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GAME ON! *EXTRA*

By Ian Bonds

May 2, 2003

Hey, folks. As many of you may have heard, there’s a little movie coming out this weekend called X-2: X-MEN UNITED. To commemorate this event, I thought Game On! should take a look at all the X-Men games, past and present to see how far the license has come over the years. Now, this is a LOT of titles, and some I just couldn’t get to (such as the three on Game Gear, or if one or two X-men appear in another game, for example) but I’ve tried to cover all the bases, ending with the current movie tie-in title at the end. Get set, we’re in for the long haul.

MARVEL’S X-MEN (NES)

The first X-men game sadly wasn’t much to write home about. Offering a top-down view of the “action,” players chose two X-men to team up. As you slagged through the horrendous looking backgrounds as one of your two chosen teammates, you invariably died, and were then switched to controlling the second chosen X-man. After they were defeated, the process repeated: select two more X-men to die. Repeat until all are gone. Control in this game is practically non-existent as movement was limited and the graphics were so horrible you couldn’t see what you were doing anyway, which is why you died so much. I don’t even think the X-men had many of their special abilities. Only seek this game out if you’re a completist, but otherwise, don’t waste the time to play it.

WOLVERINE (NES)

The next title isn’t much better. LJN was the license holder at the time for all of Marvel’s games, and sadly, each one of them was a hunk of shit. In this game, only slightly better than the last, you played as everyone’s favorite mutant caknucklehead as you punched and kicked your way through various levels. You could use your famous claws, but to do so drained your life energy (?) so the gameplay became stale pretty quick. Luckily, it starts to get at least a LITTLE better from here.

SPIDER-MAN & THE X-MEN IN ARCADE’S REVENGE (SNES, Genesis, GameBoy)

Here our heroes are teamed with ol’ Webhead to rescue some X-men who have been captured by the villain Arcade. Each character you choose has his or her own level of Murderworld to traverse through which would best utilize their specific powers. Sad thing is, the game itself once again does not utilize each characters powers very well, such as Gambit running out of cards, or Storm’s limited range of powers. All in all, it’s an okay game with a decent level of skill needed to complete, but most gamers wouldn’t waste their time with it, and fans especially may want to avoid it as there are much better titles be to found bearing the X-men name.

WOLVERINE: ADAMANTIUM RAGE (Genesis)

Once again trying to cash in on the fan fave, this game was another entry in the bin of “sucky side-scrollers”. Almost a port of the NES title, just with slightly better graphics and plot, but not much else. Control wouldn’t be resolved for Wolvie until the next game listed, and it’s a shame too, this title had a bit of promise, but ultimately failed in the end.

X-MEN and X-MEN 2: THE CLONE WARS (Genesis)

Both released on Sega’s 16-bit system, these X-men games are the best so far, offering great graphics and playability with the characters and moves. Once again choosing an X-man, you travel stage by stage to your ultimate goal; in the first game it’s stopping Magneto, in the second it’s a mutant virus. Typical side-scroller action beefed up by the X-factor (I’m so clever), with the sequel being the best of the two, plot and control-wise. The first game offered a two-player co-op mode, but that proved so difficult to use effectively that most players just went in alone. The first game still has what I consider one of the coolest ideas for a game’s end where (caution, Spoilers ahead) to face the final stage, you actually had to restart your game system. Very cool, though at the time, many people didn’t get it and thought they had defective games, or even worse, were miffed by the entire idea.

X-MEN: MUTANT APOCALYPSE (SNES)

Ah, here we go. Finally something worth remarking about. About a year before, Capcom received the license to do Marvel games, and released the awesome (and somewhat unheard of) WAR OF THE GEMS, a STREETS OF RAGE-esque title, much like this follow-up title. Here our mighty mutants are battling it out against Apocalypse’s hordes as baddie after baddie rolls on screen and gets beat-up. The graphics here are a definite precursor to the look of the future Marvel-inspired Capcom fighters, and some of the signature moves here (and in WAR OF THE GEMS) even transition through those games. Only thing keeping this game from ranking above the Genesis titles is the characters’ reaction to hits. Enemies seemed to take entirely too much damage and reacting to a hit took a bit of time away from the gameplay as you tried to right yourself. Enough badguys on screen and you found yourself overwhelmed if cornered. Otherwise, the most solid of X-games so far.

