X-Men Legends

"Simply the best.... but for X-Men fans, or newbies?"

First off I'd like to say that this is, by far, the best X-Men game there is. There have been a few other X-Men games that didn't fair so well, which is a shame. And since I have an obsession with the X-Men, I've been waiting for a GOOD X-Men game for years!

Story: 6
This is really the only part of the game that made me angry. They really messed up the classic storylines that Stan Lee and Chris Claremont made legendary in the comic books. All of a sudden, Storm is taking a beack seat to Cyclops... Magma's story is COMPLETELY revamped, and where did Banshee & Shadowcat go? However, all that ranting aside, the story that they've made up for this game isn't ALL bad. It's completely generic as far as X-Men stories go, but considering it's a video game, and not the Dark Phoenix saga, I guess it's not half bad.

Graphics: 8
This is hard to score for me. The graphics are a 11 out of 10 if you compare this to past X-Men games. But compared to recent games (such as Fable) the graphics aren't that great. What concerns me is how they've portrayed the X-Men and their surroundings. They all look pretty good as far as likeness goes. Emma Frost throws me off a little bit... she doesn't quite look right. And Toad is way off as well. However, they've nailed some of them right on the head. The mansion (though small) seems spot on to me. As well as characters like Gambit, Sabretooth, and Cyclops. All in all, I consider graphics pretty good.

Sound: 9
I really can't complain at all about the sound in this game. The effects are perfect. The clangs, biffs, and bops are great for a comic book oriented video game like this. The voices are great too. I know a lot of people have complained about Magma, but it adds more to her character. After all, she wasn't in the first X-Men cartoon, so there's really no tone of voice that you can associate with her like you can with Storm or Professor X. The only voice that I really have a problem with is Rouge. She is supposed to have a THICK accent, though it seems to me that the actress who played her had to strain a little bit (bring in Rue McClanahan!). The music is a little bland, but I can't see bring down the whole "sound" category just for that. Crumbling walls, breaking windows, and animal-like Wolverine make me scream for joy with this category.

Gameplay: 10
I really don't know how to express my feelings about gameplay for X-Men Legends. It reminds me of Diablo II (I know... everyone is saying that, but it's true), but with some brighter spots. I think they did a great job of givng certain abilities to certain characters. Characters like Beast and Rouge have might, which allows them to lift heavy things. Characters like Jean Grey and Storm (my favorite X-Woman of ALLLLLLLLL time!) can fly and carry other team members. As you level these abilities up, they get better, cost less energy, and can be used more often. Also, the stat system in the game works very well too. I am a Dungeons and Dragons player. So when I saw the stats in X-Men Legends, I was a little put off at first. After all, I'm used to having a SLEW of stats for each character. But the developers have found a system that works. I won't go into detail (for fear of going off on a tangent), but trust me when I say, "It's easy to use, learn, and master."

Replay: 8
I'm gonna go out on a limb on this category. Some people may not have any desire to play through again. X-Men fans may be so put off by the story, that they don't want to play again. Or, you may want to play through the game and NOT use the best characters this time (ex: Jean Grey... Wolvie... Storm). So this rating could be too high, or too low depending on HOW Much you liked the game.

My perogitive: 9
When it's all said and done, I have a lot more praise then gripes about this X-Men game. All that's left for me to say is, "Go out and play it!"

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/04