X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse

"What if...?"

In an alternate universe beyond even the Beyonder's fathoming, Apocalypse has subdued his long time rivals and conquered world. On this weak, tired plot thread, enter our heroes, the X-Men, whom somehow slipped between the cracks in the dimensions (as opposed to the holes in this plot).

Back in the day, I was an X-Men fan. Naturally I was more than a little disappointed by the 4 character selection (Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, and Wolverine). A beautiful little toy called a gameshark fixes this (a device that I wouldn't recommend in any other circumstances) and lets you play as any of the bosses.

Oh, I guess I was wrong, it was Earth all along!

It feels like Planet of the Sentinels. The only remotely humanoid things you fight are the bosses and they're an assorted mix from the X-Men universe. You get to kick the crud out of old heroes and villains alike, what fun!

Ironically, Pyro seems to present more of a challenge than Magneto. Several other continuity errors regarding power can be seen and I'm not even talking about the placement of the bosses.

Is this really a GBA game?

The graphics are kiddie at best. Rogue has been butchered beyond all belief in both character graphics and movement. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Rogue strutting across the screen, ready to attack. Cyclops punches like a little girl (look at that arm extension!) and his optic blast can't even fire half-way across the screen! Storm's usually awe-inspiring weather powers have been reduced to close combat techniques, leaving me to wonder what the programmers were thinking.

The only character who received something close to justice was Magneto, whose ominous, hovering form almost sends shivers down my spine. The programmers made up for that, though, shafting him in the way of specials.

Reign of Apocalypse reminds me of the old arcade X-Men game. The same amount of thought went into Reign of Apoc and it shows. You have to stand in one place while villains *mysteriously* come out from both sides. This leaves you wondering why you didn't run into some of them a few minutes ago. The quantity over quality idea seems kind of fixed in the programmers' minds since only the sheer numbers of foes provides any challenge!

The real shame here is the butchering of the X-Men franchise name. Tragically, Reign of Apocalypse plays out like something the old Nintendo left behind. It just goes to show how you can't judge a game by it's colorful box... oh, and not to trust established franchise names.

Buy, Rent, or Avoid like the Plague?

If you've got a GS, it's worth a look. Not a serious look, but maybe a rental unless you can pick it up cheap.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02