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X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is a follow up to X-Men Legends. It is an action role-playing game released in 2005 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, N-Gage, PSP, and GameCube video game consoles as well as the PC.

Story

Apocalypse has begun his war on humans and mutants, beginning with his invasion of the mutant-controlled nation of Genosha. Professor X and Magneto come to the realization that the only way to defeat this enemy that threatens all life on the planet is for their respective groups to join forces. The story begins with the X-Men and the Brotherhood launching a rescue mission to save Professor X, who has been captured by Apocalypse.

In the following missions, the unlikely group encounter many dangers in Genosha, the Savage Land, Canada's Weapon X Facility, a bombed-out New York City with sewers crawling with Morlocks, and finally, Apocalypse's stronghold in Egypt. Apocalypse is searching for four mutants with "harmonic DNA" to take over the world. Apparently, Polaris, Quicksilver, Emma Frost, and Sabretooth fit the profile, and one by one, they are taken prisoner by Apocalypse, as are Beast & Angel. Things get worse when Destiny forsees a great treachery by one of the X-Men. In the end, the X-Men and Brotherhood have a massive showdown against Apocalypse and his Horsemen.

New features

X-Men Legends II contains expanded versions of the gameplay features from the original X-Men Legends, with several notable additions:

  • Online multiplayer modes.

  • New characters are playable, including characters from the X-Men and the Brotherhood.

  • New powers and abilities are available for all characters, and the player can switch between more than 4 mutant powers at once.

Several characters from the first X-Men Legends were dropped from the roster of playable characters in the sequel: Jubilee, Magma (despite her being the main character of the first game) and Psylocke do not appear in X-Men Legends II, and Beast and Emma Frost appear but are not playable. A boss from the first game, Avalanche, also did not get mentioned in this game.

Continuity

Despite the similarities with the comic book continuity, the contuinuity of the X-Men Legends games are in a continuity of their own. The story of X-Men Legends II is inspired by the Age of Apocalypse storyline from the Marvel Comics series to coincide with the 10th anniversary of that event. It is not, however, a direct adaptation of the storyline. The original Age of Apocalypse occurred as a result of Professor X having been killed by a time traveler prior to his forming of the X-Men; Apocalypse was awakened from hibernation by this event and proceeded to take over an unprepared world. Apocalypse's rule in the game comes about as a result of events in the present day, and is not dependent on Xavier's absence. Some of the events and many of the principal characters still exist in the game the same as they do in the Age of Apocalypse, but many others exist as they do in the normal Marvel Universe.

Notable differences in continuity include:

  • Sugar Man, a character who originated in the Age of Apocalypse, says that Apocalypse helped him escape the Age of Apocalypse, but he references the Age of Apocalypse as having been a future timeline, whereas the original storyline took place in the present.
  • Of Apocalypse's four Horsemen (Mister Sinister, Mikhail Rasputin, Holocaust and Abyss), all but Sinister are the same as they were is the Age of Apocalypse. In the normal Marvel Universe, Holocaust is from the comic's Age of Apocalypse storyline, but now dead, Abyss is a much more heroic figure, Sinister has been an adversary of Apocalypse for years, and Mikhail is unaffiliated with Apocalypse.
  • In the game, Beast and Angel are kidnapped by Apocalypse and unwillingly transformed into Dark Beast and Archangel, respectively. In the comics, Dark Beast is the Beast's evil counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse timeline, and Angel was willingly transformed after he lost his wings.
  • In the game, the Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut and Pyro are all still members of the Brotherhood; in the comic book continuity, the former two are heroes and Pyro is dead (although Scarlet Witch briefly admits that she and Quicksilver stay with Magneto to try and balance his actions with justice). Banshee appears in the game, but was apparently killed in a comic book published shortly after the game was released.
  • The X-Men's appearances and costumes are based on their Ultimate Marvel counterparts, with the exceptions of Juggernaut (whose costume is based on the traditional design) & Bishop, (who has no Ultimate counterpart as of the time of the game's production). However, costumes based on the classic and Age of Apocalypse versions of almost all characters are unlockable by progressing through the game.
  • The Cerci, a race of insect enemies, are based on the Brood from the comics; they are referred to as such in the game's viewable concept art, and one type of Cerci is called a "Brood Queen". However, while the Brood are highly intelligent aliens, the Cerci are genetically engineered creatures with animal-like intelligence. As you fight the Cerci, some have a name with "Brood" in the title, as well.
  • Sabretooth is pictured as one of Magneto's henchmen when he's supposed to work for Mr. Sinister.

