Those X-Cellent mutants are back, Capcom style
Written: Sep 09 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics,voices,music,Gameplay
Cons: Iceman?Spiral?
The Bottom Line: Anyone who likes fighting games will love X-Men, it's fast,furious, fun and filled with all the moves and greatness of the best Capcom fighters
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: X-Men: Children of the Atom for Saturn |
I remember as a kid, I wanted a Sega Saturn so,so much, but my parents weren't willing to shell out the cash for it, deeming my Megadrive as good enough, so I had to wait years to get one. The reason I wanted a Saturn so, was because of this game. At that point in my life, I loved Comics, my favourite were the X-Men titles, I also loved video games, my favourite was Capcom's Streetfighter series. Imagine my awe at an an X-Men game, from Capcom, based around the Streetfighter engine. And it wasn't coming to my console. The Frustration!
By pure luck, when I did finally come into possession of a Sega Saturn, not too long afterwards I stumbled upon a copy of X-Men:Children of the Atom, for £2.99. £2.99, there were imbuciles paying forty notes for dross like Soul Calibur 2, when this, a fighting game from Capcom in it's prime was sitting there for £2.99. It's times like that, that make me appreciate the fact that a lot of gamers won't shop in 'mainstream' game shops because they are full of 'casual' gamers, and every time I watch someone pay £10 or more for this game on Ebay, which has happened a few times, I chuckle to myself.
As I mentioned, the game is based around Streetfighter, so the idea is simple, pick a character, fight several opponents in 3 Round, One-on-One battles, smack up two unplayable boss characters and see a little ending. While it may not sound much, anyone who knows fighting games knows that Capcom, at their best, can produce epic fighting games that can keep players hooked, regardless of how many times they complete the games. Players will want to master characters, or just enjoy the rapid fire combat complete with projectiles and fighters flying around the screen at a rapid rate.
Where this game distinguishes itself from recent (at the time) Streetfighter titles, is it's Super Move system. In this game, you build up the meter as normal,by connecting with attacks, and it has 3 levels, just like Streetfighter Alpha 2, the more levels you build up, the more devastating attacks you can unleash. However, instead of entering a command such as two button motions and an attack button, here you enter the one motion, but press 3 attack buttons (either the 3 Punches or 3 Kicks) at the same time to perform the move. This setup would carry on until Capcom's infamous 'Vs.' series of games, which pit Marvel Characters against their Capcom counterparts.
The engine the game is built around is superb. Collision detection is spot on, characters only get hit when they should, so a move that hits someone tall like Juggernaut in the head will probably miss a shorter character. While some characters play closely to Streetfighters in terms of move-commands, the game also brings in totally unique new characters, Omega Red being the obvious standout with his tentacle based play, where you can catch an opponent and suck their life away, really adds a new flavour to proceedings amongts the 'Shoto' style characters(those whose special moves consist of a projectile, a rising attack and some variety of kick, like the Shotokan fighters of Streetfighter, Ryu and Ken)
The game also features new additions to the gameplay mechanics in the form of the Super jump, which is performed by pressing down and then up, this leads to some spectacular aerial battles, something which has become a staple of the Vs. series.
Other little gameplay tidbits will be noticed, Wolverine's agility allows him to jump off walls similar to Chun Li and Vega from Streetfighter, knocking down the Juggernaut is no small feat and so on.
To be honest, Im not sure if there is much of a story,Magneto is up to no good as usual, and has somehow roped into his schemes Juggernaut,Omega Red,Spiral,Silver Samurai and Super Sentinel, and it's up to Wolverine,Cyclops,Colossus,Storm,Psylocke and Iceman to stop them, somehow through fighting each other as well.
Graphically, the game is superb. The sprites used are large, huge in some cases (Juggernaut and Sentinel), and are superbly animated, even in their default stances. The colours are bright, and everything about the game is crisp and clear. The backgrounds also deserve a lot of credit, with them all being a location that fans of the X-Men will recognise, and those who aren't will still appreciate for their coolness.Wolverine fights in the Savage Land, a prehistoric Land of the Lost complete with lush jungles and dinosaurs in the background. The Super Sentinel fights in the Sentinel factory, with the gigantic Master Mold robot behind the fighters, it's stages like these that Capcom can be proud of. The only stage I didn't think fit in well, the beach stage, is still a marvel (no pun intended), as the block of ice you duel on floats in the sea past the beach, hile a boat sails past.
The sound in the game is also something to applaud. For the character's voices, Capcom went the extra length and got those who voiced the characters in the superb Fox animated X-Men cartoon to do their voices here. If that isn't awesome enough, Capcom were also on form in terms of fighting game music at this point, and X-Men doesn't disappoint in that aspect either. The theme tunes in the game are brilliant, catchy, and up there with Capcom's best musical works.
Controls in the game work like they do on all Saturn Capcom fighters.
X - Light Punch
Y - Medium Punch
Z - Fierce Punch
A - Light Kick
B - Medium Kick
C - Fierce Kick
No response complaints, and if you are using the Saturn Mark 2 pad, you won't encounter a problem with controls at all. While an arcade stick may be better for those practicing for arcade play, it really isn't necessary for those not out to be at a competitive level.
X-Men only has one fault that I have encountered, and that is that Magneto is frustratingly hard, in a cheap Capcom fighting game boss sense. Seriously, he blows M.Bison out of the water with his irritating hovering and shooting pink things at you. But this makes you feel awesome when you do finally take him down, which I have managed with every default character in the game. That's also another semi-fault. Im not sure if you can unlock Juggernaut or Magneto for play, but I haven't managed to do it as of yet.
On the whole, I would say that X-Men: Children of the Atom is not only one of Capcom's greatest ever fighting games, but a definite contender for the title of best fighter ever. It came at just the right time for everyone. The X-Men were at their peak with the great cartoon, and Capcom were at their peak with games like Streetfighter Alpha 2, the two came together to make one of my favourite games ever, and one of the best fighters for multiplayer play ever.
The game is just a complete winner on so many levels. Each character has their own little ending, and while they may not be spectacular FMV, they are nice and often feature appearances from X-Men who didn't make the game as playable characters.
This adds replay, given that there are 10 characters, including an 11th hidden fighter with his own ending. Further replay is added through the usual Survival mode, and I shouldn't even have to mention how much fun the game is on multiplayer.
If I had to point out faults, you could say that the loading times were slightly noticeable, but they aren't bad, and if you own the Capcom Memory Cartridge they are apparently non-existant. The only other fault I have, is that some of the character selections were a bit odd. Iceman? Spiral?, surely they could have done better than that, Nightcrawler and Mr.Sinister stand out as two neglected characters who haven't appeared in a Capcom fighter to this day.
But these are minor things, and given my love of the genre and characters, I can't resist dishing out full marks to Children of the Atom. It's flashy, fun and is perfect in a lot of aspects. It is a joy to play, and occasionally I just fire it up for a few entertaining fights.
If you have any inclinations towards fighting games, you will see the worth in X-Men:Children of the Atom. If you like 2D fighters, especially Capcom ones, you will love it, the same goes for X-Men fans. If you happen to like both the X-Men, and Capcom 2D fighters, you will be over the moon at this blinding game.
Other Related Reviews
X-Men for Sega Genesis
X-Men 2: Clone Wars for Sega Genesis
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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