X-Men Legends II Review is up!

[Knightshade Dragon]

Questions? Comments?

(if you hit the front page it's kinda easy to find

[Luke]

The review is great, but I have one little question:

X-Men Legends II features a combination system that is deceptively deep.

When something is described as deceptively deep, doesn't that mean it seems to have a lot of depth, but it's actually pretty shallow?  Is that what was intended?  I've started to see this phrase pop up in lots of reviews, and I don't think most reviewers are saying what they intend, but perhaps Ron intended otherwise.  I've always thought 'deceptively simple' is the more apropros phrase.

Interesting.  When I first read this, I was going to scratch this post, but I decided to post anyway because of the relevance of this definition.  Apparently, this particular usage of the word 'deceptively' is quite ambiguous, though my interpretation of the meaning is apparently in the minority.  Well, nevermind, I guess.

[Knightshade Dragon]

In this context, the game looks pretty much like a normal button masher, but in fact there is a great deal going on underneath the surface.  

I do see the point though.

[Charlatan]

Ya I'd agree that deceptively deep means it LOOKS shallow, but is really deep.

[Arkon]

Great review, hoping to pick this one up today.

[Destructor]

Well, I loved the first, and based on this review, I'll love the sequel.

Off I go in a few hours to buy this.

[Scott]

Why couldn't you have waited a couple days on the review?  Now I'm torn between this and Battalion Wars!

[Nth Power]

Nice review, KD!  I'm so tempted to pick this up.

Question :

How's the friendly AI in single player?  In the first one, I had many cheap deaths due to my teammates falling off a ledge or blocking doorways.  Has this been changed?

[Lockdown]

Ron - How soon do I get Gambit?  Silly to some I'm sure, but important to me.  You can post in a white spoiler box if you think the answer is a spoiler.

Thanks.

[AgtFox]

Why couldn't you have waited a couple days on the review?  Now I'm torn between this and Battalion Wars!

Embargo ended today, so most reviews on this should be up today/tonight.  That's probably why he didn't wait a couple days.  Same thing will happen with Ultimate Spider-Man on Friday.

[Charlatan]

Sounds great. Any insight into multiplayer in the PSP and PC versions? The Gamespot hands on preview I got to via the EBGames site says all versions include multiplayer, but they waffled on the PSP as to whether it would be infrastructure or ad-hoc. And of course, I'm interested in finding out what multiplayer PC options there are. Sounds like a lot of the fun of the game is in multiplayer.

Great review - I'd not been following this at all, really, due to extreme salivating over We Love Katamari, but I gotta say it will be hard to resist purchasing this one.

[AgtFox]

I think the PSP version is still a month off and I can't comment on the PC version, but Ron might be able to.  I am going to guess since Raven built this on the PC and then ported over to the consoles that the same multiplayer aspect is on the PC version.

[CeeKay]

Great review.  I figured I'd be getting this one after I bought the first one used on Friday and played it through to the end in 4 days, and the review just clinched it.

[Knightshade Dragon]

PC versions

I have the PC version, I'll cover multi in that review.  Hoping to nail that out tonight.

I'll get back to you on Gambit when I can confirm.

[WinoMcCougarstein]

I am pretty interested in this game!  Can you tell me if the levels have more variety this time?  I know that you wrote that you can interact with them more, which is cool, but is it still just a bunch of tunnels and corridors?

[Thin_J]

Here's one for you..

Can you replay through the game with all your characters already leveled up and maybe on a higher difficulty level?

If not, I'm out. That one little thing not being in the first game really spoiled it for me, even though I had a great time playing through it once.

There were even characters, psylocke in particular, that appeared so very late in the game that you didn't even care that you got them.

Little things like that really irritated me on my second playthrough.

[adamsappel]

Apparently, all players are required to use the same television standard, video mode and resolution to play online together.

[Scott]

How soon do I get Gambit?

What's the big appeal with Gambit?  He always seemed like the lamest of the X-Men to me.  I guess I started reading the X-Men a long time ago (Uncanny X-Men #160 or so).   I stopped after many years, before Gambit made it in, but watching him on the cartoons and reading about him, he just seems blah.  I just don't understand the appeal I guess.

[AgtFox]

How soon do I get Gambit?

What's the big appeal with Gambit?  He always seemed like the lamest of the X-Men to me.  I guess I started reading the X-Men a long time ago (Uncanny X-Men #160 or so).   I stopped after many years, before Gambit made it in, but watching him on the cartoons and reading about him, he just seems blah.  I just don't understand the appeal I guess.

LD lives in a parallel universe where there are actually some Gambit lovers in the world

[Devil]

What's the big appeal with Gambit?

