X-Men Legends

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From Gamespot:

 

X-Men Legends Hands-On

 

 

Considering the team-oriented nature of the X-Men, it's a wonder no one has ever thought to do a role-playing game based on the popular Marvel comic series. Now the time has come, and Activision is developing X-Men Legends, an action RPG that lets you take control of the famous team of mutants in a variety of different team-based missions. We got to take a look at an early build of the game at E3, and we were quite impressed with what we saw.

 

You begin the game at the Xavier mansion, which serves as your base of operations during the game. The mansion is fairly big, with numerous rooms and floors to explore. You will also find yourself running into fellow X-Men, whom you can converse with and even gain mission info from. Though a few missions will require only one or two characters, X-Men Legends largely features a four-player style of gameplay throughout the majority of the game. Fifteen selectable X-Men will be available, but only a handful of them will be playable from the start. You will be able to easily switch between characters during the game, with the CPU taking control of the rest of your team. The game will feature a co-op mode for up to four players, but no online play.

 

At the beginning of each mission, you will choose your team from the selectable characters list. Each character will have two specific listings of stats, one being a general list that all the X-Men have, and one that is character-specific, regarding that mutant's abilities. In the general category, the variable stats will be strength, speed, body, and mind. These stats can be upgraded using experience points gained in battle. The character-specific stats depend on what the chosen mutant's power is. For example, if you choose Iceman, you will be able to upgrade stats based on his various ice attacks, and with Storm, you can upgrade several different weather-related attacks.

 

Though you can choose any of the playable X-Men for missions, some characters will be better in certain types of missions than others. Colossus, for instance, is perfectly suited to heavy battle sequences, due to his size and strength, whereas a character like Jean Grey, who relies more on intelligence and agility, would be better for more puzzle-oriented missions. This is not to say Colossus couldn't solve certain puzzles in the game--he would just not be as well suited to the task. In addition to each character's standard mutant-power attacks, there will be multiple types of combo moves available where two characters can pair up and attack at the same time. Some examples of this include Jean Grey lifting up an enemy with her mind, and Cyclops sliding in underneath, blasting it out of the air, and also Colossus picking up Wolverine and tossing him blades-first into an evil mutant. These combos are extremely impressive looking, and Activision is actually aiming to create one combo for every possible pair of X-Men. If you do the math, that's really quite something.

 

X-Men Legends is largely based on the look of the Ultimate X-Men series, though certain elements from the movies will also seep into the overall style of the game. Every level in the game will feature fully interactive and destructible environments, allowing for a lot of crazy and unique battle sequences. Cutscenes will also intermittently present themselves for mission briefings and debriefings. None of the voice work for the game had been implemented yet, but each character will have his or her own, true-to-the-character voice.

 

X-Men Legends is still well over a year from completion, but everything we saw of the game still managed to impress and entertain. The game's original blend of action-oriented battle sequences and cooperative gameplay is very cool, and the multiplayer co-op function should be an absolute blast. Activision has slated X-Men Legends for a fall 2004 release, and the game will be available on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox.

Screens can be found here. Plus, a handbook feature that Gamespot is constantly adding to.

 

Hopefully it plays as well as it looks.

[Black Lushus 0]

as long as they bring characters the majority know (not JUST fanboys), this will be quite good...

 

Here's who I would put in:

 

Cyclops

Jean Grey

Beast

Angel (is he still Archangel?)

Iceman

Wolverine

Storm

Colossus

Nightcrawler

Rogue

Gambit

 

I dunno who else, been about 4 years since I last read X-Men...

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

This looks like it's mostly taken from Ultimate X-Men.

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It is..

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Ultimate has smoked the regualar comics for awhile now, so that's probably a good thing.

 

Cyclops

Jean Grey

Beast

Angel (is he still Archangel?)

Iceman

Wolverine

Storm

Colossus

Nightcrawler

Rogue

Gambit

 

Add in Shadowcat too.

[Black Lushus 0]

maybe Bishop cuz he was a personal fav. of mine, but that would be fan boyness...

[Exslade ZX 0]

The 3D pics of the characters and stuff look great and all...but the gameplay pics don't look to good, at lesat not for this game. It look kind of like Sly Cooper...a really funny, Cel sahded type. I don't think that fits well...

 

And is it just me or from the screens does the gameplay look like that of Freedom Force?

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The game definitely isn't cel shaded..

[Exslade ZX 0]

Well I don't know what it's called...

 

 

It's just like a game I've played...I just can' think of the game at the time. And that definitely isn't regular 3D like most games.

