There’s a whole lot of uproar going on with X-Men Destiny. Some fans are disappointed by the limitation of the game’s storyline, focusing on three new characters instead of the likes of Wolverine and Cyclops, which they know so well from the Legends and Marvel Ultimate Alliance games; others feel that it’s just another generic entry in the comic book genre, with nothing special to offer. Well, after playing through it several times, we’ve come away with the following conclusion – you guys need to chill out. The game isn’t half bad. Granted, it’s no Legends, but for what Silicon Knights set out to accomplish, it’s escapist comic book fun. As we mentioned, Destiny puts you in control of three new characters. You’ve got Aimi, a feisty young teen straight out of Japan; Adrian, an anti-mutant specialist who comes from a long line of Purifiers; and Grant, a football player who’s more interested in his jock behavior than his mutant abilities.
The game opens with a peace rally, dedicated to the late Professor X, who passed on after an epic battle with the time-traveling Bastion. It isn’t long before the Brotherhood comes along to stir up trouble, led by an alive-and-well Magneto, and Purifiers begin to clean up the streets of any mutant life in the harshest way possible. From here, with your chosen character, you can choose from three powers – density control, where you use rock-like objects as part of your battle technique; Energy Projection, where you shoot fireball-like spheres; and Shadow Matter, where you can form cutting blades and attack with shades of darkness. Along the way, you can also adapt these powers using X-Genes, which you pick up after running into fellow members of the X-Men and Brotherhood alike, including Cyclops, Colossus and Emma Frost. Choices also play a minor part in Destiny. You’ll have the opportunity to choose between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, following certain missions and taking the game in a slightly different direction.
It doesn’t make too big a difference until near the end, but it still leads to a few interesting conversations with popular characters. A lot of folks complain that the gameplay is repetitive, and to a degree, they’re mostly right. The attacks do grate on after the first couple of hours in, and even though you can unlock new moves using a slick XP system, you’re still beating up the same bad guys most of the time, with an occasional boss battle and bigger enemies coming along to keep things interesting. Still, it is quite functional, and the X-Genes help play their part in mixing things up a bit, just so you can see how you fare with Colossus’ DNA running through your veins – or whatever X-Men character you choose. Out of the three systems we tried, Shadow Matter seems to work the best. The blades cut with a great deal of efficiency, especially compared to the fireball attacks, which can hit randomly depending which way you’re facing. (Plus, they leave you wide open to attack from behind, even if you’re locked on to an enemy or try to roll out of the way.)
Density Control isn’t bad, but aren’t as accurate as Shadow. Start with that and then change up the next time you enter the game. If we have one strong complaint about the gameplay, besides repetition, it’s being unable to skip through conversations you’ve been through before. You’re free to make choices and talk with characters about various subjects, but if you’ve already heard what they have to say, you can’t “A button” your way past it. You’re stuck listening to the same information. Activision should’ve included a skip option. The visuals, while hardly as “wow”-worthy as Raven’s previous X-Men efforts, are pretty good. The city environments are pretty good, giving you lots of room to roam for secret items and letting you find bad guys with ease, and the animations are pretty cool, especially once you arm yourself with a cool X-Gene. Slowdown occasionally enters the picture, but never to the point you’re turned off. The character models are pretty good as well, though occasionally you’ll meet someone who’s uglier than you expected.
Even Toad could’ve looked better than this. Overall, not bad. X-Men Destiny fares better in the audio department. There’s some quality voice acting here, particularly Jamie Chung (“Sucker Punch”) giving Aimi just the right balance of fear and control. Also, don’t think you’re losing your marbles when you hear Cyclops sounding like Nathan Drake – that really is the unmistakable Nolan North delivering his lines. The rest of the cast is quite game for the roles, and the background music, while hardly astounding, serves its purpose. This game will take you a few hours to get through at first play, but you’ll go through it again just to see how the fates of the other characters hold up, as well as where the different choices you make lead. That leads to a decent amount of replayability, though more would’ve been nice. X-Men Destiny would’ve been an ideal opportunity to let three players go at it in co-op, or perhaps even a versus mode featuring various X-Men characters.
Alas, we get neither, stuck on our own as we play with X-Genes, abilities and choices. Silicon Knights would’ve been wise to add that on. Yeah, X-Men Destiny doesn’t quite live up to what it could’ve been, especially with the lack of truly diverse gameplay and co-op/multiplayer options. But some of you Internet folks are still a bit harsh for your own good. What remains is a mostly solid comic book adventure with an interesting story, mostly polished presentation and replay value galore, provided you can put up with beating the living daylights out of hundreds of Purifiers. Silicon Knights may not be treading into its Eternal Darkness territory here, but at least it’s steering clear of its Too Human regime. This Destiny’s got some weight behind it.
