X-Men Legends came out and became the best X-Men game. And addictive RPG that allowed you to control a team of 4 X-Men. Switching between the 4 team members is easily accomplished with each member assigned to a direction on the d-pad. As you level up your mutants, you get skills to upgrade as well as mutant powers to upgrade and unlock. The game had you fighting Magneto and his Brotherhood along with the Sentinels.
So what about Ultimate Spiderman that is a simplification of Spiderman 2? A big part of it is the fighting/controls. The basic controls are just like Spiderman 2, however. Outside of fighting, you'll notice that web slinging has taken a step backwards. Spidey 2 introduced dual web slinging-shooting a second web while slinging from the first. Now Ultimate goes back to the basics with allowing only one webbing at a time. Spidey 2 also had upgrading web attacks which are also missing in Ultimate. Things really get simplified and take a step back. The smart thing would have been to allow basic or advanced controls.
X-Men Legends 2 unfortunately doesn't change that much from the original. At the same time this is a good thing because it was so good. The main difference is that you are now working with Magneto and the Brotherhood to go up against Apocalypse. The best part is that you get to actually include Magneto and Brotherhood into your teams. In fact, I really liked that right at the start you have a lot of characters to choose from to put into your 4 man team. There are still plenty of characters that need to be playable.
The CGI cut scenes really show off some amazing detail. In-game graphics are cel-shaded but not to a total effect. It's more noticeable when viewing character models up close. Environments are pretty variable and have good detail. After each chapter you will unlock new costume sets. Each of these costumes are nice additions and look very good.
Another new addition to Legends 2 is that you can now do co-op online . Those without Live can also do co-op offline or do some sparring in the Danger Room. The same problem from the first one still affects this one in that the screen restricts the area for multiple players. Now that we have an X-Men RPG with online Co-op, I'd love to see an MMORPG.
Overview
The only thing that prevents X-Men Legends 2 from being a really great game is the lack of additions from the first. There is, however, enough here to make a separate game and not just X-Men Legends with online play. After all, there doesn't need to be many big changes in a game's sequel. X-Men Legends 2 is definitely a must-buy addictive game. Hopefully a third title in the series will hit next-gen consoles and make some even bigger changes.
