X-Men Legends
(Activision for the X-Box, PS2, and Game Cube)
by Eric Johnson
X-Men comics have been around for over 30 years, but Legends is the first game worthy of praise. Part squad-based strategy and role-playing with a whole lot of button-tapping fisticuffs, Legends succeeds primarily because of enthusiasm for the subject matter, despite the fact that a great deal of what it intends to be never actually materializes. Its greatest accomplishment lies in successfully integrating 14 superheroes with eclectic oddball mutant powers. Sure, you can build an entire engine around an individual hero (like Spiderman), but switching between a flying telekinetic, a fellow cursed by uncontrollable optic beams, a claw-fisted berserker, and an organic metal Russian strongman in an enjoyable game is an infinitely more daunting task. Accomplishing this places Legends alongside City of Heroes and Freedom Force, an elite class of successful superhero titles. The X-Men comic is part soap opera and part conventional adventure injected with hearty doses of intentionally heavy-handed apocalyptic civil rights metaphor. The comic galvanized in the late ’70s, when legendary writer Chris Clairmont bucked convention by devoting entire issues to character development and penned storylines that took years to climax.
Painful X-Mansion levels bring the action to a screeching halt, but tolerate them, for they unlock copious volumes of extra content. Anyhow, I liked it, having been subjected to nearly a dozen shitty X-Men games this past decade. I was perfectly happy to forgive Legends minor shortcomings and enjoy a title that’s been a long time coming.
(www.ravengames.com, www.activision.com)