The X-Men have been around for decades. In the pages of comic books they have been thwarting the plan of evil geniuses like magneto time and time again. With the rapid evolution of technology the X-Men have expanded their horizons and are finding new mediums with which to tell their story. This comes in the form of Television series', Movies, and Video games. The latest installment of X-Men entertainment comes to us as X-Men Legends for the Nokia N-gage. You will find yourself controlling a group of some of the best-trained and intelligent mutants around while trying to stop all of your favorite and most recognizable villains. Prepare for some intense hand-to-hand combat, X-Men style.

Who doesn�t want to be Wolverine?

You start to have a feeling that this is going to be a great game as soon as you see the spiraling DNA strand racing past your menu screen. Once you actually being playing all of your suspicions are confirmed. You get right into the action in this title. No drawn out intros, no walk through tutorials to teach how to play, just continuous combat. The game is also peppered with excellent looking pre-rendered cut scenes to explain what exactly is happening. These are a surprising delight while playing the game and really help give a sense of magnitude to whichever situation you are in. And as if that weren't enough, the cut scenes also come coupled with great voice acting. In fact there are numerous parts in the game where voice acting is present which helps alleviate some of the burden of having to read all of the text as you do in most role-playing titles. Once you make it through the first cut scene you are placed right in the action. This is great if you are looking for that in a game, but since it is very much like a role-playing game it leaves you to guess how to do everything. That is of course unless you read the instruction booklet or go through the in game tutorial. The tutorial is very comprehensive and lets you actually perform the actions so you can get used to the control. Luckily, you have the option of selecting which tutorial you want to go through so you only have to go through the ones you feel you need to know more about. The control is the game is pretty typical since you move your characters with the directional pad and you use the keypad to select different options, including attacking. You will find that you have to explore every region pretty thoroughly in order to find items that are strewn about. While wandering about the levels trying to meet your objective you will run into many opposing forces. Once this happens you have to be very careful. The first thing you must be aware of is the status of your allies. Be sure that they have enough HP and that they are in the correct formation. That's right, in X-Men Legends you must actually select one of 4 different attack patterns, each with it's own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on which formation you use your teammates will switch to defensive mode, aggressive mode, normal mode, or berserk mode. Each of the modes is pretty self-explanatory defensive characters will try to keep their distance while berserk characters will jump into the fray with wild abandon. Once you have this selected you will be ready to battle. Through the entire game and while locked in combat you will be in charge of one of the four X-Men on screen, and you may change characters at will. When you are being attacked you must attack back with the character you are controlling while the other X-Men will attack on their own according to which mode you have selected for them. One little problem with the game is that your fellow mutants do not have life meters and they are not equipped with the AI to heal themselves, so that means you have to constantly check the stats menu to see how everyone is doing and heal them appropriately. Status effects do show on the game screen, but you are also in charge of relieving those for your teammates as well as yourself. Luckily battle with cease while you are in a menu so there really isn't a reason to rush. Also while in battle it can get a little confusing sometimes with your team and all of your opponents on screen at the same time, running around trying to kill each other. To help discern an enemy from a friendly little red arrows appear around an enemy if you are facing them and their life meter will appear in the bottom right corner of the screen. If you are not careful the battles can be very difficult and you must heal your allies frequently. There are plenty of items around the levels for you to discover so do not pass them up.

The story isn't necessarily anything original, but it is interesting and it works. The story starts off as Mystique and The Blob are kidnapping a young girl by the name of Alison. Professor Xavier detects this while using his Cerebro machine and dispatches the X-Men to save Alison. It is unclear at the start of the game why the Brotherhood of Mutants wants her, except for the fact that her mutant powers are beginning to blossom. You spend your time in the game trying to figure out exactly what the Brotherhood is up to. It does provide enough mystery to keep you interested and certainly gives you plenty of situations of some great action. The only real thing that can be faulted in the game is the combat can be a little too confusing and it taking care of all four characters on screen can require a little too much attention. Other than that this is a really solid game, with a lot of action and plenty of RPG qualities so there is never a dull moment.

More fluid than HydroMan

Every graphical technique in this game has been done before, but Barking Lizards has found a way to put them all together in such a way that makes the game look great. The backgrounds are all done in an isometric view, which does give a decent sense of perspective. The environments are detailed and sharp. They do a very good job of setting up an environment and giving you a sense of location. The characters are each represented by sprites, which are well done and are elaborate enough to be convincing. They also each come with a shadow the perfectly mimics whatever action that specific character is doing; even Wolverine's shadow has claws. The sprites also look great while running around; they are all very fluid and well animated. The only problem arises when you change directions or start attacking. Each animation by itself is great, but switching between animations is a little jerky and unnatural. This is purely a graphical problem though, and it doesn't interfere with game play at all. As mentioned, this game features numerous pre-rendered cuts scenes that are great. Humans have always been difficult to animate but everything else in a cut scene is beautiful. It really adds a great dimension to the game, especially for a handheld.

Comic Book sound effects Brought to Life

The sound in this title is, for the most part, very well done. The title intro is a great orchestral part which really gets you pumped up for a great action game. Most of the level you won't hear too much music, but when you start a fight you will hear a really great battle theme that really adds to the tension of the event. The sound effects, on the other hand, aren't spectacular. Most of them sound like a sound effect version of something that you are familiar with, but not actually like anything in particular. You will hear the same sound if you break open a crate as you would if you slashed a chair apart. The sounds in the menus aren't bad, but most of the sound effects could be completely re-done and the effect would be much greater. Probably the best aspect of the game with relationship to the sound is the voice acting. Not only does the game feature voice acting, but there is a great deal of it and it is done very well. They even got Patrick Stewart to do the voice of Professor Xavier. So the sound effects are a little lacking, but the music and the voice talent in this game are both great and make up for where the sound effects leave off.

Get Ready to Rumble

To put it simply this game is a lot of fun. Once you get the hang of the battle system and you being to work your way through the game you will find yourself lost in a very well put together game with a great story full of great music and voice acting. If you like RPG's you will like this title because of familiar things like HP and EXP. You can level up and even chose which attributes you want your character to improve on. You will need to navigate your way through levels and solve some puzzles and you will have to engage in combat. If you like any type of third-person game where fighting is involved you will also love this title. You get to bash through walls and tear your opponents to shreds. Each character even has their own set of special moves you can use. Anyway you look at it this game is simply a great game and should be checked out by anyone with an N-Gage.

There are Mutations in the Plasma

The game does have a few flaws like poor sound effects and a few jumpy sprites but that is no reason not to try a game out. This game has a great story and is a lot of fun to play since you are always a part of the action. Making your way through each level is gratifying since each level gets progressively harder. Anything that might be seen as negative here is really miniscule and is easily covered up by the many great aspects the game has. It is great to see a 2D game go so far and look so good while maintaining simplicity.

The World is Safe Again, For Now�

The X-Men have come a long way over the years; Iceman finally turned into ice, Beat actually became a Beast, Professor Xavier got a new chair, Marvel Girl realized her name was dumb, and the list goes on. It is nice to see them all come together here in this action packed title. Anyone who grew up with the X-Men has probably played so of the other games bearing the 'X-Men' title. Anyone who has played those games might be hesitant to play this one, but all of your fears should subside once you actually start playing this game. It is very well crafted and is, for the most part, very polished. Anyone looking for action on the N-Gage should start looking here.