Welcome to World Zero - Reviews for the hardcore gamer

The real-time, action RPG sub-genre known as the ‘dungeon crawler’ or the ‘hack ‘n slash’ has come a long way over the years. The genre had a few precursors, but it soon became refined by what is now known as the grandfather of the dungeon crawl, Diablo. The genre evolved into yet another stage when it found a home on consoles. These action heavy variations, such as Baulder’s Gate, instigated a series of Diablo-clones across the console board, and the genre soon became a self-replicating exercise in monotony. Enter X-Men Legends. While the genre itself is still the same old replica, X-Men branches out by offering its own take, which is something we haven’t seen since the genre hit consoles in the first place.

What separated the original X-Men Legends from the plethora of console dungeon crawlers was most notably the X-Men license. The characters, game world, and atmosphere are all pretty unique within the realm of the hack ‘n slash genre, which was previously dominated by varying degrees of medieval fantasy. X-Men Legends broke the mold further by offering you control over a team of mutants, as opposed to a lone adventurer. Unquestionably more enjoyable to the die-hard comic fans, X-Men Legends was still a satisfying dungeon crawl to any fan of the genre, or even fans of gaming in general, because it was simply done moderately well. The sequel, while nothing revolutionary, takes the concept of the first game up a notch, improving what has been laid before it, and simply offering more of it.

The concept, and overall plot are one in the same. The mutant Apocalypse is up to some typical bad guy-ness, and since he is such a bastard, it’s going to take the X-Men teaming up with their long time nemesis, Magneto (and the Brotherhood) to stop him. It’s nothing new, and honestly quite cliché at this point, but it offers you the ability to play the part of both the X-Men and the Brotherhood simultaneously, which is, more or less, quite appealing.

You are offered a lot of choices in the playable character department right off the bat, so much that it’s actually overwhelming, with even more unlockable characters that are accessible after you have met the necessary requirements. Each mutant offers their own take on both battle strategy and problem solving, all of which offer a diverse selection of tactics and abilities that sends the longevity of the game through the roof if you want to sit down and spend the time developing each individual character. Developing your team of mutants is easily the most-enjoyable aspect of the game simply because it’s deep, satisfying, and, most importantly, fun. Legends II has a pretty typical RPG level-up system; you kill enemies, you get experience. Get enough experience and you level up. Each new level grants you a handful of points to dump into your statistics -- Body, Focus, Strike, and Speed -- all of which govern the typical RPG stats in one way or another; hit points, mental energy, melee damage, and attack and defense rating, respectively. Upon leveling up, you also gain a single skill point. Skills are what change your character most dramatically, and you have an overabundance of mutant skills and abilities at your disposal, giving you many different character builds to base your development on. Skills range the gamut of increasing your mental regeneration speed to shooting energy from your fingertips, to massive, screen clearing explosions. These abilities are especially rewarding because they give you a great sense of power when executing them and offer a very satisfying incentive for leveling up.

X-Men Legends II offers you a decently large game world to explore, divided into five acts in true Diablo II fashion, that offers as many varying locales as you could possibly fit in a single game. Each act is filled with enemy upon enemy, some pretty satisfying boss fights, and a handful of mini-bosses thrown in for good measure. You’re also going to run into more Marvel characters throughout your adventure than you’ve ever seen crammed into a single Marvel licensed game before. This game’s cast is huge. The downside is, not everyone is playable. The playable cast weighs in at just under twenty characters, which is massive for this type of game, but seeing some truly cool NPCs throughout the story is definitely going to trigger some what-if moments. The consolation here is that the playable cast is actually pretty solid, with each character sporting a handful of unlockable costumes. On top of all this, the varying NPCs will have different reactions based on what characters are in your team when you speak to them. It’s a nice touch, and all this character customization and interaction really adds up in the end.

Legends II is not without problems, however. While the pre-rendered cinematics and voice acting are fantastic, the rest of the game’s presentation is severely lacking. The menus and interface are far from streamlined and navigation is just short of being a chore. Equipping items and spending experience takes much longer than it should, throwing a loading screen at you if you want to check your party’s status, and another when exiting back to the action. Even without the unwarranted loading, navigating said menus is still overly clunky and excessive. While the menus themselves are quite ugly, they match the overall look of the game, which is, quite frankly, truly unsightly. Apart from the ridiculously low poly counts, everything looks particularly muddy, the lighting is overdone to the point that shadows seem to be cast everywhere, and the whole game is bafflingly dark. Graphics don’t make a game, but they sure as hell detract from it.

Overall, the core game in X-Men Legends II is excellent. There’s a ton of fun to be had developing character builds, and exploring some famous (and not so famous) Marvel locales. While the game lacks polish, it offers such excessive replayabilty that you most likely won’t even care. While X-Men fans are getting a fantastic addition to the Marvel lineup, there’s still an extremely rewarding gameplay experience here that will satisfy anyone who simply enjoys gaming.

Rating	The rating scale in detail
5.5	-- Overly muddy, unforgivably low polygon models. Quite simply ugly.
8.0	+ Great soundtrack, albeit a tad scarce. + Generally well done voice acting. Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Xavier. - Grating announcer.
8.5	++ Deep customization and rewarding level-up system. + Frantic action. Great skills and powers.
6.0	-- Unpolished in too many aspects. - Clunky interface. + Nice selection of aesthetic character choices.
9.0	++ X-Men fans are going to get lost in this game. Enough character customization and unlockables to keep anyone busy for a long, long time.
8.1	+ Fun, original, and deep, albeit unpolished.