with features a variety of special skills. These skills range from the ferocious claw swipes of Wolverine, to the flying of Magneto, to the energy blasts of Cyclops. The skills themselves fit into a number of categories including actual strikes, your radial abilities (I will explain in a moment), your boost abilities and your passive abilities. Some characters, like Wolverine, also have defensive abilities which can enable you to actually block an enemy attack. As you gain levels, you gain skill points.

These skill points are then used to increase your arsenal of destruction. The allocation of your points is somewhat tactical and it's important that you use the points where they will help develop your character the best. For instance, Wolverine (the character I used for easily 95% of the game) is a melee attacking machine. For his skills, I kept pumping the skill points into his melee attacks and radial attacks. For Magneto, I pumped points into his levitate ability--which was often used to create bridges for my team as well as interact with the environment in certain levels. The proper application of skills and AI options can make X-Men Legends 2 a very easy or very difficult game.

"The proper application of skills and AI options can make X-Men Legends 2 a very easy or very difficult game."

The other thing that happens as you gain levels is that you are provided with four points which can be pumped into your character's stats. You will be faced with deciding on where to properly upgrade your character, whether it be putting the points into body (health), focus (your mutant powers), strike (your melee damage) or speed (defense). Each time you gain a new level, you will be faced with making these decisions. Although, if you are only interested in the character you are personally controlling, you do have the option of allowing your teammates to automatically level up and allocate their points themselves. Be warned that allowing the computer to make this call can result in some odd skills chosen as well as questionable stat choices.

Your radial abilities are your Extreme Powers. Essentially every 5 levels or so, you gain the ability to utilize your Extreme Powers. These powers are all very potent and can only be used once you find four Extreme Tokens hidden in many of the same places you find your potions. These Extreme Powers are often very useful for clearing a screen of enemies when you are overwhelmed. Of particular note, Nightcrawler's Extreme Power allows him to go on a mass teleport spree, attacking foes all across the screen. Not all of these abilities are offensive attacks, so it is strongly advised you take the time to read the descriptions of all of the available abilities, at least for those on your active team.

You will also find yourself coming across mass amounts of items in the game. Each character may make use of three different types of armor. As you progress, you will find items unique to certain mutants, as well as items which convey various bonuses or damage resistances to whoever equips the item. Should you find yourself unable to carry any more items, simply head back to your camp and either sell your excess equipment or stash it in an aptly named Hero's stash for later use.

The ability to save in this game is somewhat similar to that used in the games mentioned earlier. For starters, you have the ability to open a portal which allows you to travel back to your camp to make purchases or simply save the game. These portals, called Blink portals (named after the mutant Blink who assists you by creating the portals) have a lag attached which prevents you from using them at all times. You will also find certain levels, particularly right before boss battles, where you are unable to open these portals. Scattered throughout the levels are various extraction points, which are also very helpful. Extraction points provide you with a few options, including the ability to save the game. You are also able to teleport back to your camp or any other extraction point which you have activated in your travels. The extraction point is also the place that you recover fallen comrades or change team members. Later in the game, the extraction point is also where you are able to change the skins for your characters, a very nice addition which allowed me to use the 1980's style Wolverine.

The combat in X-Men Legends 2 is both easy and complex at the same time. While a certain amount of button mashing is inevitable, you are still required to learn and use various types of combos with your standard attacks. Certain enemies you face will have conditions necessary for defeating them and only with a proper understanding of combos will you be able to defeat them. For instance, certain enemies found in Act 3 can only be defeated by hitting a somewhat tricky four button combo. Learning to use a proper balance of your powers is crucial to defeating your foes. Paying attention to the enemy's display is also important as often it shows you what types of abilities or weaknesses your foes possess. There are also various combinations which can be enacted by using certain abilities together, many of these activated by using the call allies key and then using an ability while they use their own powers.

