X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Previews

Several new hands-on and hands-off previews for Activision and Raven's X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse have surfaced on the web. The first is at GameSpot:
Over in the Xbox version, we took the multiplayer for a spin with one other human player and two CPU-controlled heroes (though, as expected, the game supports four players over Xbox Live). In this particular stage, our first goal was to rescue the Brotherhood's flame-wielding psycho, Pyro, who was trapped in an energy field--the dastardly handiwork of Apocalypse. After Pyro was released, he briefly became a fifth member of our ragtag group of adventurers, and he lent his mutant powers to our struggle to find the boss of that particular stage, the spring-armed fiend Abyss. The Abyss battle was something to behold. What started as a simple rock 'em, sock 'em affair, quickly changed in scope when the fray moved to two blimps flying through the sky--Abyss on one, and the X-Men on the other. Abyss' cronies were in full force as we fought for survival on top of the speeding zeppelins. After some experimentation, we found the key to victory: tossing bombs at the blimp on which Abyss stood, thus knocking him out of the sky. But that wasn't all. After successfully taking him down, we were transported to a strange alternate plane of reality, where we had to set off a number of bombs to get to the final stage of the boss battle and take down Abyss for good.

The second is at IGN PC:
To make the simple formula work on a more refined, more super-powered level, the amount of interactions -- breakable, destructible objects, and command-able mutant powers -- has increased, in addition to amount of characters on screen, creating a massive swirl of chaotic attacks, actions, and team blasts simultaneously. It's quite a rush to pull off a newly earned super move; but when combined with a Brotherhood power in a team combo? In its own way, that experience is unbeatable.

The third is at GameZone:
Those who played the original title will remember fondly how the game allowed players to jump into the mix by simply plugging in a controller on their favorite console system, and then taking on one of the characters in the four-member team. Well, fans screamed for online support and the development team (Beenox is responsible for the port to the PC platform) listened. The PC version does contain online multiplayer co-operative gameplay.

The fourth is at GotNext:
One of the cooler inclusions is that certain costume and character combinations will yield specific bonuses. Choose mutants from the same time period, for example, and you'll earn a 15% energy boost. Combinations are secret, so you'll have to rely on your friends to play a different hero (or villain) every time to see what happens.

And the fifth is at Just RPG:
Gameplay will be similar to that of the original, where you and a team of 3 additional heroes (whether they be controlled by a friend or the AI) fight their way through armies of foes in action-packed combat, using an array of super powers and combos. Each of the game's 16 characters will have 10 individual super powers, each of which can be upgraded on the fly so you don't have to leave the action. You can also equip your X-Men with a variety of powerful items or switch costumes.