He's understated. Kinda in the background for the most part with a pretty cool ability, unlike Wolverine, who seems more like a cross between a WWE wrestler and Vin Diesel.

[Scott]

Wolverine is a very good character, at least he was, until he had his exoskeleton removed by Magneto, and other odd stuff.  I had stopped reading by that point.  Unfortunately, Wolverine has become popular and the two films have focused on him, so there is a backlash.

I suppose I don't know enough about Gambit, maybe he is interesting.  I haven't followed the new Marvel universe as much, or the Ultimate series.

I just see as much of a fan reaction to Gambit and don't understand, or know what he's done that is interesting.  Throwing explosive cards hardly seems a cool power.  It seems the writers were trying a bit to much to introduce a cool character for the masses with Gambit, with his look, accent, and 'power', as opposed to making him cool through deeds and other stuff.[/quote]

[Destructor]

Here's one for you..

Can you replay through the game with all your characters already leveled up and maybe on a higher difficulty level?

Well...there is a 4th difficulty level (according to the manual) that you can't play until you've beaten the game once. And after digging through Beast's Grab Bag (purchase a completely random item) a few times, I ended up with items that required level 40 (I was only level 6-7 at the time) to equip.

So I'm guessing you'll be able to play through again, but I can't confirm this as of yet.

And to answer other questions - the AI seems to be improved over the first. Also (at least while I was using Nightcrawler, my current 'tank' of the second), your special moves push your allies out of the way most of the time, thus allowing your attacks to hit them when you want to.

[Scott]

Knightshade - What resolutions does the PC version support?  I'm curious if it  supports widescreen resolutions like 1600 x 1050?

[Knightshade Dragon]

I'll look tonight when I get home and tell ya.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Resolutions:

1600x1200
1600x1024
1600x900
1360x768
1280x1024
1280x960
1280x800
1280x768
1280x720
1152x864
1088x612
1024x768
960x600
848x480
800x600
720x576
720x480
640x480

If you can't find a resolution you like in THAT list, you might be a little bit too picky.  

[Scott]

Thanks Knightshade!

I was hoping for 1680 x 1050, which is my monitor's native resolution (Dell 20" Widescreen).  I'll probably grab the XBox version instead of the PC version that I'd have to run at a different resolution.

[Knightshade Dragon]

couple more answers:

For online play you can connect via IP or via GameSpy's browser.  You can host or join.  Pretty standard fare.

As for Gambit, you get him immediately, along with a TON of other Xmen and Brotherhood characters.  

Here ya go:

http://www.consolegold.com/temp/gambit.jpg

[Knightshade Dragon]

I'm not sure if its card / monitor dependent (I doubt it) but I'm using a 21" LG CRT and a GeForce 7800 GT.  Your mileage may vary?

[Dreamshadow]

Resolutions:

1600x1200
1600x1024
1600x900
1360x768
1280x1024
1280x960
1280x800
1280x768
1280x720
1152x864
1088x612
1024x768
960x600
848x480
800x600
720x576
720x480
640x480

If you can't find a resolution you like in THAT list, you might be a little bit too picky.  

Meh...my 1680x1050 isn't in there.  Not buying.  (j/k)

[CeeKay]

So, since this is a sequel, and in the first game the X-Men were pretty kick ass at the end of the first game, do you start out at a decent level or is it back to level 1?  If it's the latter, do they at least attempt to explain it?

[Kevin Grey]

If you can't find a resolution you like in THAT list, you might be a little bit too picky.  

I'm with the others- 1680x1050 is my monitor's native resolution.

[Destructor]

So, since this is a sequel, and in the first game the X-Men were pretty kick ass at the end of the first game, do you start out at a decent level or is it back to level 1?  If it's the latter, do they at least attempt to explain it?

Nope - they don't explain it at all. You're just simply level 1 again.

However, based on what I've seen after digging through the new powersets, there's a LOT more customization of your heroes now. Ron's review wasn't kidding - would you rather have Wolverine be able to shrug off damage and regenerate it, or do you want him to slaughter targets in a single blow with one of his slashes? Or something inbetween? You just don't have enough points/levels to choose them all.

[Scott]

Your mileage may vary?

Yeah, it could just be the card/monitor combination.  I know other moniters I've mine won't list modes it won't support.  Thanks again for posting the info!

[Misguided]

Played around witrh this on an xbox earlier...it seemed fun.
There wasn't a whole lot of skill involved , which for me is actually a good thing. I was worried you'd have to pull off all these intricate button moves like in a fighting game. Could you talk about the difficulty settings and progression through the game?