Getting
Your Mutant On...
X-Men Legends
Developer: Raven Software
Platform: Xbox, Playstation, Gamecube
Players: 1-4
Release date: 9/22/04
Activision not only has a new X-Men game
coming out in September but the concept behind the game
is one that will make previous game designers kick themselves
for not thinking of sooner. X-Men Legends combines
role playing with the team nature of the X-Men in a logical
team up that looks awesome.
We got to see the game in action at the
San Diego Comic-con and our first impression was how great
it looked. The Ultimate X-Men inspired characters
are very detailed and the game has a nice polished look
to it. Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) narrates the opening
movie which sets up the latest conflict between his X-Men
and Magneto's Brotherhood. The CG cinematic sequences will
have fanboys drooling. The storyline is provided by Man
of Action, a group of former Marvel writers.
You begin the game in Xavier's mansion
running around talking to fellow mutants and gathering mission
information. Once you have your mission, you get to select
your team. The game will have fifteen playable X-Men members,
but only a few will be available at the start of the game.
Gameplay
is from a top down, 3D perspective similar to Diablo
or Hunter: Reckoning. Four different players can
control four different X-Men during play with the computer
filling in when your friends aren't around. If you are playing
alone, you'll be able to switch which character you control
on the fly. You can give minor tweaks to the computer controlled
players AI. Colossus should probably be the one to charge
into the room full of Sentinels, while the far more fragile
Jean Grey hangs back and provides support.
Missions
can be completed by any team members you use but will some
will be better suited for the task. For example, if you
had to get something on the other side of a locked door,
The Beast would have to smash through the wall which would
alert nearby guards. If you had Nightcrawler on your team,
you could just BAMF! through the wall.
Every level in the game will feature fully
interactive and destructible environments meaning everything
is open season during battles. Also throughout each level
are extraction points that players can access to spend experience
points, swap characters, purchase new equipment, revive
fallen players, groom Beast's hair and other generic party
maintenance.
Team
members will be able to augment their strength, speed, body,
and mind skills by completing missions and gaining experience.
You'll also gain new attacks specific to your character's
mutant ability (weather related for Storm, blender related
for Wolverine, etc…) Passive skills, such as flight and
regeneration, are also available to certain characters.
The fighting has a lot of variety to it.
Not only does each character have their own set of combos
but each pairing of mutants will have a unique combo. Ice
Man and Cyclops will have a different dual attack than Ice
Man and Gambit.
You'll need all those attacks as you slash
and optic blast though several levels with locations ranging
from the X-mansion to Muir Island to the Morlock tunnels.
From
the demo we watched and played, the game nicely blends action
and strategy wrapped in a multiplayer interface that should
give you and your fellow mutants plenty to howl about. We
hope to have a full review of the completed game sometime
before its release in September.