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I think it may be the thick black outline around each of the characters that's making it look 'off'...

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I had freedom fighters and enjoyed it for the little bit of time that I played it.

[Guest The Notorious CRD]

Definitely looking forward to play this. The action RPG genre is pretty much perfect for a game of this type.

 

I like the new look of the game too. Gives it a comic book type feel.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Holy fucking shit, Ice Man.

 

That's COOL.

 

*laughs hysterically for several hours*

[AndrewTS 0]

...no mention of how the game actually plays. Are we talking like River City Ransom (beat 'em up with RPG elements), Zelda, Beyond/Legend of Oasis, or what?

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I'm guessing it's similar to Seven Samurai 20XX... you walk into the fights, which are action-genre geared, and then in between those there are cut scenes, which are rpg-geared, as well as the obvious travelling between areas.

[Vyce 0]

I'm sorry, I'm still struggling through this - exactly WHAT is the "action RPG" genre?

 

If you could point me to a game I'd know as an example, I'd appreciate it.

[Lightning Flik 0]

I'm sorry, I'm still struggling through this - exactly WHAT is the "action RPG" genre?

 

If you could point me to a game I'd know as an example, I'd appreciate it.

It's basically an action game with enough RPG elements in the game, to be given sway to actually being called an RPG. Even though it is really an action game.

 

Examples:

 

Legend of Zelda

Vagrant Story (Sorry VS fans, it is true)

ActRaiser

Seiken Densetsu (...I'm so going to die in Square-Enix hell for that one)

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I'm sorry, I'm still struggling through this - exactly WHAT is the "action RPG" genre?

 

If you could point me to a game I'd know as an example, I'd appreciate it.

Seven Samurai 20XX is a good example. If you haven't played that, then perhaps the new TMNT or Batman games are good examples. It pretty much uses all the concepts of an RPG [like experience points, leveling up, gaining new abilities, etc. as well as the cut scenes..] but the fights are "real-time" action based, not turn based like in most RPG's.

[Vyce 0]

Alright then, will this game be more focused on the ACTION part of the "action RPG" (as with, say, the LOTR games, like Two Towers) or will it focus more on the RPG aspect (say like with Kingdom Hearts)?

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Probably. But we won't know for sure, I guess, until we get a more in-depth feature on it. =\

[AndrewTS 0]

Seiken Densetsu (...I'm so going to die in Square-Enix hell for that one)

Is that where you get to play a decent game for a minute, then watch 9 hours of cut scenes, then you have to talk to a legion of obsessed Squeenix fans?

 

To live up to the Sega classic or Mutant Apocalype, this better be damn good and playable to boot.

[Ripper 0]

The game definitely isn't cel shaded..

Its cell shading. They just made the outer borders thicker.

 

I would like to add how much I don't really care for cell shading again.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Is that where you get to play a decent game for a minute, then watch 9 hours of cut scenes, then you have to talk to a legion of obsessed Squeenix fans?

 

No. That would be the Secret of Mana series. Lots of fighting, little story.

[AndrewTS 0]

Is that where you get to play a decent game for a minute, then watch 9 hours of cut scenes, then you have to talk to a legion of obsessed Squeenix fans?

 

No. That would be the Secret of Mana series. Lots of fighting, little story.

Is Square even capable of making that sort of game anymore? I actually would prefer that to most of what they do now.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I'm a bit disappointed they're using the Ultimate costume designs. New was the way to go - black leather, beeotch. Ultimate Storm is particularly goofy.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I'm a bit disappointed they're using the Ultimate costume designs. New was the way to go - black leather, beeotch. Ultimate Storm is particularly goofy.

Just be glad they aren't going with the awful spandex versions.

[Guest Goodear]

Yeah! Phooey on that spandex that makes the characters actually recognizable as opposed to a bunch of black leather clad Matrix-clones. I'm so ready for the 'realistic' clothing movement to end.

[Yuna_Firerose 0]

After watching some vids of the movie - Nightcrawler in particular, I'm definetly looking forward to this game. Jean's telekinesis, Kurt's BAMF!...just, wow. They all look incredible.

 

I'm hoping they get some voice actors from the movie for some of the characters [like, ya know, Kurt. okay, I'm a fangirl of Kurt's. It's not like you can tell......too much]. At the very least, I hope the voice acting is decent.

 

For those interested, there's an in-depth article/interview with the creators in the latest mag of Gamepro about the game. Thankfully, I get the subscription free ^-^

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I'm hoping they get some voice actors from the movie

That's highly doubtful from what I've read.