X-Men Legends

"Diablo + Fighting Force... X-men style"

This game is very well made. It combines all the elements needed to make a game fun, but more importantly, it provides enough variety to keep things interesting the whole way through.

Gameplay 10/10- As stated in my tagline, this is something along the lines of Diablo fusing itself with Fighting Force. The battle system is simple, yet deep at the same time. Something which is rarely done as well as it is here. Soon after playing the game, you will know how do execute trips, throws, air juggles, and knockback attacks, and more importantly, be able to do them without thinking. But what really sets the game apart is (of course) the mutant abilities and skills, which I will cover in-

Characters 9/10- now I know a lot of you are thinking this is a dumb category since the characters are quite obviously going to be from the comic/cartoon, but that is not what I am reviewing. This section covers the diversity and skill sets of the characters, not the concept. Each character has three main mutant powers that can be powered up with skill points gained as you level up (along with attribute points, hence the Diablo reference), though you only start with one power to use from the start. Along with the three main powers, there is one ultimate power for each character, these can only be unlocked at level 15, and require a certain pickup to be used, but are extremely powerful. Each character also has a set of other skills, ranging from flight and ice/magma surfing (Iceman and Magma's ability to slide on their respective substances to gain speed), to more mundane skills like increased critical percentages, or additional stat boosts. My personal favorite, and possibly the most powerful of these other skills, would be the elemental/energy/mentally charged punches. These skills add a lot of melee damage to your kicks and punches, whether it be Storm's electricity, Iceman's frost, Magma's fire, Gambit's kinetic energy, or Jean Grey's mental force (along with possibly others, I've yet to unlock all the characters) that power your physical attacks, you'll notice the damage rather easily as you burn through foes like they're mere ragdolls. My only major complaint is that some characters seem useless next to others. Jubilee and Gambit have remarkably similar skill sets, yet Gambit takes the edge in both usefulness and coolness, so Jubilee gets left behind. This is not the only occurrence of such things in this game, but that is nowhere near enough to drag this game down.

Music/Graphics 7/10- No huge gripes here... with the exception of magma's voice. You'll probably hear this a lot in the reviews, but it is so unbelievably annoying... and the voice doesn't seem to suit her that much (in my opinion anyway). But the rest of the voice acting seems spot on. Music is nothing special, but nothing that makes you want to beat your head against a wall trying to get the terrible music out of your head either. And the graphics look fine enough to do the game justice, but again nothing eye-popping.

Fun Factor 10/10- This is something that I have to stress- this game is FUN. Plain and simple. Especially if you play with a friend. Whether you're teleporting around as Nightcrawler, flying around, summoning lightning as Storm, ice surfing and freezing people as Iceman, or flinging cards as Gambit, you will simply have fun with this game. Only occasionally does the combat get mindless, since there are usually enemies with resistances, whether they be physical, energy, or mental, that require you to actually put some thought behind your fights. For some straight out physical brawling, bring in Wolverine, Beast, Rogue, Colossus, or anyone with an aforementioned elemental punch to do some serious damage. Need energy attacks? No problem. Bring in Cyclops, Iceman, Gambit, or again, anyone with an elemental punch (see why I love those things now?). And for mental, Jean Grey, Emma Frost, and Psylocke are your weapons of choice... using (you guessed it) a mentally charged punch.

Buy or rent? Any fans of Action RPGs, X-Men, or simply good video games can dive right in. For those who are a bit hesitant about this game, feel free to rent, but don't be surprised to mark the dreaded date on your calender when the game has to go back.

Final Overview- 9/10 Excellent gameplay, well designed characters (for the most part), good voice acting (again, for the most part), and graphics and sound that are good enough make for one overly entertaining game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/04