X-Men: Next Dimension

"Wolverine...snikty snikt..."

Fighting games are a dime a dozen these days and you’ll find a theme for just about every one of them. X-Men is no exception to the rule and you’ll find that there is plenty here that will keep you fighting into the wee hours of the morning. For those of you who are X-Men fanatics, you’ll find that there is plenty of character driven stories and plenty of faithfulness to the world of the Marvels X-Men. However, for those of you who are looking for a deep and involved fighting game that features more than mindless button mashing, you really won’t find too much here that is technical in the sense of Virtua Fighter 4 and its ilk.

The story that you find with Next Dimension is actually one of the more interesting ones that have come across in the X-Men line in my own opinion. A mutant hating humanoid by the name of Bastion has been freed from the SHIELD compound by a squad of Sentinels and rebuilt in order to continue his agenda: the eradication of all mutant life. As the plot unfolds, Bastion kidnaps the mutant genius by the name of Forge, who can create any weapon that his mind imagines. In a race against time, the X-Men and their enemies in the Brotherhood of Mutants lead by Magneto must fight their way into Bastions stronghold and free Forge before its too late.

The game play is actually set up into several different modes that allows you to pick and choose between different characters in an attempt to deal out as much damage as you possibly can. The story mode is the deepest of the three modes and includes several different characters like Night Crawler, Havoc and Lady Deathstrike while other modes include the standard practice mode and a survival mode. As you progress through the game, it is important that you understand what your characters can do in the heat of battle; so hanging out in Practice Mode is probably a good start for beginners. Survival Mode is just what it sounds like in which you get a life bar and have to face endless waves of enemies.

The story mode on the other hand gives you the chance to play through different chapters in the story with any number of mutants at any given time. When you start with one of the characters, at key moments in the story, you will be given the opportunity to change up your characters and play through with a slightly altered story. It is important to know your characters, because all of the battles in the Story Mode are done in a one-round fight to the finish. The main problem with this mode is that once you’re stuck with a particular character, you have to keep fighting until you’re victorious. The mismatched powers of the characters will either make the game exceptionally easy or exceptionally hard depending on who you choose and at what points you choose them.

Battling really doesn’t take brain science to figure out and the game is nowhere near as technical as Virtua Fighter or the Tekken series, so there is no need to study moves lists for hours on end. In fact, most of your attacks are done with either kicks or punches of ranging power. Special moves are done with a movement of the directional pad and then a button press, though most of your time will be spend in the combination section and trying to learn them all. As you fight, each successful hit and move will add a little bit of energy to a power bar at the top of your screen. Once this bar has reached a certain level, you can unleash super moves that will seriously damage your opponent by using inherit skills of that particular character.

Control is a major issue though, and some of the moves are extremely hard to pull off consistently. You’ll find that with some of the combinations, you have to hit the attack button and then the directional pad at the same time, which isn’t a big deal until your fingers input the attack combinations too fast. Special moves are harder to pull off for some reason with a delay time that will really keep you guessing as to who will get hit first; you or your opponent. Super moves fall the same way in which you will have to hit a certain directional pad and button combination, which isn’t always accurate, leaving you to the fates as to whom, again, gets hit first.

Visually, X-Men is polished with backgrounds that are teaming with life in some locations and drab in others. You’ll be able to blast your opponent through windows, doors, walls and other breakable objects depending on where you’re at in the stages. It is possible to go through several different locations in one fight, all of which are themed a little differently to tell you that you’re someplace else. As for finer detail, the slow motion camera with some of the super moves is a plus and gives you a real sense of importance when you bust out a heavy hitting move. The special moves are all faithful to the characters and what they are capable of, so X-Men fanatics should really look forward to seeing their favorite characters and abilities created so well.

The audio on the other hand really doesn’t fare all that well in terms of things that you’re going to remember when the game is shut off. The music beats in the background give you a little to listen to and plenty that you can hear, but nothing to really tap your foot to. The voice of Patrick Stewart is present in reprising the role of Charles Xavier, which is really a plus if you’re a fan of the movies. Other characters have some clips and some voices added to them, but none of them really sound like what you might imagine that you would hear. Battle effects such as laser blasts, explosions and taunts come through with plenty of clarity, but they get old after a few rounds of battle, because they tend to repeat themselves.

Next Dimension isn’t a bad game to play if you’re an X-Men fan and you love the movies, characters, stories and special abilities. You’ll find that the game isn’t as polished and technical in the combat sense as other well-known fighting games in the Play Station 2 library. A multitude of characters and hidden secrets is what you have to look forward to if you buy it and if you’re a weekend warrior, you might just get your fill of the title in a day or so at best. X-Men fans, you really can’t go wrong with this if you’re into the Mutant Academy games, but fighting game fanatics might want something with a little more depth and more action attached to it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/03, Updated 03/17/03