X-Men Legends // Xbox
More fun with friends

// The skinny: Save the world with all of your favorite mutants in this multi-player action RPG reminiscent of Champions of Norrath.

// Review: This game already has a built in coolness quotient because of Patrick Stewart's voice and you can fight as any of the X-Men verses nameless dwarf or generic barbarian. It makes a lot of sense to use cel shading for a comic book game. It looked good in the game but very awkward in the cut scenes (hands were bigger than heads). The RPG elements were a nice touch. You could use gear from random equipment drops and choose how you wanted to develop your X-Men with experience points. While I liked being able to have access to all X-Men you end up only using the same 5-6 unless you tediously power level them in the Danger Room. A great nod to the fans is a challenging trivia game that awards you XP points for each correct answer. I have hundreds of X-Men comics and still got several wrong.

/ You can play with up to four people, which is pretty fun because the mutant powers are different enabling some to play as tanks, casters, or tweeners. At times you needed a specific X-man's power to deal with a context sensitive obstacle, which was really good. Even though you can set the AI of your teammates they are either overly aggressive and spend their mutant powers too fast and/or rush to their death, or they run and hide and become useless. I had a hard time finding a good medium. My teammates were either an audience or I was hastily trying to reign in my zealous GI Joes. It got frustrating. The maps also seemed very small. They tried to give the illusion of an open environment, but it felt like playing on just wide rails. The biggest annoyance was the ridiculous load times. Go from 1st floor to 2nd in the mansion- load. Access your characters- load. Enter tunnel or door- load. Ultimately the load times were enough of a buzz kill to keep me from finishing the game.

// Wrap up: If you are fans of the X-Men franchise and have some friends to play with then this is a great rental. Otherwise Legends 2: Rise of Apocolypse is coming out soon or play Champions of Norrath 2: Return to Arms.

Entertainment rating: 3