Post by ryanosaur on Sept 11, 2005 8:55:49 GMT -5
Your Video Game Review section was weak, so, I decided to join your forum and make it more reasonable! You can thank me later, Gilvan Blight!
I'm going to start off with X-Men Legends, which potentially is the best four player action rpg I've played in my entire life.
First of all, the characters are not a let down. You can use not only all of the X-men you love, but, even a few more. Also, the powers that these X-men have are very much in tune with the actual powers they have in the comics.
The storyline is also something that you can follow. Basically, you start out as Wolverine, and you work your way through a park, battling GRSO soldiers, and eventually find yourself in a battle with Mystique, where you start to learn the plot of the game. You meet up with cyclops (the game then becomes two player) and you work your way to the end of the level, at which point you get 4 or 5 more X-men, and the game actually begins as a four player game. The storyline itself somewhat revolves around a new X-man wannabe named "Magma" who has apparently a very strong power. I personally refused to use her, but, she seems to have the capability of doing a lot of damage, as her level ups contain basically the best parts of all the x-men. There are a lot of levels, and you fight a lot of the "Brotherhood" for those of you who don't know, this includes: Toad, Blob, Mystique, Magneto, Pyro, and the occasional extra appearance.
Aside from the storyline, the gameplay is also fun. In this game you can just destroy basically everything. I guarentee that my group of X-men legends friends and I destroyed more things than we focussed on defeating the game. We would literally strip the walls until there was nothing left but the foundation. And you were rewarded a lot of the time too. By focussing on destroying things, and searching for hidden objects, you can get a lot of new and special items, including "Danger Room Discs" which enable you to build up your X-men levels in the Danger room; Comic Book covers which you can view; Health and Power ups; and coins which you can use to purchase new armor/items, or perhaps to purchase back "dead" X-men.
Throughout the game you unlock a lot of new characters, and unlike any other X-men game I've ever played, you actually at one point get to use Professor X. Which is... amazing.
The voice talent is also superb. Patrick Stewart is Professor X (of course), and other various voice talents are in the game as well. A personal favorite, is that the voice of magneto is the same voice of Megabyte from the television show "Reboot".
The leveling system is probabaly the best I've ever seen. It's very easy to comprehend, for those of you who are not entirely sure as to how levelling up works, but, it's very precise and works out well. Towards the end of the game, you're just so excited to level up because it will allow you to make your X-men better. Each X-power has sub-levels, and by the end, your powers are so strong no one is a match for you. Not only can you upgrade your powers, but, also your personal stats (i.e. Strength, Life, etc.) and even other little goodies which will allow you to get better and stronger.
The one player mode of the game is decent, but, I probably wouldn't have gotten into it as much if it didn't involve a group of friends all working towards the same goal. In the one player mode you can set other X-men to use certain AI powers of your choice, and you can even summon upon them to help attack your enemies. You can also choose what sort of agressor they are, and how close they get to battle. Also, it's easy for you to switch between the four X-men, so, it's not really a problem if you need someone to do something, and they're not doing it AI.
There are some drawbacks to this game, however. When playing multiplayer, there are certain times where you HAVE to play a one player segment as Magma. This can be tedious and boring for those who are not playing. Also, you are occasionally forced to have certain X-men in your party, and if you're playing as only one X-man per person, and building up their powers, it can get annoying. Also, during the storyline, because the game usually doesn't force you to take certain X-men, there are a lot of occasions where the bad guys are talking with actual voices, and the X-men are just using generic words. But, the actual talking system is good. You can ask a certain amount of questions and these questions lead to other questions if you ask them first. It's good because you get more information out of people.
The biggest drawback to the game I find was that it was pretty easy. The game itself was never too difficult. The first time we ran into Sentinals we had a little problem, but, overall, the game is pretty simplistic. However, this is rivaled by it's length. It's a really LONG game. There are a lot of things you have to do, and we basically just skimmed the surface. If you're the sort of person who likes to get everything, then there is SO MUCH you can do. It's a single players world at the X-Mansion, and there is a lot you could do there.
Overall, this game was amazing. It's out for every console system, and now it's priced at $29.99. It's been out for a while, so at your local blockbuster, it should be a full week rental. If you can't beat it within a week, take the extra 7 days that they give you. I work there, and even I usually take the extra days.
