Finally! What do we have here? R/ A good adventure X-Men game.
Most of the past games based on the Marvel Heroes were fighting games, simply because every other attempt to do a rpg, adventure or hack -n- slash game based on them, failed enormously.
All we have had with the X-men were good crossover fighting games, such as Marvel vs Street Fighter or X-men vs Street Fighter and those were good titles but there was nothing else than the pure fighting.
Now, with X-Men Legends things change for good.
First, the characters models are based on the "classic" X-men which we all know and recognize, there's no Wolverine based on a film or a teen Cyclops or a manga Beast. Characters have new looking customs but based on the 90's cartoon, so they look fresh but familiar to all of us,this is a good point in favor.
The story of this game starts with the basics, human people fearing/hating mutants, mutants hating/attacking people and the X-Men right in the middle of the conflict trying to solve things between them and the Brotherhood (X-men antagonist mutant group).
The Main story is about this conflict and how renowned people and powerful mutants try to flip the side of the coin to their own side and be the winners of this war,so the X-Men will have to stop not the Mutants nor the Humans,but the conflict itself.
The way the game introduces us to the X-Men world is very creative. The story begins with the Brotherhood kidnapping a teen girl (wich is a powerful mutant), the X-Men end up rescuing her and she decides to join them, so while you are in the X-Mansion (Main Base between chapters or stages) you play as her (Codename Magma),so you will be able to go to the other mutants rooms and read about their past, search in the computers about the enemies abilities look at comic books,enter the danger room and many other important things. This way Magma (and you) will realize what's going with the story and the game,while it introduces you to the main concepts of the X-Men.
This game is a combination Adventure-RPG,battles are fast paced with you and your squad hitting and shooting several enemies at the very moment,the rpg part of the game is about character development via experience points.
You will work with a squad of 4 mutants out of "many" playable characters, you will be able to pick each member you like and form your squad as you please, each character has its weaknesses and its strengths, characters like Jean Grey will have a vast amount of energy and will do psychic damage, others like Colossus will have a large amount of Health and will do a vast amount of physical damage, choosing which members you will play with depends on the enemies you'll be facing (there are plenty) but of course you can customize your party anyway you want.
Characters gain experience wich must be used in order to raise status such as health/energy/strength/ and specific abilities depending (again) on each character such as invulnerability (Colossus and others) or Rage (Wolverine)
Controls are intuitive and easy to use, you can jump/hit/kick and use special powers, the normal melee combo attacks are almost the same for every X-Men this could be a good or a bad thing, the good: easy to learn, you won't mess around guessing individual combos for every character, the bad: it gets repetitive.
Scenarios well designed and can be destroyed from walls to doors, you can pick up barrels and throw them to the enemies to make a long rage attack.
The AI is always a problem with this kind of games,and yes some times your fellows will fall through a hole or will get stuck in a door and end up dead by the enemies,it happens here from time to time,but it's not VERY common and will not affect the overall experience,in fact the AI is very good, the enemies will be challenging and your squad will save you from a sure death more than once.
This is a long game, you will have X-Mens for a while,but you will enjoy it from start to finish.From the Main Story mode through Challenge modes to the Danger Room where you can find secret items and surprises like more characters,or just practice your abilities by destroying as many enemies as you can.
It has good replay value, you can start the game again in case you miss a secret challenge or an item or just for the fun of it and use the unlockables earned.
X-Men Legends is not the best game, but it is a great game that destroyed the wrong idea that adventure games couldn't be done the right way using the Marvel formula,in fact it is such a good game that it has a sequel, but not only that,it even set the basis for another game using other Marvel Super Heroes,but even more than that,this game was able to take it's concepts to a new generation console (PS3).
If you like Marvel or X-Men Universe, and you're looking for a good entertaining fast paced adventure rpg game (uff), then you'd better not miss this title and it's successors.
This game might no be actually called revolutionary BUT it did things right and established some very fresh ideas.