Jason plays with portable mutants
Publisher: Activision
Mon, 5 June 2006
by: Jason
The X-Men, where to begin? Once a humble comic, now a massive multimedia machine encompassing cartoons, movies and, of course, games. There have been a quite a few X-Men games over the years, some have been good, while others didn't deserve to even be burnt onto a disc. Finally somebody has it right, after beat-em-ups and platoons of platformers, the action RPG style really works for the property. And it is now portable, finally giving you the opportunity for an x-fix on the move.
First offm this game doesn't follow the movies - so, on the bright side, no halle berry, instead it seems to be more loosely based on the comics, even giving a nod to the fairly recent Ultimates line and the massive x universe event of the age of apocalypse run from 10 years ago. Basically, the plot goes like this; Professor X (of course voiced by captain Jean Luc Picard himself, Patrick Stewart, Christ this bloke does some bloody good work) and Polaris have disappeared from the X mansion when the X-Men return from saving the world once again. Thus the hunt is on and along the way they join forces with Magneto's brotherhood of evil mutants to tear Apocalypse a new one and make the world safe for kittens and puppies.
 | | Visit the mutant wax museum |
The closest thing to this game on PSP would have to be Untold Legends, you control a team of 4 mutants (X men and brotherhood alike) with one member of your team under your direct control and the other three tagging along supposedly following the AI settings (you can switch the team member you're controlling by holding the left shoulder button and pressing a d pad direction). Vast numbers of critters, clones mutants, robots and various other things are thirsting for your X gene positive blood. So its just as well you have an absolute encyclopedia of attacks at your disposal, depending on your choice of mutant and how far you've leveled them up. You start off with a couple of basic melee attacks, which can be chained into combos and an entry level mutant power, after a while you will have an impressive arsenal of death and destruction dealing moves. For example; Wolverine has several different claw slashes and stabs, Cyclops has many variations of his optic blast and Nightcrawler even has his trademark "Bamf" teleport maneuver.
Graphically the games appear to be almost identical to its PS2 brother, in fact it seems to be the same game, except for some different characters (the PC version also has different characters of its own too). The sound is also up to par with all the tension mounting music and thwacks and thumps you expect in a comic adaptation.
Also, as in the prequel, there is a whole host of unlockable content, things like comic covers, Danger room scenarios, and my personal favorite, different costumes, with the exact number depending on the character: Wolverine has his classic blue and yellow spandex, his ultimate X men costume and his costume from the age of apocalypse storyline, just to give you an idea.
 | | Hocus Pocus! |
The game also has a multiplayer mode. I haven't tested this as I don't know 3 other people with PSP's nearby to get together for a game. As for online, it appears to work fine; if you live on either the west coast or the east coast of America. Despite this the single player game more than stands up on its own, with plenty of replay value as far as leveling up all your characters to see all their moves and find all danger room disks and other hidden stuff.
A worthy addition to anyone's mobile gaming collection, be you a child of the atom, or just looking for an alternative to Brotherhood of the Blade for some basic hack and slash....well, not so much hack and slash as hack and blow up.
by: Jason
More articles by Jason
Charles Xavier commands you to get this game, do so now. | |
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