There are various hidden items throughout this game, from homing beacons which help you unlock Iron Man as a playable character, to data disks which raise the number of potions your character can carry in-game. Many of these items can only be accessed using the special powers of certain characters. Whether it be the ability to fly across a chasm, create a bridge or drain energy to bypass an obstacle, only certain mutants with specific powers can help. I strongly recommend using a melee fighter like Wolverine, a brawler like Colossus, a flyer with varied abilities such as Magneto and finally a long range fighter like Cyclops or Bishop to assemble the most diverse party possible. Should you discover a character that you have been using is not working out, simply go to an extraction point and change them out. As you gain in levels, so will the characters that you aren't using, although not at the same progression as those actively in your party.

Finally, as in the previous Legends game, you will find the trivia game, the Danger Room as well as the hidden comic book covers and concept art. The trivia game is featured in the various acts of the game and allows you to test your knowledge of the X-Men universe by answering various trivia questions. This part isn't mandatory but it was fun to see how much I remembered about the X-Men. For those who know nothing about the X-Men, nearly all of the answers can be unveiled within the game so pay close attention to the dialogue. The Danger Room is back as well and very similar to its console counterpart from last year. The Danger Room is where your team trains and learns to use the various combinations in the game. This is the closest you will find to an in-game tutorial and many of these training scenarios are very difficult to successfully complete. Still, if you find all of the Danger Room disks and pass all of the scenarios, you will be able to unlock Professor X as a playable character. You are also able to unlock Deadpool as a playable character by defeating the game.

Graphics

Fortunately the PC version of X-Men Legends 2 features the best graphics of all the available versions. I was able to tweak the graphics and add anti-aliasing as well as play at a 1280 resolution which made the cel-shaded graphics that much tighter. The game makes use of the Alchemy game engine from Vicarious Visions and is the same as the one used in the original game.

For having sometimes dozens and dozens of enemies and characters on-screen at one time, I never noticed any appreciable slowing. The character models were very attractive and each featured at least three different skins--although characters like Wolverine had more than three to choose from. Each level has at least three different types of enemies and then each enemy has a little bit of variety included. In fact, there are easily two- to three-dozen different types of enemies you will face, ranging from Sentinels to giant insects and all are very well drawn and textured. The mutant powers your character uses are also very well done and range from laser blasts to wicked, lightning fast claw strikes. Another thing worth mentioning is that the sheer level of destructible environments located throughout the game. This game contains more explosions than any game I can remember playing in recent history and for the most part they are all beautifully rendered here.

"This game contains more explosions than any game I can remember playing in recent history ..."

My only complaint regarding the graphics is a fairly common complaint amongst the PC ports of consoles games that I have played, that being the cut scenes. While the cut scenes are certainly well-drawn and engaging to watch, they clearly were designed for the console versions of Legends and this somewhat lowered my enjoyment of them. For a PC version of the game itself to be better looking than the consoles, one would think it would be a simple matter to upgrade the cut scenes. So to all multiplatform game makers out there: please spare us--the gamers--from grainy, low grade cut scenes.

Sound

As could be expected, the sounds and effects for the PC version are also somewhat better than their console counterparts. There is just a lot to be said for playing a game in stereo and surround sound and hearing all of the destruction that you wreak in-game. Yet again my neighbors probably wondered what I was doing for all the hours I poured into this experience.

"Yet again my neighbors probably wondered what I was doing for all the hours I poured into this experience."

Really, X-Men Legends 2 is a good example of the proper setup that all games should have. They have diverse, yet interesting sounds incorporated with everything your characters do: from dozens of different explosion sounds, to your characters making funny comments when you stay idle for too long, you will see expert use of sound effects and voice work.

The voice acting in this game was spot-on and for the most part done exactly as I had hoped it would be--particularly during the mission briefings, where you got to see the Brotherhood and X-Men characters interacting and struggling with their alliance. Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor X and the very versatile Jennifer Hale and Steve Blum once again do video game voice-overs. The amount of humor injected in this game is also appreciable, especially given how it helps bring out the inside jokes that only devoted X-Men fans could pick up. For the most part, all of the characters were voiced properly and it all helped make this an enjoyable auditory, if rather loud, experience.

