OUR RATING: 8.8 GREAT About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 9 Visuals: 7 Audio: 7 Value: 10 Quality: 9

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 8.8 SUGGESTION: N/A

The first X-Men Legends title on the consoles proved that super hero games could be done right. With the success of the first Legends title, along with Spider-Man 2, and the recent Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, super heroes in games are climbing back to the glory they once held in their golden age; the 32 bit era.

X-Men Legends II, also available on the PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube, is now available for the PSP. With Legends II, Vicarious Visions and Raven Software have created what may be the most faithful console-to-handheld port ever made. Almost every facet and detail of the console versions has successfully been scaled down and transferred to Sony’s little black device.

The story of Legends II should be familiar to X-Men fans. Apocalypse, a 5,000 year old mutant with his mind set on ruling the world, has just taken over New York City. Neither the X-Men nor Magneto’s Brotherhood of Mutants is powerful enough to fight Apocalypse alone, so the two decide to work together to take him down.
This unique story arch allows for some new gameplay elements to be melded into the already successful X-Men Legends formula. Characters from The Brotherhood are now playable, allowing you to choose from a much broader range of mutants from the start of the game. This is likely the only game you will ever play that will allow you to set up a team which includes Wolverine, Cyclops, Juggernaut, and Magneto, all working together.

However, even with such a great line-up of playable characters, some very important and potentially great characters have been omitted. Mystique, Sabretooth, Beast, Pyro, and Angel are all in the game, but are not playable. While this could be considered nitpicking, the omission of these key characters is a real shame. Though, the unlockable heroes more than make up for this atrocity, and some of them may truly surprise you.

The core gameplay in Legends II is very much the same as its predecessor. Hack and slash gameplay combined with RPG elements combine to form a solid and fast paced action-RPG. Every character is really a typical RPG mainstay in disguise, as you have your brawlers (Wolverine, Gambit, Colossus), your ranged fighters (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm), and your balanced fighters (Rogue, Magneto, Nightcrawler). Composing a team is fun in itself as not only can you choose from your favorite characters, but each of them has their own unique traits that make them suitable for certain roles on a team. The effective team combines at least two brawlers and one ranged fighter, with the fourth slot open for a wild card pick, but the game is varied enough to the point where you could probably get by with any team you like.
Combat is deep and fulfilling, but fast paced to the point where it never gets repetitious. Combos flow wonderfully during the game’s more action intensive segments, and double-team moves are still intact from the console titles. There’s never a dull moment when facing down foes in Legends II, and the combat works very well for this type of game.

Visually, X-Men Legends II has translated well to the PSP, and while not quite on the scale of its console cousins, the smaller screen allows some of the more minor graphical inconsistencies to go unnoticed. Unfortunately, the screen size also causes some of the effects of the game’s cel shaded graphics to be lost as well. Aside from this, only minor blemishes surface in the PSP version of Legends II, including some blurry textures and poorly-lit environments.

The audio has also made the transition to the PSP quite well. Voiceovers and sound effects have somehow managed to escape the problem of a “canned” effect that plagues so many portable games. The music is generally well done, though it tends to fade in and out at awkward moments during battle. Overall, the audio package here is well done.

X-Men Legends II provides a console quality experience in portable form. With Danger Room missions and comic book side stories, as well as unlockable characters and conceptual art, you will surely be playing X-Men Legends II long after the credits roll. You may even decide to give the New Game + feature a shot, so you can use all of your unlocked characters from the start of the game. X-Men Legends II is one of the finest games in the PSP library thus far, and if you have even the slightest interest in X-Men or quality action-RPGs, then give it a shot—you won’t be disappointed.