Shallow. That’s one way to describe X-Men: Destiny. It’s a game that you want to love. Conceptually, it sets itself apart from mutant adventures of the past. Instead of fighting as one of Marvel’s legendary cache of mutants, you get to build one up from scratch. However, the monotonous gameplay screams lazy design. The lackluster AI feels ripped out of the world of 8-bit gaming (16-bit would be a stretch). It plays out more like a game adapted from a movie property rather than a standalone title – the latter of which is something you would hope for after Activision’s 2010 Marvel title Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. Unfortunately, Beenox isn’t the developer on this one. If it weren’t for the rich roster of guest-mutey appearances in X-Men: Destiny and a comic book inspired story arc, there would be little enjoyment at all to be found in this game. As at it stands, the Destiny of this X-Men title is grim at best.
The game starts off with Cyclops and Emma Frost (The White Queen) establishing the X-Men’s new home in San Francisco. The setup is taken directly from the comic books. Cyclops and the Mutant Response Division (MRD) are ready to setup a peaceful environment for mutants in SF. In the crowd, three new mutants are lurking around waiting to be chosen. Adrian Luca is the child of a Purifier, an anti-mutant militia group. Aima Yoshida is smuggled out of Japan by her mutant father. Grant Alexander is a college freshman with no relation to the mutant issue. Your best options for story are to choose either Aima or Adrian. Once you pick your character, the game begins and the peaceful, mutant loving rally is attack. All fingers point to Magneto. However, the Purifiers are also there to show the world how evil mutants are.
The story focuses on trying to figure out who started the mutant attack. You also realize that there is some kind of dissension in the Purifiers, some simply want to kill mutants while others are taking mutants hostage. Hold on to the story for dear life because that’s the only thing that’s intriguing about this game. Several known mutants show up, terrifically characterized but not terrifically used. It’s great to see Northstar make his video game debut and of course it’s always a joy to see Gambit. The swamp rat’s characterization and voicing are spot on. However, these comic characters tend to attack the air. Known mutants who attack with or against you might as well be holograms. That’s how ineffective they are in battle. When I went up against Gambit, he was too busy attacking the wall to notice me attacking him from the side.
There are three types of powers your mutant can have: Density Control, Energy Projection or Shadow Matter. Density Control is more or less your Colossus type power, you can control your body mass and you have super human stamina and durability. Energy projection is for attacking enemies at a distance. Shadow Matter allows you to control dark matter; it also gives you modifiers to movement speed so that you can attack multiple enemies or deal severe damage to a single enemy.
Truthfully, it doesn’t matter which power you choose. The AI enemies move like dumb robots, often in a straight line. You can literally keep tapping the attack button and look away. It feels like you’re fighting through one long succession of Arena battles. The game actually lets you know how many enemies are left in the area. Coincidentally, there are also Challenge Arenas, which are timed battles.
There is some rudimentary RPG gaming in X-Men Destiny. You will often have to choose between helping the X-Men or the Brotherhood. You gain faction points when you do, which slightly modify the in-game dialogue. Regardless of which faction you choose, the action will always be the same. Slay several enemies and walk away. Still, it is amusing to choose between helping Nightcrawler or Mystique.
Probably the coolest thing in this game is seeing the guest-mutants appear. A comic panel tear-out appears on the screen showing their name. Seeing abstract characters like Caliban and Pixie show up will delight hardcore comics fans if they are able to suffer through the monotonous gameplay. I should also note that there is some platforming in this game, but it’s an appalling waste of time that feels tacked on.
Throughout the game, you can pick up various passive mutant abilities that give you offensive and defensive multipliers. Most of them are abstractly tied to known mutants. For instance Avalanche’s powers reduces damage, while Northstar’s X-gene lets you anticipate attacks.
Although the settings are different, like San Francisco’s Chinatown, the colors are drab and tend to run into one another. Most importantly, each enemy fights exactly the same way. Whether you are fighting Purifiers or Gambit’s Externals, you still feel like you’re fending off rodents from an Atari 2600 game.
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