Well… what can we say about the upcoming X-Men movie that hasn’t been said before?
Let’s see. Well, at least they’re going to manage to wrap the franchise up at three movies as originally promised, there’s that. Hmm… can’t think of much else, though.
Ok, ok, so maybe we’ve been a little harsh on Brett Ratner. Lord knows this is going to be the movie that suddenly makes him everyone’s favorite director, and he drives people to want an X-Men 4 movie… of course then the people who wanted to end the franchise at three movies might be upset, but who cares.

So while the fate of the third (and most likely final) X movie is still up in the air, you can rest assure that when X-Men Legends 3 hits you won’t have the same fears you might have with X-Men 3 the movie, ‘cause the X-Men Legends series is hot!

With gameplay that should remind you abit of the Champions series (in a few ways) you’ll start the game as everyone’s favorite Canadian berserker, Wolverine, as he works to save Alison (Magma) from the Brotherhood. This first level (set in New York City) will give you your 4-1-1 on working the controls, as well as how to work team-ups with other characters (Cyclops in this case) and how to use your mutant powers (which is quite easy to get a grasp on and master right off the bat).
After that you take control of Alison and get to explore the X-Mansion, seeing everything about the mansion and it’s residents, before undertaking the next mission (by going to the war room in the subbasement) with more mutants to choose from, which grows as the game goes onwards and you meet more and more mutants to team up with. You can use up to 15 mutants, including the aforementioned Magma you joins the team a few missions into the storyline (at first she’s not selectable in X-missions but eventually she becomes a member of the team).

And if you’re worried about leveling up that’s no problem, you‘ll level up quite easily in this game. In fact this game makes the art of leveling up an easy task, in fact it’s very easy especially with the use of the Danger Room which is one of the elements that makes this game “X“cellent. Whenever you find an “X-traction point” in the game you can choose to save the game, visit somebody to buy gear or

stuff (starts with Forge but another person soon becomes available to buy things from), or use the Danger Room (if you are not in the mansion itself and capable of visiting the Danger Room yourself).
As you play the game you’ll find Danger Room programs (floating discs), which add programs that will allow you to hone your skills and level up your characters. That in and of itself would be nice, but the game adds an additional slice of fun by allowing you to use programs over and over again for lots of leveling up, which is important since sometimes you’ll find yourself faced against hard to beat enemies and the benefit of leveling up in the safety of the Danger Room really shows it’s worth in situations like this.

Then there’s the mutant powers. You start out with regular powers, but once you reach Level 15 you unlock an ultra X-power that’ll really show off the amount of kick-(bleep) your characters can dish out! And dish it out you will, since a whole lot of every level you enter is breakable! In fact you’ll find you can break just about everything, including walls at times which opens up new paths to travel. Just unleash and break everything, especially since it’s fun and you’ll find hidden things that way (so break break break away).

And besides the main story (which involves Magneto being set free to once again pursue his dream of destroying mankind), you can play “flashback” missions (which is triggered when you talk story with certain X-Men) that relive great battles of the past including battles with the Sentinels, Juggernaut, and Wolverine’s Weapon X memories (for starters). This adds another layer of playability to the game that makes it all the more fun to play. Add the Danger Room missions, the flashbacks and the main game together and you’ll have yourself a little slice of addictive X-gameplay! Add another layer of fun with unlockable extras (found during gameplay) and you have a game that beats the X-gene off off lesser X-games of the past (like that New Dimension fighter of sometime ago).

I don’t know what else I can say that’ll make you want to buy this… and you should since it’s good.
Let’s see… the story isn’t half bad, and the voice acting is good… and heck, it even features Patrick Stewart revising his role as Professor Xavier (though the rest are either from the Animated Series or

maybe the X-video games as opposed to the movies, sadly). The game is addictive, you’ll get hooked from the start and find yourself wanting to go on and on (unable to stop once you really start making major progress)!
And did I mention the game can now be had for $20? A good game at a nice bargain price? That’s gotta be a good thing in anyone’s book! Ok. Breakdown time.

X-Men Legends Breakdown the 1st
What’s Hot?
The game is a nice little slice of fun. With solid gameplay, nice action, good graphics, very playable with tons of extras and stuff like flashback levels and the Danger Room you’ll find the game well worth a place in your collection. And since you can have this game at only $20 a pop I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to give this game a go. Considering we’ve been overrun with quite a few (bleep)y video games (Catwoman, Aquaman, Marvel Nemesis) and games that were OK but could have been better (Constantine and Batman Begins which, while I did praise said game, could have had abit more oomph to it), it’s nice to find a few games that hit it out of the ballpark and provide a good gaming experience, like this game.

What’s Not?
Hmm… I can’t think of a thing. The game has enough variety and stuff to do that you shouldn’t get too bored with it, and the ability to use the Danger Room to help you level up your characters is nice too.
So basically I can say that this game has enough to keep you going, and then you have X-Men Legends 2 : Rise of Apocalypse to go through which should be fun too (though I haven’t played it yet).
I guess the only downer is that there isn’t any other voice actors from the movie in these games except Patrick Stewart, but that’s a minor thing to be most certain.
Oh, and yes there IS an online version where you can co-op with three other players, but since I don’t usually play online I didn’t have a chance to see how this works out… or if there are still anyone playing the online version of this now that X-Men Legends 2 is out. If somebody knows about this and how it plays online please let me know, thanks.

Moments to Remember?
Basically the action and the flashback levels which is a nice touch, especially since you can control X-Men variants of

the past (Beast variants, Jean Grey variants, Wolverine variants, etc.)

What to Ignore?
Hmmm… occasionally there’s a glitch here or there. Objects like tables that you are bashing suddenly fall through the floor and vanish. Objects dropped by enemies falling through walls becoming unretreviable (especially if it’s an unbreakable “border” wall). Danger Room levels only yielding stuff like potions for health and mutant energy on the first runthrough (subsequent uses of the level only useful for leveling up). And maybe the fact the entire school is inhabited by an army of clone students that for the most part do nothing but stand around and fill empty space (more interaction with the students would have been nice).
Also you don’t seem capable of true interaction with the environment. You can’t, for instance, swim in the huge pool on the estate grounds (little teeny weeny bathing suit variant Magma!), take classes (there’s a small class on the estate but no way to take any classes), play pool (as in the one with balls and pockets) and so forth. Then again I guess that’s nitpicking since you do get to break lots of the environment in this game.
Oh, what the heck, all of the above is pretty much nitpicking since the game is still hot no matter what I say on the above section. Really, none of the above by no means diminishes how good the game is.

Overall?
Well, it’s your choice. You don’t need to buy this if it doesn’t suit you, and if you’re looking for a hard core beat-em-up with freeroaming action like Hulk : Ultimate Destruction then you won’t find it here (everything is basically uniform and orderly in the progression of the story from area to area), but if you’re looking for a little taste of the MMORPG action (ala Champions) only without the MMO part then you’ll find your needs met with X-Men Legends, which combines the overhead beat-em-up of Champions with the mutant mayhem you‘ve come to expect from a truly X-cellent X-title. In fact if you are looking for a good super hero game then X-Men Legends (and most likely X-Men Legends 2 though I still need to play it) will fill that need, that and probably City of Heroes slash Villains which also looks pretty hot (for the PC).
Give it a shot. Rent it if you doubt it’s fun factor, and see what you think. I think you’ll enjoy this one.