 |
X-Men Legends Review - Page Two |
 |
As with just about all other role-playing games, your characters gain experience and advance levels as they progress through the game. With each level gained, a mutant can add points to four different attributes (Strike, Agility, Body, and Focus) and to their unique abilities in order to make them more powerful – or to gain access to new ones altogether. Additionally, attributes and mutant skills can be enhanced by acquiring technology such as belts, armor, and backpacks. Only one of each of these three types of equipment can be used at any one time by each character, however. These items are found throughout the game or can be purchased from Forge’s workshop. For those not familiar with the comic books, Forge was a cyborg, Native American Shaman, Vietnam Veteran, former boyfriend of Storm, and a mutant whose power was to invent things. Complicated, and maybe a little cheesy, but I was always a big fan.
I personally felt that X-Men Legends’ storyline was very good. It involves the X-Men getting caught up in the middle of a war between covert anti-mutant government forces and The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who plan to destroy humanity. To complicate this story further, the X-Man Magma’s latent supreme power may hold the key to which side wins. The story is told through cut scenes, flashbacks, and question & answer sessions at interludes where the player controls Magma as she wanders the X-Man mansion grounds. You can even play an X-Men trivia game during these interludes and gain experience from correct answers. During these interludes at the mansion, flashbacks can be re-enacted in the danger room with players in direct control of the heroes in question. For example, one of these flashbacks involves a struggle between four of the five original X-Men facing off against the unstoppable Juggernaut.
The graphics of X-Men Legends are intricate and smooth, especially during the cut scenes. Although I’m sure most, if not all, of the graphics were computer generated, the cut scenes of the game looked like a hand drawn comic book. As an added bonus, sketches, comic book covers, and other original artwork can be viewed at the player’s leisure as the game progresses, which was a nice touch for a fan like me.
As far as sound goes, thankfully there was enough music and special effect variety in this game so that it never got old. Way too often I end up adding my own soundtrack to games, but X-Men Legends never became repetitive in the sound department. Additionally, the voice acting is superb. The well-known Patrick Stewart, Captain Jean Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation himself returns to his role as Professor X, the founder of the X-Men. To add even more prestige to the voiceovers, the legendary Ed Asner and Lou Diamond Philips play the roles of the Morlock Healer and Forge, respectively.
In summary, X-Men Legends is an excellent RPG with plenty of action and strategy that can be played alone or with a group of friends cooperatively. There are over twenty hours of gameplay in this title and a decent amount of replayability, making it a worthwhile purchase. If you’re a fan of the X-Men whatsoever, you absolutely cannot pass this game up.
| GameBanshee Rating |
Overall
9.0
How We Score |
Gameplay (50%) |
 |
| Graphics (25%) |
 |
| Sound & Music (15%) |
 |
| Lasting Value (10%) |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
| Article Details |
| Reviewed X-Men Legends
Reviewer Steve Gonzalez
Published 10/20/04
Pros Great implementation of RPG elements, short learning curve, fast paced action
Cons First person view would have been nice, no pause function |
|
|
