An X-Men Legends ripoff that should have been released as a budget title.
User Rating: 4.3 | Fantastic 4 XBOX
I'll keep this short. If you were thinking of purchasing this game, don't. Save the money for a 360 or a frontal lobotomy. Craptastic 4 is basically X-Men Legends with different characters. I mean, the controls are basically exactly the same as Legends. Unfortunately though, this game is nowhere near as good as it's predecessor. Gameplay: Control 1 of the Fan4, run around & beat up anything that isn't you. Do this in redundant levels against redundant enemies until you can't take it any more. You can build up your character's stats, (again, just like in Legends), but it still all feels incredibly shallow, (each character's special powers basically consist of a long range attack, a sweeping attack that clears enemies around you & basically 1 attack that seems unique to each character). Your character has a normal & strong attack as well as 3 specials & team combos & can pick up objects in the environment & hurl them. Where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, that's right, X-Men Legends. There are a few hacking mini-games to open doors & some "context sensitive" spots where you put the appropriate hero on a colored spot & press the B button, (gee, never seen this before either), but none of it helps flesh out the game or make it feel like more than the boring beat-em-up that it is. There is only 2 player support? WTF? I thought it was the Fantastic 4, not the fantastic 2. But, as wonky as the camera can be in the single player game, I understand why they did not implement a 4 player mode (not to mention that the game's framerate likes to bog down with lots of enemies on screen). Why drag your friends down by making them play this crap anyway? There is an arena mode included, but all the probs from the single player game carry over here as well & are exacerbated by the fact that you don't even have a half-baked story to wrap around all the punching & kicking. Graphics: Probably the best part of the game really, but nothing to write home about. The textures are OK, & the characters look decent, (but not great). The environments are destructible, but nothing that hasen't been done much better in other games, (that other game that I keep talking about for instance). There are different locals to fight through, but they all look very bland & unoriginal. Oooh, now I get to fight through the sewers! Wow, a subway station!!! Boring. Technical: Here is where the game really fails IMO. I've encountered so many bugs in this game, (some of them total showstoppers), that I still can't believe it was thouroughly playtested. I've had levels that I had to reset & start over multiple times because of bugs. This is totally unacceptable in any game, let alone a full price title. There's also a lot of clipping issues with enemies & environmental objects. Although you can control the camera angle with the right stick, it can still get incredibly wonky at times & obstruct your view of the fisticuffs. Longevity: You can beat the single player campaign in a weekend pretty easily. About 10 hours max should do it. There is the 2 player support, but again, the game itself is so totally vanilla & boring that I don't know why anyone would bother. There is the arena mode where you can do timed fights, or attempt to destroy a certain amount of enemies with 1 life, but again, what's the point??? I would say this. If you really want to play this style of game, but want a GOOD version, then play X-Men Legends. It is tons better than The Craptastic 4, has 4 player support, is more fun to play & has a lot more longevity & a TON of playable characters. It alos looks much better than this game. Also, Legends can be purchased for $15 used, whereas this game has the audacity to ask gamers to shell out full price. What a total letdown. Play Legends or wait for Legends 2. Here's hoping the movie is better than this cash-in drivel...
