X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (PlayStation 2, 2005)

If you never played the first X-men Legends then you will absolutely love this one to death. If you did play the first one you will most definitely notice the improvements. Not much has changed as far as gameplay goes, however there are not 8-12 active powers that you can have for your X-man as opposed to last years 4. There are also a gigantic slew of Marvel characters in this game that make is great. The hidden characters alone are worth playing it.

This is one of the best games I have played in a good long while. It takes everything you loved about the first game and made it better. The core gameplay is the same. Leveling up, equipping items and expanding your mutant powers all works basically the same. The addition of an auto-equip and auto-distribute for character skills, attributes and equipment takes out the slow micromanaging element for those that just want smash and bash. You can get bogged down with too many items, even with the addition of the hero stash storage chest. This can also lead to a game-freezing glitch on replays because the game can't keep track of everything.
The storyline is classic and well put together. It is a sort of mash between various Marvel storylines that revolve around the virtually omniscient Apocalypse. Character development is done pretty much completely in 3D CGI cutscenes. The production value on these are impressive. The voice-casting is also excellent, headlined by Patrick "Professor X" Stewart.
I really liked the addition of more mutant powers for each character. These additional powers can be mapped through the pause menu or on the fly to the four different face buttons. Most characters now have two "Ultimate" powers to choose from. I also liked the way the various powers sort of tie together in a tree-branching scheme. You need to learn and use some weaker powers to gain the ability to fire the strongest ones.
As for character selection: It's impossible to get this feature right. You will always forget someone and you'll always include someone that's not needed. That being said I liked the variety. I'm a little lost on removing Magma (the main character from the first game) and adding Sunfire, whose powers are also fire-based. Of course, I would have loved to use characters like Angel, Beast, Sabretooth, etc. But, you can't win em all. There is also the issue of character balance. Iceman starts off markedly stronger than other characters. Because of that, and the fact that he's one of my favorites, I used him a lot. Which only made him even more powerful. One of his most basic powers, the ice crush, is easily the strongest and most effective attack in the entire game. Other characters are decidedly weaker, Toad, for instance. I was glad to see Wolverine had been taken down a notch in usefulness; the first game was beatable using only Wolverine because he was so overly powerful.
The characters in this game are all available from the very beginning, unlike the slowly releasing playable characters from the first one. There are an additional three "hidden" characters (Deadpool, Iron Man and Xavier) that you can earn through some difficult challenges. All of the characters are also parts of certain historical Marvel teams as well. If you assemble your four-person party with the right characters you can earn team bonuses. Teams consist of things like The Brotherhood, Old School (original X-Men + Magneto or Toad), New X-Men, and the New Avengers. There are other teams that rely on features of the characters or costumes (Age of Apocalypse, Forces of Nature, Bruise Brigade, etc.).
All things considered, if you like action RPGs, the X-Men or just generally fun games, you can't go wrong with this one. I am now on my third playthrough of a 30+ hour game and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. Well, maybe I will, but only if I pick up Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the spiritual sequel to this game. Have fun.

I bought this game because I had read some positive reviews of it, had been a big x-men fan, and like role-playing games. Just so you don't have to read this whole thing to get my take on it...its a pretty good game and worth buying. I bought mine on ebay and including shipping paid about $10. The one I bought however didn't have the jacket so it took me a while to figure some things out...like how to save (you need to select 'extract' on the blue X's that appear throughout the game as waypoints...yeah call me retarded). Anyway I probably spent about 30-40 hours completing all the missions, going through all the maps, and beating the game.

The thing I like most about it was the extended game play. I hate buying games that only take 10 hours to beat and then you're bored playing it again. Almost all the regular x-men or brotherhood characters are playable and you can unlock other characters by completing certain tasks....some characters are definately more powerful than others but I'll let you figure that out for yourself.

Some of the things that weren't so great was the mapping and objective completion. The map works great it just shows you too much. It points exactly where the objectives are so if you don't like to explore then you can just run through the game and knock out the objectives quickly. The only other thing that bothered me was lack of exploring element. There are many side quests but the maps are kind of like diablo 2's, all you need to do is run around and get all the red area out of the map and you've seen everything (you'll know what I'm talking about if you start playing the game) so there isn't much to explore or discover.

On the whole it was entertaining...it gives you a lot of insight into the x-men world and the videos try to capture all the characters and how they interact pretty well.

