Comic book games get a bad rap, and with good reason. Very few titles based upon superheroes and villains are remotely playable, and even fewer can be said to live up to the reputation of their namesakes. Luckily for mutant fans everywhere, Xmen Legends more than qualifies as one of the best comic book games ever made.
Xmen Legends' gameplay can be best described as Dungeon Siege with mutants. It's a hack and slash RPG, putting you in control of a four mutant party, though you only directly control one at any given time. You can switch between the active party mutants on the fly, and even switch out replacements at checkpoints. It's a good system overall, and anyone who has played any sort of dungeon crawl should be instantly at home with the controls.
Needless to say, a lot of the game's appeal comes from the wide variety of powers and abilities available for upgrading. Like most action/RPGs, your characters will see a steady increase of stats and special abilities as the game progresses. It's not all that much different from the standard genre conventions, but adding +1 to Cyclops' optic blast just feels a lot cooler than upgrading some generic archer's bow.
On the whole, Legends looks and sounds as good as it plays. The cel shaded characters are instantly recognizable, and the environments (not cel shaded) are crisp, clean, and full of impressive particle effects and, more importantly, lots of things to destroy. The music is pretty generic, but the superb voice acting makes up for it. Overall, the production values are great, and they provide for a very authentic gameplay experience.
For all its superhero joy, Xmen Legends does run into its fair share of problems. The game's lengthy, but a touch too easy. Seeing a loading screen every time you hit the upgrade menus or check your party's stats gets annoying. And, perhaps most damning given the genre, the multiplayer mode leaves a bit to be desired, with no online mode in sight. That said, the single player campaign is quite good, and any fan of the Xmen or dungeon crawls in general should enjoy their time with Legends.
-George
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