Not quite, but close to X-Cellent
Written: Aug 21 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: graphics,music,slicker than your average platformer, tough
Cons: a little too tough
The Bottom Line: Fans of retro games and X-Men (circa 91) should love it. A great platformer, that is incredibly challenging
|
|
|
| flash-hammer's Full Review: X-Men for Sega Genesis |
The one of the first games I ever got for my Megadrive, and the deciding factor in getting it over a Super NES was X-Men. At the time I was X-Men mad, I read the comics and bought the toys after becoming addicted to the awesome Konami Arcade Beat 'em Up while on holiday in Florida when I was a kid, and upon seeing there was an X-Men game for the Sega, I jumped at it, and recieved it along with X-Men (and other Superhero related games Captain America and the Avengers and Spiderman along with Sonic 2).
After getting over the initial disappointment that it wasn't the same as the arcade game, I discovered I actually had a very solid platform game on my hands. Solid in terms of quality, and solid in terms of difficulty. It was actually made by Sega themselves, which I now find surprising, I couldn't see a fairly major licensed game title being handed to, for example, Nintendo today, given that licensed games usually are made to appear on as many consoles as possible.
The game is a platform game where you take control of one of four X-Men : Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit and my personal fave Nightcrawler. Each has their own individual abilities and mutant powers , and there is also a 2-Player co-op option for those with a friend.
As well as the 4 selectable X-Men, you can also call in assistance from Rogue, Iceman, Storm and Archangel. Jean Grey also makes an appearance to bring you up if you fall down a hole.
The idea of the game is very simple, your arch enemy Magneto has found a way to sabotage your danger room training center, throwing you into incredibly hostile training scenarios. Amongst these are famous X-Men locations such as the Savage Land, the Shi'Ar Empire and Mojo's world amongst others. You will have to beat them before heading to Asteroid M for a showdown with the master of Magnetism his self.
There are 6 stages in the game, six fairly large stages I might add, in which you have to negotiate your way accross a variety of platforms and traps, all the while fighting off that level's unique enemies (eg. Savage Land enemies are cavemen and dinosaurs) before occasionally taking on a sub-boss halfway through the level, or sometimes just the main boss his or her self. To achieve this goal, you will have to use your character's agility, fighting skills and unique mutant powers.
The game takes in a lot of characters from the X-Men universe, some I hadn't even heard of when I read the comic (and still haven't in my teenage layabout who watches the cartoon days). As well as the nine aforementioned mutants, we have a little help from Proffessor X and Lilandra, and a rogues gallery that takes in all the major X-Men foes from heavyweights like the Juggernaut and Apocalypse to the unknowns like Ahab and Zaldane.
In case you missed the highly popular animated series (both of them) and movies (both of them), the X-Men are a team of 'mutants', people born with something extraordinary that sets them apart from the majority of the human race. Be it eyes that emit lazers or ESP, they all have something that makes them stand out. Humanity is scared and hateful of these mutants, but the X-Men are a group dedicated to protecting the world and generally trying to make a good name for mutants. But some mutants believe they are the next evolutionary step, and that they should rule the world. Hence there is a lot of mutant v mutant conflict.
The controls in the game are based around the original 3-Button Sega pad, and to be honest you don't really need any more. A uses your character's mutant power (or changes character or uses assist - more on that in a minute) B is attack and C is Jump. Pausing the game brings up a menu in which you have the option to switch which X-Man you are controlling (it even lets you switch from the point in the level you are at). You are only allowed to do this a limited amount of times for each level. The same menu allows you to select one of your 4 assisst characters. You can only use each of these once unless you pick up an icon of their face hidden in the level (sadly it only lets you hold one at a time).
The controls all work as good as expected, and they are pretty well laid out on the controller. I can't really say much more on the controls, they are pretty easy to learn and easy to use.
Graphically, the game is pretty good for 1991. Each X-Man is distinctive in his famous outfit, and the villains all look like their comic/cartoon counterparts as well. The animation is nice enough for the time, and the backgrounds to the stages all look pretty good as well. So graphically the game is pretty sound.
Speaking of sound, the music in the game is actually pretty cool as well. Each level has its own distinct, and usually funky music, and the title theme is also pretty cool. The sound effects in the game aren't exactly something to write home about, but they definitely do their job and none stand out as being particularly missplaced.
The game is overall a solid platforming experience, with excellent level designs that are full of traps and a few puzzles to keep you interested.
There are parts to some levels that also require a bit of though going into character choice, for instance some parts of the levels can only be, or are easier to get to with someone more agile like Nightcrawler, whose teleportation ability also allows him to access areas of levels either quicker than his comrades would be able to, or areas that they just plain couldn't get to.
The four X-Men's powers in the game are as follows, Gambit: Throws explosive playing card. This is a decent projectile attack that once thrown flies round in a circular motion, Cylcops: fires an 'optic blast' in any one of 8 directions, a good projectile move that can also be charged for a more powerful shot, Wolverine: his adamantium claws can be unsheathed, this makes his attacks do more damage and allows him to perform more attacks (his energy bar also re-fills itself over time to take in his healing ability) and Nightcrawler: teleportation, a move that can not only take him to other areas, but also does damage to enemies he crosses.
Each has a limited amount of power, the remaining amount shown by a blue bar underneath the character's health. Both bars can be replenished by picking up yellow (health) or blue (mutant power) spheres hidden in the levels.
The assist characters are mainly offensive, apart from Iceman who makes a path of ice to help cross areas that cannot be jumped. Rogue flies in and delivers a power punch, Storm lets rip with a ... storm and Archangel makes three passes shooting missiles at the enemy.
The thing that distinguishes X-Men from your average 16-Bit licensed platform game, is that it is incredibly hard. And it isn't hard due to any way of programming it badly and unfairly, it is just designed to be tough. I have no shame in admitting that up until about last year I couldb't get past Excaliber's Lighthouse, which is the third level in the game.
The game is also full of nice little touches that just set it apart from the average platform title. The crumbling ends of the road you have to quickly avoid on route to Excaliber's Lighthouse, the bee-hives in the jungle that contain health power-ups, the bosses that are actually going to require the player to think and actually pose a challenge to the player. Lots of little touches like this make the game stand out from your average platform title released for the 16-Bit consoles. The mutant powers of the characters also add another element to the game, but none of them are too powerful as to make the game easy.
There is only one real fault I can name with the game, and that is that the game might be a bit too hard for its own good. While it is hard in a fair way, it is also hard in an extreme way. While the disapearing platforms can be landed on and jumped from, you had better time it right. While the bosses aren't impossible to beat, you better figure out how to beat them fairly quickly. While all games in the 8-16 Bit era were tough, X-Men occasionally takes it to insane levels, and when you consider that the game was aimed at kids you have to wonder how good Sega thought we were at games.
I would say 4 stars is a pretty fair score for the game. The great challenge and added features of mutant powers and assists make it more than your average platformer, but the fact that the difficulty is so intense also made it lose a star, because the game is just plain too hard for its target audience. But if you are a retro-gamer who likes the X-Men, I would definitely recommend picking up the game. You certainly won't beat it the same day.Without Cheating.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
flash-hammer
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Reviews written: 728
Trusted by: 107 members
About Me:
NICE!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.