I have come to be wary of any Marvel licensed title. As fun as the first X-Men: Legends was, their reusing of the same old formula quickly got stale. Now, the comic/X-Men love in me keeps playing these games, but I long for something new. After reading the back of the case to X-Men: Destinies, I thought I had found it.
Create your own mutant and choose his powers? Count me in! Fight alongside or against the X-Men? I gotta have it!
However, upon buying this game, I quickly realized it wasn't what it appeared to be. You don't actually create a mutant, you choose one of three characters with their already predetermined backstories. You get to choose from 3 power pools as your base, which basically correspond to tank, ranged, and melee striker. After choosing these pools, you get to periodically choose a power to add. You get two choices, and the one you don't choose is lost. You get a total of your basic attacks (which can be upgraded to combos), and three more powers (two active and one passive).
There are four slots you can customize using "x genes". You can choose your uniform, attack gene, defense gene, and utility gene. The costume has no bearing unless you equip all three genes that match the costume, limiting you greatly in efficiency. The genes have some use, but don't impact gameplay much.
Gameplay is the same old formula, except this time you aren't leveling a group of four mutants, you are by yourself, occasionally joined by either X-Men or Brotherhood mutants that are completely computer controlled.
All in all, this is just another X-Men: Legends clone with a couple new things thrown at you. If you are a hardcore X-Men or comic book lover, you'll enjoy this game. Otherwise, if you've played any other X-Men game or either Marvel: Ultimate alliance games, just stay away from this game. It's the same thing.
- Sapper Woody
