X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (Playstation 2)
This is one of the best games I have played in a good long while. It takes everything you loved about the first game and made it better. The core gameplay is the same. Leveling up, equipping items and expanding your mutant powers all works basically the same. The addition of an auto-equip and auto-distribute for character skills, attributes and equipment takes out the slow micromanaging element for those that just want smash and bash. You can get bogged down with too many items, even with the addition of the hero stash storage chest. This can also lead to a game-freezing glitch on replays because the game can't keep track of everything.
The storyline is classic and well put together. It is a sort of mash between various Marvel storylines that revolve around the virtually omniscient Apocalypse. Character development is done pretty much completely in 3D CGI cutscenes. The production value on these are impressive. The voice-casting is also excellent, headlined by Patrick "Professor X" Stewart.
I really liked the addition of more mutant powers for each character. These additional powers can be mapped through the pause menu or on the fly to the four different face buttons. Most characters now have two "Ultimate" powers to choose from. I also liked the way the various powers sort of tie together in a tree-branching scheme. You need to learn and use some weaker powers to gain the ability to fire the strongest ones.
As for character selection: It's impossible to get this feature right. You will always forget someone and you'll always include someone that's not needed. That being said I liked the variety. I'm a little lost on removing Magma (the main character from the first game) and adding Sunfire, whose powers are also fire-based. Of course, I would have loved to use characters like Angel, Beast, Sabretooth, etc. But, you can't win em all. There is also the issue of character balance. Iceman starts off markedly stronger than other characters. Because of that, and the fact that he's one of my favorites, I used him a lot. Which only made him even more powerful. One of his most basic powers, the ice crush, is easily the strongest and most effective attack in the entire game. Other characters are decidedly weaker, Toad, for instance. I was glad to see Wolverine had been taken down a notch in usefulness; the first game was beatable using only Wolverine because he was so overly powerful.
The characters in this game are all available from the very beginning, unlike the slowly releasing playable characters from the first one. There are an additional three "hidden" characters (Deadpool, Iron Man and Xavier) that you can earn through some difficult challenges. All of the characters are also parts of certain historical Marvel teams as well. If you assemble your four-person party with the right characters you can earn team bonuses. Teams consist of things like The Brotherhood, Old School (original X-Men + Magneto or Toad), New X-Men, and the New Avengers. There are other teams that rely on features of the characters or costumes (Age of Apocalypse, Forces of Nature, Bruise Brigade, etc.).
All things considered, if you like action RPGs, the X-Men or just generally fun games, you can't go wrong with this one. I am now on my third playthrough of a 30+ hour game and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. Well, maybe I will, but only if I pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the spiritual sequel to this game. Have fun.Read full review
