X-Men Legends Review

In the first year or so following its release, the N-Gage received disappointingly few games that were worthy of the hype that surrounded the device at launch. Over the past six months however, Nokia seem to have been pulling out all the stops in getting titles developed that will attract new recruits to the fold of N-Gage gamers. Recent games that have been well received span many genres: line-of-sight strategy in Pathway to Glory, 2D fighting in King of Fighters, multiple first-person shooters in the form of portable outings from the Tom Clancy’s franchise, even MMORPG has been covered with Pocket Kingdoms: Own the World. The N-Gage however had been lacking a high-profile game in the action adventure classification - enter X-Men Legends.

When videogame developers and publishers decide what kind of title they develop - the strongest contributory factor on most occasions is to create a game for a market that already exists. With a large fan base from readers of the Marvel comics, plus those who have been familiarised with the likes of Wolverine and Professor Xavier from the recent blockbuster films, creating a game in the X-Men universe certainly looks like a shrewd move. In years past, both Konami and Capcom have their fingers in the pie of bringing the superhero mutants to games consoles - and last year Activision followed in their footsteps, launching X-Men Legends on Sony’s PlayStation 2, the Nintendo Gamecube, and the Xbox from Microsoft. The release was widely judged to be above average - a worthwhile purchase for those with a passion for either the world of the X-Men or the format of the game - but far from what could be described as an AAA title. Based on this, one might expect a handheld version of the game to be mediocre at best; fortunately however, X-Men Legends for the Nokia N-Gage is an exemplary effort which merits the attention of all who play games with buttons named 5 and 7.

To those who have played the home console version, the game will follow a familiar format. Like its counterpart on the PS2 et al. the storyline of X-Men Legends on the N-Gage focuses on Alison Crestmere, a new recruit to the X-Men. The game begins with a cutscene in which the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (bad guys) attempt to kidnap teenage Alison. When Wolverine intervenes, her frustration at the fighting leads her to accidentally use her fledging mutant powers to cause an eruption of lava. Based on her volcano-themed capabilities, she later adopts the title of Magma, and is pitted against foes along with the rest of the team.

Although the game includes a number of RPG-esque elements - most notably the upgrading of character stats and collection and usage of items - the bulk of the game is spent as a foursome (you controlling one character, leaving the remaining three in the control of the AI) fighting the Brotherhood and its minions. Considering it is primary area of the game, the actual fighting is disappointingly bland. Button 5 executes a standard attack, with button 7 providing a special attack which uses up a chunk of the energy of your character. Standard attacking consists mainly of positioning your character close to an enemy and button bashing in the hope that your punches land. The special attacks do however allow for more tactical usage, and in many cases can be used from a safe distance.

As mentioned, you control one character at a time - leaving any other conscious characters in your party in the hands of the game AI. While the attacks of computer controlled characters are intelligent for the most part - they do not have the ability of a human brain in deciding to replenish their health and/or energy using the relevant items within your inventory. If you want to be certain that your companions have healthy looking HP bars, you will need to quickly take control of those members of your party to take a look. If you feel the need to be continuously checking this information, you may find yourself changing character four times after each battle.

Fortunately, if you have up to three friends also with an N-Gage and a copy of X-Men Legends, you can take on the baddies in multi-player mode over Bluetooth. If the type of people you fraternise with are capable of grasping the concept that a near-empty health bar would be better off refilled, you’ll likely find that taking on Magneto (leader of the Brotherhood) and company is much easier with four human players.

Graphically, the game is as good as can be expected from the N-Gage. During gameplay, the characters appear as well-animated sprites in isometric 3D levels. The levels themselves are effectively illustrated; although on some occasions it does appear you can walk places which are in actuality blocked off (especially where there is debris of the many objects in the game which you can destroy).

The music and sound of the game are also difficult to fault. For a handheld title, the sound quality of the cutscenes is exceptional. The amount of speech that developer Barking Lizards have managed to fit on this MMC is outstanding, especially considering how relatively little quality has been lost in the compression routines compared to other titles. In-game sound effects are nicely used, although the amount of actual background music is slightly on the sporadic side.

To round up, X-Men Legends is one of the best titles to grace the N-Gage to date. It is slightly let down by a lacklustre control of fighting, but excels in all other areas. If adventure games are your thing, I would wholeheartedly recommend this title to you. On the other hand, if you’re not a fan of the genre, this game may still be worth a place in your collection.

Overall score: 3.5 / 5.

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