X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Review

Character Management

A nice feature is that you can let the game level you up, assign powers, and equip items all by itself so you don’t have to worry about it. Personally, I love this because you pick up so much stuff and you gain experience so fast that keeping track of who has what item and leveling up every few minutes gets sort of ridiculous. Of course, you can manually assign everything if you want, but I’m glad we have the option. Letting the AI take care of stuff turns the game into a straightforward hack and slash that casual gamers and X-Men fans will love, but there is still a lot of depth and customization available to keep hardcore RPG fans happy. You can just pick it up and play if you want or you can go in for a deeper experience. Everyone’s playing and everyone’s having fun. Good times.

Multiplayer

The biggest change in X-Men Legends II is that you can now play co-op online with up to four people. Co-op, whether on or offline, is the absolute best way to play the game. Nothing beats getting a bunch of friends together and plowing through the game. Having human players to back you up makes the game pretty easy, but it is still very enjoyable. One thing I want to say about co-op online is that it is probably best to meet up with your friends and play. Finding random strangers to play a game that requires this much teamwork and communication isn’t always fun. And it is a good bet you’ll be in a group with two or three people that are all friends with each other and you’ll feel like a third wheel. Some people might not feel that way, but I sure do.

Something that needs to be addressed is that for whatever reason, people with different video modes can’t play with each other online. If someone is playing in widescreen or is running the game in 720p, they can’t play with someone on a standard TV. As long as you know this going in it isn’t much of a problem, but it can be frustrating sometimes.

Graphics and Sound

Graphcally, X-Men Legends II is a nice looking game that is considerably more varied than its predecessor. You travel all over the world and set up base in several different areas so the graphics are always changing and you get to see a lot of new stuff. The graphic style is the same as the first game – cel shaded characters in regular 3D levels – and it works incredibly well.

The sound is also very well done. There is a lot of dialogue and the voice actors (which include Patrick Steward as Professor Xavier and Lou Diamond Phillips as Forge, just to name names) do a great job. Sound effects all sound just like they should, or at least how we have been programmed to think they should after years of Saturday morning cartoons and two movies and the music is also very nice and flows with the action well.

Bottom Line

If you are a fan of the first X-Men Legends or are just love the X-Men in general, you need to own Rise of Apocalypse. It takes everything that made the first game better and supersizes it – better story, more characters, more powers – and the result is something that is really quite special. What is particularly attractive about X-Men Legends II is that you can choose to play it as a deep customizable RPG or you can let the AI handle those elements and play it as a straightforward hack and slash. This makes the game accessible to pretty much everyone which is always good. What really seals the deal for Legends II is that you can play co-op on Xbox Live with three of your friends and that is really the best way to play it. All in all, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is an amazing sequel and is highly recommended for a purchase.