-
Developer: Paradox Development
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Fighting
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 04 Jul 08
-
Overview
There is no discernible storyline here, but then if you haven't heard of the X-Men then you're either old or Ahmish, and in either case I don't want to speak to you.
I mean c'mon! It's the X-Men!
Gameplay
The majority of the fighting consists of using a number of ridiculously huge special moves on an opponent in order to build up enough energy to use one of three super special moves which are pretty spectacular. The number of special moves available is not huge, but the animations for them are pretty good. The game has encountered a lot of stick for its ridiculously exaggerated special moves such as when Mystique grabs her opponents head, puts her gun in his/her face and pulls the trigger - this causes only about 5% damage! To this I would respond that this is X-Men after all, you're not really looking for realism with eth X-Men are you? And it's not like Tekken 3, or Soulblade didn't have a few amusing moves such as Rocks axe-swinging combos or Heihachis continuous neck-snapping.
Graphics
The character skins are fairly attractive, they manage to stick reasonably closely to the real thing. All characters manage to come across looking relatively lethal - as they should. The background graphics don't get much better than mediocre, being sometimes plain, often dreary and constantly repetitive. It begins to take you back to the days of Street Fighter 2, and the inane backdrops which could be found residing in that archaic lump of plastic.
The sound seems to spoil the whole effect. The fighting sounds are dismal, consisting mainly of really dopey grunts and screams which start out as humorous, but get old very quickly. The background music is dodgy, but bearable. Considering what went into the character graphics its a shame they couldn't get the simple stuff right.
Fun Factor
The game really is a lot of fun, it takes a little while to learn to use a character - which is accomplished through a training mode mode called Academy, and then it's a non-stop stream of laserbeams and explosions. All of the main characters from the film are included as well as a few not in it such as Gambit and Beast. The game is not overly technical and allows a degree of button bashing, but this is a very minor quibble. One thing which did annoy me was the return to the rolling special moves. To the uninitiated, this involves rolling the D-pad in a half or quarter circle and then pressing a button to pull off a special move. This, again, takes me back to the unwanted times of Street Fighter 2, and the terrible injuries which you can cause your thumbs with a non-analog control pad.
Overall
It was never going to be a Tekken beater - but then nothing ever is. It does however produce a decent effort at a film-based game and therefore fills a hole which die-hard fans have been lamenting for years.
- Gameplay
7.0 - Graphics
6.0 - Fun Factor
7.0 - Overall
7.0
