Note wrote:1. Kirby's Dream Land (GB)
2. River City Girls (Switch)
3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (SNES)
4. The Simpsons (Arcade)
5. Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch)
7. Shining Force III [Scenario 1] (SAT)
8. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)
9. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PS1)
10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (GEN)
11. X-Men Legends (PS2)I originally purchased X-Men Legends around the time of release, played a bit of it in single player, but became distracted and didn't return to it. More recently, my partner and I have been playing couch co-op action RPGs and after finishing a variety of games in the genre, this was another I had around that I thought would be fun to finally dive into. I'm glad we did, as I found the game much more enjoyable and easier to play through in co-op mode. For our playthrough, we mostly used Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Storm.
As mentioned, this is an action RPG in which you start off controlling a new recruit to the X-Men, Alison Crestmere, who has the ability to manipulate fire, but as the game progresses, you get a chance to control many of the characters known from the series in a team of four. You have the ability to switch characters as you please throughout the mission, which is a nice touch. I think having to manage the stats and trees for all these characters as a single player might be a bit daunting, but playing through the game co-op, my partner and I focused on and kept track of certain characters. Also, characters in reserve still earn experience points, which is a really nice feature, as it'd be tough if part of your force was left behind in stats. Each character can also be equipped with a few accessories, and there are some really useful items hidden throughout the levels. Other than the main missions, you can also tackle different scenarios in the Danger Room, which are replayable, and can help you grind, if you find that your character's are too weak for a certain section. However, the Danger Room discs that contain these missions have to be tracked down throughout the game.
Graphics wise, the developer's used cel shaded graphics, which I think gives the main characters, enemies, and items a distinct look and makes them pop a bit from the backgrounds, which is unique, especially for the genre. The cutscenes are also well drawn and animated, and I was pretty impressed with the graphics in these sections. The voice acting was also a bit better than I expected from a game. However, there are certain bits of dialogue where voice acting pop ups and other bits where there weren't voices at all. I found this to be a bit odd, as there didn't seem to be any reason why some areas didn't include the voice overs.
One of my only issues with the game, which really only affects the co-op play, is that there are missions featuring Alison Crestmere that are single player only. This is a bit frustrating as you're sitting down with someone to game together and one of the players has to sit out for an extended amount of time while the other finishes up one of these missions. With so many X-Men characters playable, I feel like the developers should have given you the option to play these sections together too. Another issue which is purely cosmetic, is with some of the illustrations used for the loading screens. Some of them just look off! Especially the one with Cyclops, who was drawn with probably a million muscles in his chest. Lol. My partner and I would always laugh when it came up.
I think if you're a fan of the X-Men comics or cartoon series, you'll really enjoy this game, as you get to adventure through a lot of settings you're familiar with, including the Morlocks headquarters in the sewers, the Xavier Institute, New York City, and Asteroid M. You'll also get the opportunity to play through some of your favorite characters and bash away at some of the villains you're used to. Overall, whether you're a Marvel fan or an action RPG fan, I think this is worth your time! Give it a shot if you haven't already.
