X-Men Legends

Anyone who knows me knows that I've always been a big fan of the comic industry. So anytime a video game comes out that's based on a comic series, I'm usually first in line to check it out in the hopes that it will do the book justice. More often than not, I've come away disappointed. With X-Men Legends though, Activision and Raven did an excellent job appealing to my inner geek, and I came away feeling like someone FINALLY got a comic game right.

X-Men Legends is a hard game to group into one particular genre, in the vein of such classics like Diablo II or Baldur's Gate. The game balances the rich plot and character customization of an RPG with the fast-paced fighting of some of the best action games on the market. The game begins with the Brotherhood's abduction of a young mutant named Allison Crestmere (better known as Magma to diehard X-Men fans). From there, things develop into an epic storyline involving secret government agendas, Sentinels, Magneto, Morlocks, and a host of other regulars from the X-Men universe.

Over the course of the game, players will get the opportunity to play as 15 different members of Marvel's famous children of the atom. Regular mainstays are here, such as Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm, as well as a few surprise characters like Jubilee, Emma Frost, and Psylocke. Each character has his or her own distinct set of powers, all of which remain faithful to the comic. Even when two characters play alike (such as Iceman and Magma) there are enough differences to keep it from feeling like a simple cosmetic change.

The visuals in X-Men Legends are a sight to see. It's no big secret that lots of comic fans are particularly critical when it comes to art. After all, comic books are a visually driven medium. For X-Men Legends, Raven decided to give the X-Men a cel-shaded treatment. Originally, I was a little leery when I first heard about this. Then I saw some of the gameplay footage at Comic-Con and I was put more at ease. The end result made the characters look as if they had just jumped off of a comic panel. All of the power effects look great as well. Seeing Iceman move around the screen on his ice slide had me fondly remembering his days from the "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" cartoon and checking out Colossus and Wolverine teaming up for a "fastball special" made for a classic moment in comicdom.

Speaking of classic comic moments, X-Men Legends is filled with all sorts of goodies for old school fanboys. Some of the coolest moments happen during the occasional flashback scenario. These special events pop up as optional side missions and feature a fixed group of characters reliving famous past adventures. One of these missions had the original four X-Men (in their originals costumes no less) trying to defend Professor X from a rampaging Juggernaut at the Xavier Mansion. In another flashback, gamers get the chance to take control of Wolverine as he makes his escape from the Weapon X facility. These examples don't even begin to scratch the surface of all the little nuances the game dropped in as a nod to comic fans.

Another thing Raven got right was its implementation of multiplayer gameplay. At any given time a new player can hop right into the action, quickly taking control of an�up-to-now�AI hero. And if a player has to leave, it's simple to switch control back to the AI and keep pressing on without much interruption. This makes for a good time when friends drop by unexpectedly � or when they have to leave and you're just shy of completing a mission. Personally, I think this is how most games should incorporate multiple players from now on. And if you're not up for running through a mission with your friends, Raven's got you covered there as well. X-Men Legends sports a cool skirmish mode which lets you pit your favorite characters against each other in a few different game types. This mode of play even gives players the chance to have fun with some of the characters they never get a chance to actively control in the story mode, such as Havok.

As great as X-Men Legends is, there are still a couple of minor faults in the game that cause it to fall just short of perfection. First off, the camera can get a little screwy from time to time, however it does a good job of keeping itself auto-centered on your main character. When moving through a narrow passage or alley the camera needs to be manually adjusted, and even then it never seems to get the angles quite right. Another problem I had was the presence of numerous invisible walls. These annoyances usually make their presence known in the city missions, but you're occasionally cut off from parts of the mansion by these irritations as well. And finally, there are some occasional problems with the game's AI. Sometimes my teammates would stand idly by while my main character was getting pummeled. This isn't as bad as it sounds though, as I was usually able to switch control to one of my teammates and draw the rest of them back into the main fight. None of these problems are enough to seriously detract from the experience, but they are still issues that I hope will be addressed in the inevitable sequel.

When all is said and done, X-Men Legends ranks as one of the best comic games to come along in years � and it's certainly the best X-Men game I've ever played. With the release of great games like Spider-Man 2 and now X-Men Legends, Activision is giving comic book fans a reason to love video games again.

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