The storyline also derives elements from the X-Men storyline "Apocalypse: The Twelve". In this storyline, as in the game, Apocalypse is searching for specific mutants to power the machine that will make him a god. However, in the game there are four mutants rather than twelve, and they are wanted because they have "harmonic DNA". It is interesting to note that only Polaris from the original "Twelve" is in "The Four" who are used in the game.

Characters

Old and known characters return from X-Men Legends, while new faces and characters appear during some levels. Several dialogues in the game will have different text and slightly different dialogue options, depending on whether the speaker is a member of the X-Men or the Brotherhood. Additionally, having certain people in the team before a boss fight will also give an Easter egg of that team member and the boss having a dialogue before the regular text comes up. Such occurrences are Iceman & Grizzly, Jean Grey & Grizzly, Magneto & Zealot, Wolverine & Deathstrike, Nightcrawler & Sinister In Genosha Labs, Toad & Stryfe, Jean Grey & Archangel, Storm and Dark Beast, Sunfire and Living Monolith, and Deadpool & Deadpool (once he as been unlocked). This also occurs in other situations, such as having Rogue in the party when Mystique is located in the Savage Land, Gambit with Pyro when he is trapped in the machine, Sunfire when Pyro disappears just prior to the battle with Abyss, Colossus when first speaking to Shadowcat at the X-Mansion, and Gambit with Sebastian Shaw.

! colspan="4" | Playable Characters

! colspan="4" | Villains

! colspan="4" | Non-Playable Characters

! colspan="2" | Mentioned but not seen

Unlockable CharactersPSP ExclusivesPC ExclusivesN-Gage Exclusive

Special grouping

The game offers several bonuses for choosing a special set of characters. Each grouping has a certain name and results in a certain level of attacking power, stamina, health, or experience learned. The following groups are available:

Team
Age of Apocalypse Agile Warriors Brotherhood of Evil Bruiser Brigade
Dark Past Double Date Energy Corps Family Affair
Femme Fatale Forces of Nature Heavy Metal New Avengers
New X-Men Old School Raven Knights Special Ops

Online & Multiplayer

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse brings up to 4 players either offline or online. Players who have purchased it on the Xbox can play online via Xbox Live. During Xbox Live play, however, only the "Danger Room" and "Campaign" modes can be played. Players must also have the unlocked the "Danger Room Disc" that they wish to play.

  • N-Gage: Up to four players. Players will need to activate their bluetooth to connect and play.
  • PSP: Up to four players.

Ratings

Gamespot's ratings mostly got up to 8/10 for all the system release

  • Gamespot: 8.1/10
    • Gamers Ratings: 8.8/10
IGN's ratings mostly got up to 8/10 for all the system release
*also as the linking to other system section ratings
  • IGN: 8.4/10
    • Reader Average 8/10
    • Press Average 8/10
*also as the linking to other system section ratings

Voice Cast

Additional voices provided by Dan Hay, Eric Biessman, Zachary Quarles (as Zachery Quarles), Kris Zimmerman, and Tom Kane

See also

External links

2005 computer and video games | GameCube games | Mobile phone games | N-Gage games | PlayStation 2 games | PlayStation Portable games | Superhero computer and video role-playing games | Windows games | X-Men games | Xbox games | Computer and video games featuring cooperative gameplay

X-Men Legends 2

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse".

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