X-Men: Next Dimension

"Dead or Alive it's not."

Activision releases yet another X-Men fighter. I saw this in the store and thought ''Whoo!'' so I picked it up, and tried it out. I was both pleasantly surprised, and rather upset.

Gameplay - 5/10. The EXACT opposite of Dead or Alive 3. Countering can be done, it's mildly important, but not absolutely necessary. The expert computer is beatable without countering at all. Also, there's a ''stunned'' message, which can also be nice. The characters range from the easy-as-pie to control for newcomers, or the hard to use characters for the experts. A lot of missions interlink, and there's never a shortage of objects to destroy. A typical survival mode, practice mode, arcade mode, and story mode. Plenty of secrets to unlock, which is fun as well.

So why the 5 instead of higher?

There are OBVIOUS bugs in it, such as blocks and counters occurring when the back is turned, and throws happening from a mile away. Of course, it wouldn't be an X-title without really really cheesy computers as well, as Cyclops and Magneto especially retain their greatly renowned cheesy selves.

In story mode, there are 3 battles with a Sentinel that require you to defeat him in 50 seconds or you die. There is NO explanation as to why, you just die. Why are these battles necessary? I don't know, I find them relatively irksome.

Also, there is no tag mode, no time-attack, no team mode, no multi-character fights at all. It's a one on one fight. While I do enjoy the one on ones, there isn't even an option to do the others. The difference between the Xbox and the Gamecube versions was the loss of the team mode, for a hidden character. The part that really irked me was that this hidden character who must be good enough to replace a full battle mode, is hardly attainable. What's the point in taking out a full mode, putting in one hidden character, then making it hard as anything to get the character?

Story - 8/10. Not the most original X-Men storyline, but still well-developed and integral (in story mode at least). I do wish that they had used more characters in the story mode instead of recycling characters (you fight the brotherhood twice, and Sentinel A some 5 times), while using maybe 10 characters of the 17 original non-hidden characters. Other than that, well done.

Graphics / Sound - 5/10. I would give it a 1, but that would be sheer bias. The sound during the game is fine, I've never been a big sound-emphasis person, but it's silent in the menus. That just struck me as odd, though at least it's not annoying music.

The graphics kill this game. The characters are done well enough, and the missions are gorgeous and well connected. However, sometimes an object will be in front of your screen, and it won't disappear. Most notorious are columns. All you'll see is a brick wall, and your character's life bar draining as sounds of the enemy character beating yours around emit from the TV. Also, sometimes when your character gets knocked down the camera lowers to stay with your character, which can result in the camera going below the intended floor of the mission, which yep, you guessed it, puts a giant black hole in the middle of your screen where your opponent is beating you senseless whilst you lay on the ground. It's extremely bothersome, but adaptable.

Playtime / Replay - 10/10. A story mode will last me about 25-30 minutes if I enjoy myself, and the sheer number of characters and hidden secrets keeps me playing. Sometimes simply beating up a computer gets boring though, but that's tiring of a genre and not the game.

Recommendation - Mild buy. Rent it first. If you're a die-hard X-fan, or you really really love fighter games, go ahead and pick it up. I'd be weary spending 50$ on it though, 30-40$ though would be worth it. The problems with it aren't too bad once you adjust, and the final boss is at least beatable this time. If you remember the game X-Men: Children of the Atom, it's pretty much that just super-sized.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02