X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM (PSOne, Saturn)

A port of the arcade smash, this title was the first X-Men fighting game, and the game that would spawn many in a successful series for Capcom. Controlling just as every other Capcom-made fighter, this one obviously used the X-men in place of the standard cast of characters for a Capcom game, with unlockable characters hidden throughout. While the arcade version had the fast and furious action that the series is known for, the PSOne port left a bit to be desired, as the little disc couldn’t hold enough information to keep the game flowing at a good pace. The Saturn version didn’t suffer as badly as the PSOne version, but it still wasn’t perfect. However, it did begin the frothing for the next fighting titles featuring our mutant friends and foes.

X-MEN VS STREET FIGHTER (PSOne, Saturn Import)

The beginning of the crossover fighters. Here Capcom pitted Mutants and Miscreants against Ken & Ryu and company for fighter domination, combining the roster from the previous game with that of it’s main fighter. While another success at the arcades, the home version still didn’t have the power behind it to fully use the added features of the coin-op version. The tag-team effect so readily available in the current titles (such as MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2) was just not possible in the little PSOne. However, if you had a Saturn and a way to play Japanese games, you could get the import version, which came with a memory card that added 4MB of RAM to the systems hard drive, allowing for more features to be used. The largest of the fighters at the time, with endless match-up possibilities, once again the bar was raised.

X-MEN MUTANT ACADAMY (PSOne, GameBoy Color)

Sadly, after Capcom stopped doing Marvel-themed fighters, the bar dropped once more. This time, Activision took the reigns and brought out this stale fighter to tie-in with the first feature motion picture. Given a three-dimensional look, this fighter could have been compared to VIRTUA-FIGHTER if it wasn’t just so damn hard to pull off a simple punch or kick. Hit detection was poor and the graphics suffered a bit, but as standard fighters went, it was ok for the most part. There’s a pitiful story mode here, but not much of one to speak of. Lots of extra options were included, though, such as unlockable fighters and clips from the movie (as well as movie costumes for the fighters) but not much else of worth there. There was also a lack-luster sequel, which didn’t change much as far as control or look, but added 6 more characters to the fray.

X-MEN: WOLVERINE’S RAGE (GameBoy Color)

Used to tie-in with the new X-men cartoon series on the WB, this game pitted Wolvie against his life-long enemy Sabretooth. Nothing new here, just more side-scrolling, and not much to speak of. Another to get only if you “collect ‘em all” as the toy-packages suggest.

X-MEN: MUTANT WARS (GameBoy Color)

As with the previous title, this game was used to tie-in with the new ‘toon, while still retaining the look of the comic. Although if you ask me, it sort of looks like X-MEN: SUPER DEFORMED. Control stinks, but what do you expect for the GameBoy Color? Another to add to the collection of “got it for the name”. Don’t worry, there’ll be more to play.

X-MEN: REIGN OF APOCALYPSE (GameBoy Advance)

The best looking side-scroller to date, and it’s on a hand-held! Decent action and moves for such a limited number of buttons, but still not up to the quality of the previous side-scrollers. Graphics are top-notch, though, and really seem to capture the characters quite well for being on such a small screen. Same ol’ story though. “We’re mutants, help, we’re being repressed”. Gosh, for guys who can shoot laser blasts from their eyes and charge playing cards with kinetic energy, they sure do complain a lot. Though, I’m sure they have good reason. I mean, if I were as hated and feared as them, I would too. As it stands, I’m only hated about HALF as much.

