It is always welcomed to see titles from the Marvel Comics franchise, name it Spiderman or in this case The X-Men. I can’t deny that i love the idea when new games show up. I simply can’t wait to get in the game and start having fun with my favorite superheroes from the Marvel universe.
X-MEN Destiny arrives to the market with a mix of good and terrible comments, we got a late review copy for the game but i decided that i was going to judge X-MEN Destiny, based on my own gameplay experience and not the reviews from other sites.
Story
After the death of Charles Xavier The X-Men are in shambles, they decide to regroup in a different and unknown place, fearing more attacks they cannot afford in this moment of crisis.
There is a rally to promote peace between humans and mutants, this rally ends in a disaster when someone decides to attack. We find out that apparently The Brotherhood of Mutants, is behind the attack, or so the guilty want people to believe they are.
Here in the heat of this tragic attack your character is in mortal peril and this is when his mutant powers manifest, saving his life. Now you must decide which faction you will help and join in the very end. All this while you learn to control your power and help mutants fight the Purifiers, that seems to have a huge arsenal and know more of this attack than meets the eye.
Gameplay
The way the game works is pretty linear, by the most part it’s a 3D brawler but it has some interesting choices that will change how the game story develops, this includes the factions that are The X-Men and The Brotherhood of Mutants.
Emma Frost will guide you telling you where to go, but really as i already mentioned the game is pretty linear so you really dont have much choices to explore and do what you want. Now there is a bit, just a bit of exploration, you can find an open door or an empty alley that doesn’t seems to offer anything to you, but once you head there a cut scene will trigger and one of the mutants will ask you for help to fight Purifiers, U-Mans and other enemies. These side quest missions let you earn rewards such as new X-genes, suits and experience points.
You cannot play with The X-Men or The Brotherhood characters, you can fight alongside them as you go thought the game and the story. You can play as any of the 3 characters that just dicovered their mutant abilities:
Aimi Yoshida: Her father paid to get her outside Japan to save her life, now in San Francisco she is trying to return to Japan with her parents. She comes across as a gogetter type and is always willing to help the X-Men (or Brotherhood, depending your choice) to fight against the Purifiers, U Man and whoever is threating people badly.
Adrian Luca: He is the son of a Purifier, raised and taught to hate the mutants, as he becomes one, his world and beliefs start falling apart. Now as a mutant he must work with the people he used to hate, learning that mutants are not the monsters he was told. As a result the purifiers are now after him. This is my personal favorite to be honet, his story has that spice from the X-Men universe, that conflict between humans and mutants.
Grant Alexander: He is the classic school star, football player and athlete. He went to the rally just to meet girls, i didnt play to much with him, except to test all the different powers, his story was not so interesting, at least not for me.
The diversity is not only on having the choice to pick 3 different characters, but you can also customize how yow your character looks, as you unlock costumes along with X-Genes.
There are 3 different mutant powers you can choose from; Energy Projection, Density Control and Shadow Matter.
Ok so, what are these X-genes? As you play the game, you can obtain X-Genes from the mutants of both factions. You dont obtain their powers; they mix with your own, so lets say you pick Pyro X-Genes, your own powers will now show fire attributes, and if you pick all 3 X-Genes (offense, defense, utility)plus the respective suit from one mutant you can unleash a new power called X-Mode, like turning into a giant rock golem resembling The Juggernaut (Density Control).
The system to upgrade your mutant powers really shines, you can upgrade your X-Genes and abilities by gaining exp defeating enemies, finding collectibles and by completing missions and side quests.
The way your mutant powers develop is never the same, certain fights and events will trigger a new power, and you can pick one of two each time, this gives the game a nice variety as you have a lot of choices and it branches so differently for each power that really you can’t see them all in one single run. A very well implemented system!
Character models and cutscenes looks fantastic, but i cannot say the same of the city, and that is a real shame. If a bit more attention was paid to the city in development they could have nailed it much better. Boss fights are good, i truly like them, if you like old school boss fights, the game will give you a trip down memory lane. Learn the pattern and you win the fight!
Downside
OMG I am flying! No guys.. I’m so sorry, it’s not a mutant power (I wish) but a nasty bug. Sometimes while you climb buildings, using rails to move to different areas or jumping around on the maps, you will find yourself floating in mid air.
Certainly this does not affect gameplay but can be annoying and honestly this should not be there, making me feel like i’m playing an unfinished game. I don’t know if they rushed development but this kind of thing shows a lack of care from the developers.
The game could benefit greatly by using an open world enviroment, sadly it’s too linear. Imagine how great it would have been to roam all over the city. (Like in Infamous for example) Fighting Purifiers, watching the X-Men and The Brotherhood all over the place while doing side quests given by both mutants, police or citizens? That would have been awesome.
There is Purifier propaganda on walls, it’s hard to spot them specially in dark places, having a yellow outline like in Halo 3: ODST or Deus Ex: Human Revolution would have been a good feature to help you spot items and objectives more easily.
Although boss fights are good, sometimes it feels like a trial and error kind of fight, this is frustrating. Emma Frost guides you thought the city, so why she can’t she talk and give some hints for the boss fights?
Overall
So is the game worth trying? I’d say yes, it is! Not a perfect game and certainly there is a lot of room for improvement, feels like they rushed the release, leaving bugs and unpolished details here and there.
Most likely a game that will appeal fans of the X-Men and Marvel comics Universe more than anything. If you are just a fan of the movies and not the comic books you may feel lost and will miss details from the story. (Like oh geez why they killed professor X?!) But it will be a game that you may enjoy for as much as the hardcore fans, with easy trophies/achievements if that is your thing.
The game is available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, so whatever your choice, you’re in for a nice ride with X-Men Destiny!
We give the game a 7.5 out of 10
~Mario
