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Earlier this year, Activision and Raven Software released X-Men Legends II (XL2), a sequel to one of the best superhero licensed games ever made. Now they have ported it to the PSP and it feels great to play a good X-Men game on the go.

Last year’s X-Men Legends was a great game, but had some issues in terms of gameplay. Raven might have not solved every single individual problem, but they opted to add a lot more to the gameplay making this a phenomenal sequel. Best of all, the X-Men has no choice, but to team up with The Brotherhood, AKA the bad guys.

When on a mission, the player takes control of an X-Men or Brotherhood member of their choice. There are a wide variety of characters to choose from including old favorites such as Wolverine, Colossus, Magneto and yes, even the mighty Juggernaut! Each character has his or her own special strengths. Cyclops for example, is a good long range fighter by utilizing his optic blasts while characters like Colossus are good for short range by beating the crap out of anything in sight. While characters have their own advantages, they also have their own weaknesses.

Before or during a mission, players congregate a party that consists of four characters. However, they can only control one person at a time. By holding the left shoulder button and pushing a direction on the D pad, players can instantly switch between party members.

By defeating enemies, players gain experience points which is used for leveling up. There are different stats that can be upgraded such as body, focus, strength and speed. Not only are stats available for upgrading, but skills as well. You can also gain new skills or powers for your characters.

 

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If you have played the first game, you will feel right at home with XL2. It plays a lot like the first one, but there’s still a lot to keep you interested -- it feels like more than just an upgrade from the first game. You can still beat the crap out of enemies, pick up and throw objects and, oh yes, four new playable heroes are exclusive to the PSP version including one of my favorite characters from the Marvel Universe; Cable, the son of Cyclops (hard to believe since he’s so badass).

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Remember in the first X-men Legends game where you needed certain characters in your party to accomplish a specific task? Certain X-Men characters might be better to use than others depending on the situation. If you have no idea about what I am talking about, think of fire. What puts out fire? The powers of Iceman of course! Fire isn’t the only obstacle that will get in your way however, each mutant might have to play his/her own part in order to overcome their very own unique obstacle.

There is nothing worse in a game than an AI that gets in the way. In the first game, I had to reload my file at the X-Mansion before because Jean Grey decided to block my way at the doorway. The AI has improved in XL2, however they still tend to get in the way from time to time and can be a small nuisance. 

If you are a 2D fighting game fan, like me, you should love the awesomeness known as “super moves.” Well, Raven must have decided that if super moves look cool in fighting games, they could also look cool in an action RPG. They were right. These super moves are appropriately called ‘Xtreme Powers’ and each character can unleash an Xtreme Power attack by collecting four Xtreme tokens.

Like in every dungeon crawler-ish game, in order to survive you will need to buy items and gear. Forge is the man to go to. With gear equipped, players can enhance their characters’ abilities.

Of course multiplayer is available like the console counterparts if you want to play with your friends. You can also play online if you have wireless internet. This is just too sweet to pass up, especially for a game on a portable system.

Graphically the game looks great. Raven did a good job with character appearances and to top things off, you can change skins if the character’s current look doesn’t appeal to you. Environments look great and the whole 3D cell shaded idea really feels appropriate  giving off a comic book vibe.

The music fits the look and the voice acting is above average. I can’t say the same for all characters though, Gambit for example really sucks. Maybe it’s just because Chris Potter did such a great job providing the voice of Gambit from the 90’s cartoon series.

I suggest a purchase for anyone who has a PSP and likes Action RPGs. You do not even have to be a hardcore X-Men fan to enjoy this one. It is definitely worth your pretty dollar.

- J'Tonello

(December 18, 2005)

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