I'm going to start off with X-Men Legends, which potentially is the best four player action rpg I've played in my entire life.
First of all, the characters are not a let down. You can use not only all of the X-men you love, but, even a few more. Also, the powers that these X-men have are very much in tune with the actual powers they have in the comics.
The storyline is also something that you can follow. Basically, you start out as Wolverine, and you work your way through a park, battling GRSO soldiers, and eventually find yourself in a battle with Mystique, where you start to learn the plot of the game. You meet up with cyclops (the game then becomes two player) and you work your way to the end of the level, at which point you get 4 or 5 more X-men, and the game actually begins as a four player game. The storyline itself somewhat revolves around a new X-man wannabe named "Magma" who has apparently a very strong power. I personally refused to use her, but, she seems to have the capability of doing a lot of damage, as her level ups contain basically the best parts of all the x-men. There are a lot of levels, and you fight a lot of the "Brotherhood" for those of you who don't know, this includes: Toad, Blob, Mystique, Magneto, Pyro, and the occasional extra appearance.
Aside from the storyline, the gameplay is also fun. In this game you can just destroy basically everything. I guarentee that my group of X-men legends friends and I destroyed more things than we focussed on defeating the game. We would literally strip the walls until there was nothing left but the foundation. And you were rewarded a lot of the time too. By focussing on destroying things, and searching for hidden objects, you can get a lot of new and special items, including "Danger Room Discs" which enable you to build up your X-men levels in the Danger room; Comic Book covers which you can view; Health and Power ups; and coins which you can use to purchase new armor/items, or perhaps to purchase back "dead" X-men.
Throughout the game you unlock a lot of new characters, and unlike any other X-men game I've ever played, you actually at one point get to use Professor X. Which is... amazing.
The voice talent is also superb. Patrick Stewart is Professor X (of course), and other various voice talents are in the game as well. A personal favorite, is that the voice of magneto is the same voice of Megabyte from the television show "Reboot".
The leveling system is probabaly the best I've ever seen. It's very easy to comprehend, for those of you who are not entirely sure as to how levelling up works, but, it's very precise and works out well. Towards the end of the game, you're just so excited to level up because it will allow you to make your X-men better. Each X-power has sub-levels, and by the end, your powers are so strong no one is a match for you. Not only can you upgrade your powers, but, also your personal stats (i.e. Strength, Life, etc.) and even other little goodies which will allow you to get better and stronger.
The one player mode of the game is decent, but, I probably wouldn't have gotten into it as much if it didn't involve a group of friends all working towards the same goal. In the one player mode you can set other X-men to use certain AI powers of your choice, and you can even summon upon them to help attack your enemies. You can also choose what sort of agressor they are, and how close they get to battle. Also, it's easy for you to switch between the four X-men, so, it's not really a problem if you need someone to do something, and they're not doing it AI.
There are some drawbacks to this game, however. When playing multiplayer, there are certain times where you HAVE to play a one player segment as Magma. This can be tedious and boring for those who are not playing. Also, you are occasionally forced to have certain X-men in your party, and if you're playing as only one X-man per person, and building up their powers, it can get annoying. Also, during the storyline, because the game usually doesn't force you to take certain X-men, there are a lot of occasions where the bad guys are talking with actual voices, and the X-men are just using generic words. But, the actual talking system is good. You can ask a certain amount of questions and these questions lead to other questions if you ask them first. It's good because you get more information out of people.
The biggest drawback to the game I find was that it was pretty easy. The game itself was never too difficult. The first time we ran into Sentinals we had a little problem, but, overall, the game is pretty simplistic. However, this is rivaled by it's length. It's a really LONG game. There are a lot of things you have to do, and we basically just skimmed the surface. If you're the sort of person who likes to get everything, then there is SO MUCH you can do. It's a single players world at the X-Mansion, and there is a lot you could do there.
Overall, this game was amazing. It's out for every console system, and now it's priced at $29.99. It's been out for a while, so at your local blockbuster, it should be a full week rental. If you can't beat it within a week, take the extra 7 days that they give you. I work there, and even I usually take the extra days.