X-MEN: NEXT DIMENSION (PS2, GameCube, Xbox)

Ah, the next-generation systems bring the next generation fighters. Well, in theory anyway. Basically, however, this is just a next-gen version of MUTANT ACADAMY. The graphics are much better here, with character models much smoother and just overall better looking, and there’s a total of 24 characters now, with each of them looking like some sort of cross between their movie counterparts and the version of them from the X-MEN: EVOLUTION animated series. The control is a bit improved over MUTANT ACADAMY'’ too, but the special moves are still a bit of a chore to execute. There’s a strange story mode, featuring Patrick Stewart as Professor X, but even though it’s a bit deeper than the one found in MUTANT ACADAMY, once again it’s just used as a way to expand the gameplay. This time around, the plot centers on Bastion and his legion of Sentinels. There’s larger stages, and most environments are either destructible or expandable, or both. Lots of extras here as well, with many different costumes to chose from, and unlockable characters and settings as well. There’s hope for this license yet.

X-2: WOLVERINE’S REVENGE (PS2, GameCube, Xbox, GameBoy Advance)

Ah, this year’s tie-in, all set for the new feature. Originally just called WOLVERINE’S REVENGE, the X-2 was added to keep it obvious that it was connected to this year’s sequel movie. That’s about the only thing that it shares with it, though. Don’t expect any coinciding storylines here, this is a completely separate adventure.

Made by the same people who brought us the recent SPIDER-MAN games (all of which I love) this title shares a great deal with the way those games are set up. A 3-D action adventure game, with our Adamantium anti-hero as the star. Plot leaves a bit much to be desired (Wolvie’s got a virus in him that was put in by the same people who laced his skeleton with that indestructible metal and he has 48 hrs. to find the cure) but the main name of this game is action, and it’s given here in spades.

Starting out at the lab where Logan was “altered”, the player finds themselves almost instantly attacked. Icons pop up describing the button layout and how to execute moves. Got performance and timing of button presses when STRIKE appears on the screen warrants extra moves and abilities. Usage of the claws doesn’t deplete your energy as in the old NES version, but it does prevent your healing factor from working, so to use them constantly won’t help you much. If you’re jut running along, you can just put them away.

Wolverine has a few new tricks here that he hasn’t had in previous games that fans of his will love. First and foremost is his “tracking” ability. With the press of a button, the view goes almost infrared, and Wolverine can “sense” heat patterns of his foes and trace where they are and the best way to attack them. He can also sneak up on them, Solid Snake-style and if he gets a STEALTH STRIKE, he can even acquire Dog Tags (much as in METAL GEAR SOLID 2). The moves he has also vary by positioning and timing. They’ve taken the coolest elements in METAL GEAR SOLID and TENCHU and incorporated them into one of the most deadly mutants around. Very sweet indeed.

The graphics are very cool to look at, and are very reminiscent of the style used in the recent SPIDER-MAN games. Various cut scenes between levels move the action along, and Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X, narrating the story. However, despite Hugh Jackman being on the box, it’s Mark Hamill who voices our hero, and does an impressive job with it. No matter what voice-work he’s doing, Hamill always sounds unique, and Logan is no exception.

Again, as with the SPIDER-games, you can collect comic books throughout the levels to unlock cool stuff such as alternate costumes and movie clips. My only complaint with the game would be that it’s a bit tough to figure what exactly you’re trying to do throughout the levels. Although it doesn’t really matter much, you’re playing as Wolverine with the most abilities he’s ever had in a game, what more do you want?

Well, that’s it for our look at the X-Games (not to be confused with the extreme sports of the same name). Hope you enjoyed it, and for those fans out there wondering which titles to pick up to add to their collection, I hope this has helped. All in all, though, these are still just One Gamer’s Opinion, if you have the means, check them out for yourself. In the meantime, I’m checking out the movie. See you all next time.

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