X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse E3 2005 First Look

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse takes place after the events of the first X-Men Legends, when Magneto and the Brotherhood have joined forces with Professor Xavier's X-Men to battle Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen. The old maxim "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" certainly applies here, as you'll command Magneto right alongside Wolverine in your four-man squad. We played the game at a loud Nokia press event, but you can be sure that everything but the sound stays pretty close to the original X-Men Legends, with a few notable additions.

Once again, the game offers co-op multiplayer for up to four Bluetooth-linked N-Gages. In the single-player mode, artificial intelligence simply takes control of the three inactive party members. Having friends provides a definite tactical advantage. In Legends II, however, you can challenge another N-Gage Arena participant to turn-based PVP skirmishes. This mode wasn't available for play at Nokia's press event, so it's as yet unclear how Legend's real-time action role-playing-game combat has been adapted to the turn-based, online setting.

Gameplay has been given a small shake-up by the flying abilities of some mutants, of which, in our E3 demo, only Magneto was playable. Nokia was coy as to which other flying marvels would be available. Flight will be a requirement for the completion of certain levels, however.

Graphically, Legends II is almost identical to its predecessor. The sprite-based action is shown from a fixed isometric perspective and runs very smoothly, at least in single-player mode.

Rise of Apocalypse is staying the course, reprising the gameplay and presentation that made its antecessor one of the best games on the N-Gage. We're excited to see more of this title and are especially interested to learn whether the previous game's star-studded vocal talent (Patrick Stewart, anyone?) reprise their roles.