This game is very much like the first one, only better. So, if you liked the first game you'll love this one

If you like x-men, this is the game for you. It has a lot of characters and a good story behind it. It is easy to pick up the game and start playing. A++ in my book.

If you love X-Men and role playing games you will love X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse. If you played the first one you will definitely notice the improvements. Game play is about the same but now there are 8-12 active powers that you can have for your X-man instead of last years 4. There are also tons of Marvel characters to choose from in this game that make it amazing. The graphics are marvelous and the story is compelling. Great levels, objectives, and fighting capabilities.

One of the coolest things about this game is how up to four friends can play the story mode together as their own character (wolverine, gambit, cyclops, .. you choose).

Excellent job contacting me and sending me the item I desired to my overseas location. It is difficult to sometimes find vendors to send overseas and nice to find someone who is willing to do so. The game is in excellent conditions and I had a speedy delivery!

I bought this for my brother on his birthday because he absolutely loved the first X-Men Legends game. I think he finished the game rather quickly. He couldn't resist playing it almost every day.

The gameplay and replay value would be all that, because it's an excellent to X-Men Legends. There are a gang of new characters and the missions and boards for you to use and go thru, with plenty of obstacles and enemies to fight. But then almost like clockwork, even if you save at different points in the game..it WILL freeze. I'm in Apocalypse's level where you fight Dark Beast and it freezes before I can go up the elevator. I tried to restart the game and try to do things a little different and like clockwork, it freezes at a different point. It doesn't matter if you try to be different characters...turn your back to the tv and look at the tv real fast and pick up the controller...it's goin freeze on you and make you want to dropkick a walker from under a old person. That's beyond frustratin. Because of that, I can't beat the game..EVER. Other than that I will recommend this game to anybody who appreciate a good game...it's great.

great game, I enjoyed playing it with my son and even with myself, great features, characters and story.

My fiance has played this game for hours on end, even got me playing. I love the Femme Fatal of the female characters, but there is such an assortment of characters to play with that you don't get bored with the game. Its creative and keeps you thinking.

The only downside we found the game freezes up at a certain point. We contacted the website who said to empty the "hero stash" and try again. We've done this several times to no avail, our game is stuck. Hoping the PS3 will fix this "overload" issue the website is telling us happens.....The game was great up to this point.....

This was an excellent purchase. The cost was very little, as was the shipping. It was shipped & received in two days. The condition of the game was next to new. I definately recommend buying from this cat & will do so again in the future.

its as it said. it work perfectfully. O have no complaints . He did free shipping and it came in good timing.

Good News - the game is not broken and still okay to play the game. There are no glitches as well.

Bad News - This package doesn't have the official game box. But it's no big deal at all.

Scam artist! Never received item! I waited for atleast 20 days to get the items, and we were so excited in receiving it, only to find out that the seller cancelled his account!

fast shipping perfect item and does good deals man i meen everthing was awesome its a must i do deals again and again with this sales men because i do not think anybody else would do good perfect things like that

accurate a good version of marvals x men the best game for marvel with the exception of marvals ultimate alliance

If Emma Frost were a playable character. There was a lot about this game to like. There are multiple abilities for each character, and game play is great enough. I prefer the first one, but the second one did not leave me disappointed.

Item worked well and was shipped quickly. Great deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​!!!!!!!

I bought this game for my 12 yr old son for Christmas, in addition to 2 other games he requested. My son has not put this game down. While he tried out the other two games (Iron Man & Incredible Hulk), Rise of the Apocalypse is by far his favorite...HANDS DOWN!

He just unlocked Professor Xavier...it was a happy day in my household!

RAAGGHH! I FEEL THE POWER AS THOSE ADAMANTIUM RETRACTABLE CLAWS BURST OUT OF MY FIRSTS.. WHOA.. got a little crazy there. But this game is incredible. RPG elements with super cool Marvel characters with amazing graphics and no flaws. This is a must have for anyone with a PS2! ARE YOU A MUTANT?! I SURE AM!

i bought this game for my son because he has friends that have the same game and he liked the game very much so we decide to buy one for him so he didnt have to borrow no one elses he likes the action he plays game all the time thats pretty much sums my review up thank you very much have a great day

This product is great. Thanks for everything. I couln't have asked for a better game. It is adventerous and great for all ages. I would reccomend it for anyone who wants a challenge.