by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze Video Game Editor

X-Men Legends is an attempt to break this trend and it succeeds well beyond expectations. Instead of focusing on one character and having stealth bog down the pace, Legends fuses action and RPG elements to create an X-Men adventure that is true to the essence of the X-Men by being a team effort. Anyone who’s been an avid reader of the X-Men comics (like myself) over the years knows this all too well.

So in keeping with the tradition, Raven Software simplified things by letting you control any of the characters you have on the screen at anytime, as well as organizing your squad however you see fit. You can also prompt two characters to team up on one enemy in various ways. For instance, Colossus and Wolverine used to do this move called the “fastball special” where Colossus would throw Wolverine at an enemy as hard as a fastball. That move can be pulled off in this game, along with many others between two teammates.

The game’s plot takes elements from past and present X-Men stories and focuses on a storyline that dates back to the X-Men’s first-ever appearance back in 1963: Magneto’s dream of mutant dominance over the Earth. As the story progresses, you’ll fight just about every major adversary the X-Men have: Juggernaut, the Sentinels and Sabretooth are just a few of many.

But what obviously stands out here is the gameplay because it seems like there’s something for everyone in this game. The RPG aspects of X-Men Legends are largely overshadowed by all the action, and since you rarely ever fight alone, teamwork is naturally a major factor. Multiplayer options allow you and three friends to take control of whichever four characters you choose to use. This makes fighting a little more cohesive since you can work out a gameplan for whatever situation you face. For example, X-Men that are good at attacking from a distance like Cyclops and Storm can complement close-quarters combat teammates like Wolverine and Colossus.

However, if you are going it alone and you have four characters to worry about, you can adjust settings so that the AI will do what I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, as well as refresh each character’s health once it has reached a certain point. And by increasing skills and attributes over time, you can enhance important powers like Wolverine’s healing factor and Cyclop’s leadership. Taking some time to understand what AI settings you can utilize with each character will likely lead you to have more success.

X-Men Legends is definitely the best X-Men video game ever released, and the reasons are pretty clear. Fusing action and RPG elements can sometimes backfire badly, and that may have indeed been the case if this weren’t an X-Men title. But it turns out that the action/RPG genre is probably best suited for characters like the X-Men because they’re an action-packed team that has been built for over 40 years on great storylines. And when a game like this can also cater to gamers who may be casual X-Men fans, there’s no question that it’s worth playing.

Publisher:
Activision
Developer:
Raven Software

Platform:
Gamecube

Rating: 9/10