Last year, RavenSoft shocked the world when they created \X-Men Legends,"" a game that made excellent use of the license and was actually playable as a fun diversion. ""Legends"" erased bad memories of ""Wolverine's Revenge"" and ""Mutant Academy"" from gamers' minds. RavenSoft has done it again with its sequel, ""X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse.""
In this new chapter of the Legends saga, Apocalypse, one of the Marvel universe's most awe inspiring villains has declared war on the mutants of Earth, forcing long time rival teams, the heroic X-Men and the deviant Brotherhood of Mutants, to band together to stop him.
At its core, ""X-Men Legends 2"" features pretty much the same gameplay as its predecessor, and this is not a bad thing. The original's beat 'em up stylings combined with emphasis on teamwork made for a surprisingly fresh take on X-Men play mechanics.
All of the X-Men's old standbys-Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey-return for more action in this sequel, but the addition of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants brings a welcome expansion of playable characters. Juggernaut, Toad and even Magneto are selectable from the start with additional characters becoming available as the game's storyline progresses. These new choices make for some previously unheard of groups as well as some insane new power combinations.
Just like the original, a big part of the sequel's draw is its multiplayer experience. Once again, all four on-screen characters can be separately controlled by a real world player. Like the first, playing with four characters is definitely the most fun way to play the game.
However, this presented a problem in the first ""Legends"" because it can be difficult for the average player to gather three friends together whenever he or she wants to play. ""X-Men Legends 2"" solves this by implementing Xbox Live connectivity. Now if a player cannot get three friends together, he can go online and find three others to jump into the game.
The system of leveling up in ""X-Men Legends"" presented numerous headaches-gamers needed to exit the game and go to a separate leveling up screen each time a character gained new levels.
Thankfully, RavenSoft saw to this problem by including an automation option. At the start of the game, players are asked if they would like to distribute stat points and equipment themselves, or if they'd like to have the game do it for them. This allows casual players and action fanatics to tear through the game's hordes of enemies without having to stare at a menu screen every five minutes. This also leaves the hardcore role-playing game addicts the option to customize each character as they see fit.
The sequel retains the comic book inspired, cel-shaded graphic style of its predecessor. This keeps the visuals colorful and vivid, but unfortunately causes edges to appear blurry and character models fuzzy. This is not a game breaking flaw however, as the frenzied action of the fighting prevents close looks at the scenery.
""Legends 2"" is by no means a revolution. It provides several improvements over the original but is mostly content to convey a new chapter in the Legends saga through the same frenetic beat 'em up action. Even sticking to the formula, it is an enjoyable experience from start to finish. ""X-Men Legends 2"" will satisfy comic book fans, RPG enthusiasts and action gamers alike.
