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X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Review
Jon Wilcox
17/10/2005
TVG makes a legendary return to those uncanny X-Men in this action-RPG follow-up...
Imagine this: it's 2010 and a new 'History of Videogames' is released charting the highs and lows of the industry over the years, and looking at some of the titles that had been released over the previous 'thirty-five' years of gaming. Skip ahead past the Mario phenomenon but before the disappointment of Halo 3 on Xbox 360 and you'd come to 2005: The Year of Marvel. Though the comic book giant had seen some of it's more popular franchises appear on videogames over the years, this year must be some kind of record for Stan Lee and his superhero creations. From Ultimate Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and the Incredible Hulk to the second part of Activision's X-Men Legends franchise, Rise of Apocalypse, the company seems to have been enjoying a bumper year of videogame adaptations, a reflection perhaps of the superhero resurgence on the silver screen.
Last year saw the release of the first part in the X-Men Legends franchise, which has now become the most successful in the series of X-Men titles. This time the story takes place on the Island of Genosha, formerly run by X-Men nemesis Magneto and his group, the Brotherhood of Mutants. After the capture of X-Men supreme Charles "Professor X" Xavier, and the subsequent rescue from a united alliance between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, we learn that Apocalypse -a five thousand year old mutant - and his own band of cronies have overrun Genosha. Continuing with an uneasy alliance to overthrow the malevolent ancient evil and his lieutenants the Horseman of Apocalypse, players take control of mutants from both sides across five acts of the story.
Very much using last year's release as platform to build upon, Legends II on first glance appears to be a broadly similar gameplay experience: players take control of four mutants and battle through various locations, travelling back to their base of operations to receive further instructions from Professor X. In actual fact, that is indeed the gameplay experience offered in X-Men Legends II, so at least fans of the original title will be happy to continue in a similar vein. More than that however is the news that for this second instalment of the franchise, the developers have added two key ingredients to further enhance the experience for gamers; firstly the ability of players to choose party members from a selection of Brother of the Mutant affiliated characters as well as the X-Men, and secondly, that the adventure can be played online.
An action-RPG with a surprising amount of depth, Legends II has all the different elements that you'd expect from the genre including developing mutant powers (replacing the more traditional Mana and magic), experience levels (and experience points for that matter), and quests all of which are wrapped up in the world of the X-Men. Featuring a range of characters to choose from such as Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Gambit, Magneto, Juggernaut, and Toad, the game also features some of the more obscure members such as the gun-toting Bishop with several unlockable associates that become available as the game progresses. Each obviously has their own mutant powers triggered by a combination of shoulder button/trigger and face button, which as with its predecessor are intuitive to use rapid to use. PC owners are able to 'power' map extensively by using the keyboard though the game doesn't seem to flow quite as well with a keyboard/mouse as it does with a gamepad.
Once again the developers have visually stylised the game so that it resembles a mix of cartoon and comic book, and continues to be viewed through a mix of elevated cameras from above the gameworld. This was one of contentious issues with its predecessor in that it always seems to be a game developed for a portable system rather than a home console, so the news that the series is to make its handheld debut on PSP will perhaps make the title fit better. The main reason for this is that because of viewing angle of the camera, I for one felt detached from the experience; it never felt that I was immersed in the world of the X-Men, something that was only strengthened by the regular (albeit brief) loading periods that pulled me away from Genosha. Let's face it, immersion is one of the primary attractions of RPG titles, and with little of that in the adventure, it has to be asked what exactly is the player's motivation for progressing through the game?
Integrated into this year's instalment is the online play, which allows players to progress through the storyline with friends, and thanks to the relatively non-linear hub structure of the narrative, gamers can continue to progress through the main campaign without restrictions. In other words if two gamers were at a certain point in the game offline and then took the adventure onto online, be that Xbox Live, PC, or PS2's Network Play, they could visit new areas of the adventure that their online friend had been too, and vice versa. It's certainly one way of expanding RPG titles on the current generation of consoles, and in some ways it's surprising that this is only happening on the cusp of a new generation leap. It's rather doubtful that such a gameplay feature will cause many gamers to rush out and buy Legends II just for the online experience, but it's certainly a new way of looking at expanding such titles onto the online world, which is commendable.
