X-Men Legends II – Rise of Apocalypse

Eschatology. Now there's a word you don't read every day. It's Greek and is roughly translated as 'last', but it more specifically means 'the end of the world'.

Maybe we'd have had ours sooner if Will Smith hadn't screwed around in space killing aliens. Or maybe it's Bruce Willis' fault for saving us from Armageddon. Still, like the Greeks, you can be sure of one thing, that we'll always have some stupid over-blown disaster to deal with. And today it's on the PSP, as Apocalypse reins war on all humans – and mutants.

The thing to understand about the world of X-Men is that it's not so much a world full of superheroes, more a world of humans and humans with freak mutant abilities from telekinesis to weather control. Hence humans and mutants. And what comic world could be without good guys and bad guys? There is a twist though, in that the good and the bad are joining forces. For what purpose, you ask? To fight the really bad baddie.

It's silly, of course but also appealing – and it's having such an arsenal of different characters at your disposal that makes Rise of the Apocalypse interesting. With so many powers and abilities to choose from, the game becomes much more individual, and each time you play can be a different experience.

Certain elements remain constant, though. Four of the characters are always on screen, and while you can switch between any of the four, you only control one at a time – the rest of the group will follow your lead. Fortunately, the ability to change characters isn't a pointless one. They'll be puzzles that unfold in the dungeons ahead that require specific skills to progress, so you'll constantly need to be chopping and changing as you make your way along. For instance, taking a short cut across that cliff is easy if you have Magneto (who can telepathically build bridges) in your group, but if not you're taking the long, spider-infested route around. It's these aspects that keep you on your toes.

There won't be just puzzles in your way though. Along with 'Hulk Smashing' through walls and extinguishing fires with Iceman, hordes of enemies will need disposing of, too, and while they're never difficult to remove, they generally attack in groups so using your assortment of talent is always key. You can choose, say, a character with a long-range weapon such as Cyclops and his beam attack. Or maybe you prefer close-up fisticuffs, in which case you'll be wanting Wolverine's powerful clawing melees and slashes. The choice is left entirely in your mutant hands and it's an aspect the game gets so right.

The level structures are a little different, though. Your choices are far more limited and the places you visit mainly consist of following one path until you finish your mission. That said, the areas vary nicely from eerie sanctums to New York City so you'll never find yourself bored of the same old backgrounds and walls.

Navigating will be your biggest worry, though. The camera isn't controllable, you see – you rely on the game to look around for you. A lot of the time this is a pain as you run back on yourself and have to wait for the camera to re-adjust, and often you can't see far enough in front of you and will keep running into walls and enemies.

You'll also find some sections of the game are far too dark and so if you're sat by the window on that long train ride, expect to have a few difficulties seeing just where you're going. That's if the game has loaded before your rail journey is over, anyway. After sitting through several long loading times before the action starts, area changing during play will result in more loads, and this can really slow the fast pace of the game down.

More annoying, still, are the loading times for your character menus. As you progress through the adventure, your favourite four will level up and earn points, but whenever you want to distribute these points or change character you'll have to interrupt the game and wait for the right menus to load before doing so. It's something that could have been much easier and quicker had it been integrated into the game rather than in a separate menu.

The game has other flaws: the screen can get too crowded, and there's the occasional bit of slowdown where things fail to run smoothly. But there's a lot that makes up for it too: the endless types of customisation for your characters, and the destructible environments all add to a mostly pleasurable experience.

To really get the most out of X-Men Legends II, though, you'll need to play it in multiplayer. Be it wireless link amongst friends or online with strangers, once you get rid of those average computer-controlled players, the game opens up. You'll quickly forgive its niggles, and have a lot more fun.

X-Men Legends II – Rise of the Apocalypse is on sale now.

X-Men Legends II – Rise of Apocalypse

A decent, fun co-operative multiplayer game that'll keep you going for a while. But playing on your own will never feel particularly exciting.
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