If you’re not a fan of the X-Men, you may find yourself a little lost when presented with the game’s roster of mutants. A lot of people are at least a little familiar with Wolverine, but the number of those outside of X-Men fan circles who know about Bishop is probably pretty small. The game assumes that you already have a fairly good familiarity with the X-Men universe, so those just tuning in will face a bit of a learning curve while trying to make sense of it all. X-Men fans however will really appreciate the game’s attention to detail and the fact that it is steeped in X-Men lore – for example, every time two mutants converse with each other the history between them will be very evident to fans. There is even a trivia game in which your knowledge of X-Men lore will earn you bonus experience points for your mutants.

Dungeon crawl?

Taking the whole X-Man tie-in out of the picture you have a game that plays pretty much like a sci-fi version of Dark Alliance. This means that there’s a lot of grinding it out against large numbers of enemies who try to run right up to your mutants and bash their brains out, with the occasional boss fight and simple puzzle thrown in for good measure. This game model can be a lot of fun as is evident by the number of games it has spawned, but if it’s never been your thing then you won’t find that X-Men Legends II will change your mind. As a result of the game’s grind-it-out nature I found that the melee-focused characters are pretty powerful. You can play as Wolverine and slash down enemies left and right while the AI-controlled team mops up any stragglers.

X-Men Legends II also features a multiplayer component that will let you play the game in co-op mode. Each player takes on the role of one of the mutants in the team, so if you have three other friends with you you can dispense with the AI and have each mutant on the team controlled by a player. In a really cool touch you can even play co-op online, either from the beginning of the game or from a saved game from the single-player campaign. If you find yourself really stuck on a level, you can go online and find somebody to join in and help. The game also supports a kind of free-for-all battle mode, but this is not nearly as much fun as co-op and seems a bit out of place in a game that stresses teamwork so heavily.

As for graphics, X-Men Legends II goes for a colorful cel-shaded look designed to evoke the feel of the comic books. It generally succeeds on this point but on the downside the characters are not very sharp. When things get really crowded on screen it’s even possible to lose track of your mutant on screen or misaim your attacks entirely.

Overall X-Men Legends II is quite enjoyable. There’s a lot of enjoyable gameplay for action-RPG fans here, and X-Men fans will really appreciate the game’s close ties to the X-Men universe. The game’s few shortcomings don’t really get in the way of a good time, but it will take a little more tweaking before the game would achieve “legendary” status. On the downside, the game can suffer from the same repetitive feeling inherent in games of this nature. In short, if you liked X-Men Legends you’ll love X-Men Legends II and if you missed that game then Legends II is well worth a look.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 84%.  An enjoyable dungeon hack romp featuring everybody’s favorite mutants.

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