Multiplayer

When X-Men Legends was first released, everybody had one complaint: they wanted online cooperative multiplayer. Well, the folks at Raven listened and as a result this game features the ability to play through and save the campaign mode. You will also have the ability to unlock the Danger room mode, where up to 2-4 players can battle it out with their characters in a battle royal. While fun, the Danger Room Mode feels like it was added just to have a different mode to online play.

The true game comes in the form of online cooperative play, easily one of the best things about modern gaming technology. Still, one problem I faced with online play was finding people to group with. Quite often, in the middle of a campaign mission, we would have one or even two players simply drop out of the game. This game is not so easy that you can play it by yourself and this made playing online frustrating. I discovered unbelievably unplayable lag whenever I tried to create a game, due in no small part to my very high graphic options. Still, when I joined another person's game, I was able to play with relatively low lag and it made for a fun experience. The true power of this mode is when you can connect with your friends and play online. I was able to log on and play with my friends in Chicago and this definitely made for a much more enjoyable online experience.

Replay Value

The single player campaign mode is made up of around 20 hours of gameplay, assuming that you more or less play it through without extensive exploration. However, given the sheer number of unlockable content and extras, this game will likely take around 45 hours to unlock everything.

The game is played in five acts and features numerous mini-bosses throughout the levels, as well as one major enemy battle at the end of each act. The best part of these major battles is that you are often forced to solve puzzles or manipulate the environment in order to defeat these bosses, which means no simple hack and slash solution to the main enemies.

The other, less quantifiable variable for the game is that there are simply too many choices for your party composition. I made it through on my first try using only Wolverine, Magneto, Colossus and Bishop. With 20 characters, I realized that I would simply have to play through the game a second time in order to better experience the diverse characters available. There are also a few different difficulty levels to choose from, I played through with the Normal difficulty and still managed to die dozens of times.

Conclusion

X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (ROA) is a unique game to review. I played X-Men Legends on my X-Box, but they never released a PC version of Legends . While this means that Legends 2 is a sequel, I have nothing to compare it to on this platform. Still, I cannot help but compare the game to the original, at least a little bit.

For starters, the storyline for ROA was simply a much better storyline that that used in the first game. While I enjoy Magneto, I definitely enjoy playing as him more than fighting against him. The ability to use the villains of the X-Men universe was a brilliant stroke to include in ROA . I remember playing through Legends and thinking how cool it would have been to use Sabertooth instead of fighting against him. This diversity of playable characters made the experience much better than the first game. The use of Apocalypse as the primary villain was also a brilliant touch as Apocalypse is easily one of the best and most powerful X-Men villains ever conceived. With the proper villain, the idea of saving the world becomes that much more real and it helps keep the story rolling.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, I am a huge X-Men fan and have more or less followed the team since I was a child. Any chance to actually enter the game myself and control these heroes is a welcome one and I was glad to have the opportunity.

X-Men Legends 2 is easily better than the original game in nearly every category. In fact, it may be the best X-Men game ever created, beating out the previous four-player Arcade game that I spent hundreds of dollars playing as a child. I definitely recommend this game to fans of the action and action-rpg genres. However, if you are only a lukewarm fan of action games (which feature sometimes repetitive objectives and gameplay) than this may not be the game for you. Once again I am pleased to both play and review a PC version of a console game that is just as good, if not superior.

"In fact, it may be the best X-Men game ever created, beating out the previous four-player Arcade game..."

Key High Points

- Epic storyline spanning five acts and featuring classic villains

- Loads of unlockable content and playable characters

- Excellent graphics and sound effects/score

Key Low Points

- Some repetitive gameplay components/objectives

- Sometimes the AI controlled teammates simply don't help out

- Cut scenes are grainy and not polished