X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Review

Raven Software and Activision have done it again. 2004’s X-Men Legends was a surprisingly good game, but it has been topped in pretty much every way by X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. It has a better story, more characters, bigger levels, and online co-op with up to four people. X-Men and Marvel fans are in for an absolute treat with Legends II.

Story

The story in X-Men Legends II follows, just as the subtitle says, the rise of a powerful mutant named Apocalypse who is bent on world domination. Knowing they are outmatched by themselves, the X-Men and their bitter rivals the evil Brotherhood of Mutants join forces to take down Apocalypse.

This meeting of the minds creates a dream situation for X-Men fans. You get to not only use all of your favorite heroes (Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, etc.) but you also get to use the bad guys (Magneto, Toad, Juggernaut) which allows you to make some very interesting and very powerful teams as you play through the game. In addition to the huge pile of playable characters, there are also a ton of others that make appearances in the storyline or are boss characters (Lady Deathstrike, Abyss, Omega Red, and Sabertooth, just to name a few).

X-Men Legends II is the ultimate videogame for X-Men fans. You get all of the characters and all of the powers all wrapped up in a very nice overall package.

Gameplay

The gameplay in X-Men Legends II hasn’t changed much from the first game. It is still the same Baldur’s Gate-style dungeon crawl with mutant powers that we all know and love, but that is a good thing. All of the characters have all of the special moves and powers you would expect them to and you really feel powerful and special when you play this game. As you play you constantly get new powers so every new mission feels fresh and fun because you have new toys to play with. Another thing that keeps the game fresh is that while you may have your favorite characters you’ll want to use, every single playable character has something unique and cool to offer so mixing up your team every now and then is a lot of fun. As you play you’ll collect comic books and artwork and unlock hidden areas so there is a ton of stuff to find and unlock in Legends II that will keep you busy for quite a while. A nice touch is that you can easily change costumes for each character from a number of different eras and different combinations of characters and costumes can result in gameplay bonuses such as added defensive or attack strength.

Still Easy, But Still Fun

One of the biggest complaints people had with the first X-Men Legends was that it was too easy. Legends II still falls on the easy side of the difficulty scale, but it does a nice job of making you work a little harder to earn your keep than the last game. The difficulty slowly ramps up until you get to around the midpoint of the game (chapter 3 of 5) and then instead of fighting mindless drones you start fighting enemies closer to your own level. Enemies start coming at you in larger groups and they are more powerful and you actually have to start using strategy to get through. Of course, your characters are also rapidly gaining strength and powerful new abilities, so it all averages out. You’re still on top, but the enemies are closer than before.

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