X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Preview

Then to make the game a little newer in teams of gameplay and how your team will work together, Activision has recently revealed a new treat! Since RoA will feature a very wide array of characters and costumes, certain combinations of those will actually have an effect on your party! If you happen to select a team of four characters whose outfits from a specific time period are all coordinated, you can look forward to bonuses like 15% health for everyone!

The in-game menus this time around almost seem a bit unnecessary because of the conveniences that Raven Software has implemented into RoA! This time around, the game has an “auto-leveling” system which allows players to actually decide themselves how points are distributed when level-ups actually occur, even in battle! Players also have the option of having their team members automatically dawning the best equipment available to you so that reduces the need of having those annoying miniscule menu changes to your party members!

Also making things even EASIER this time around, players now have the option of returning back to their HQ at ANY time during a particular mission! This eliminates the need for you to run back through the entire level just to find ONE extraction point (remember those?) that would allow you to do the same in the predecessor. Players can now quickly switch out party members as they see fit at any given time! This benefits the feature of having all the characters playable at the very beginning,; you can begin all your experimenting right at the get-go!

With more than double the active powers available to each mutant this time around, that obviously dramatically increases the number of combos that can be executed among team members! Since the Brotherhood makes up half your team, there is a plethora of brand new combos at your disposal now! Magneto and Bishop can team up for the destructive Metallic Devastation or you can do a nice partnership with Magneto and Storm for the devastating Deadly Nova! Would you like to do the “Fastball Special?” Wolverine and Juggernaut are the way to go for that one! Thankfully in this game combos are expected to be able to be executed far easier since there is a larger time frame for teammates to connect with each other in these situations.

Combos will also be truly necessary in RoA. RoA will be a fair bit more challenging than its predecessor and Raven Software wanted to make sure to add a certain element that would make a second play through a bit more desirable than it may have been originally. Enemy group leaders can now carry random power ups with them and mutated enemies now have the ability to split in two, having each half be stronger than the original whole!

Then to spice up things in the actual game, character dialogue has also been given a heavier emphasis! So for example, if you talk to a NPC with Cyclops, the response should generally be friendly and welcoming. But if you talk to someone with a character like Magneto whom not everyone likes, the response will more likely be on the sarcastic and insulting side. That doesn’t mean who you use to speak actually affects what happens, it’s more or less for laughs and to make the experience seem more realistic. The same applies to battle. Characters will speak a fair bit more often in RoA than they did in Legends, and it’s all for a more cosmetic approach. So for instance if you witness an argument between Cyclops and Wolverine in battle over something, you will get a good laugh at what they exchange!

Also to differ from how items were accessible in Legends, vendors will be completely different this time around. If you remember Forge and the Morlock Healer from Legends, you should remember that what they offered didn’t have a whole lot of change or variety to it as you progressed through the game. But now the items list has been greatly expanded, and this time around if you see a great item at a particular vendor at a particular time, chances are you should grab it to avoid potentially missing out on getting it in the future!

Finally, while the thought of completely obliterating a group of Hellhounds may be appealing to many, RoA is definitely not without its incredible boss fights! You will end up facing Lady Deathstrike, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Arcangel, Sentinels, Marrow, Holocaust and many others! Since the game also has you head to the South Pole for a portion of the game, it’s likely that you’ll face the pterodactyl-like Sauron.

When most take a first look at X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, they may think this game really isn’t any different than its predecessor. But nevertheless, Raven Software has made some great improvements to what was a great game. If the story does indeed remain true to the spirits of the comics and movies and the in-game dialogue evokes the natural tension between the two teams, RoA may just end up being a better overall experience than Legends! Most important though, is that this game STARTS as a four player battle mayhem. The all new and original powers and locations should make RoA to be a must pick up for all X-Men and RPG enthusiasts! Prepare to face the Apocalypse in just a short couple weeks!