I had high hopes for "X-Men: Destiny," I really did. The thought of being able to create my own mutant and fight alongside some of the most iconic super heroes of all time had my Marvel fan-boy juices flowing. Sadly, Silicon Knights' effort didn't live up to my expectations.
I had high hopes for "X-Men: Destiny," I really did. The thought of being able to create my own mutant and fight alongside some of the most iconic super heroes of all time had my Marvel fan-boy juices flowing. Sadly, Silicon Knights' effort didn't live up to my expectations.
That's not to say "X-Men: Destiny" is a bad game. I had fun with its simple combat and geeked-out at the inclusion of many lesser-known members of the X-Men fraternity. But that fun was dampened by some rather-frustrating design decisions and an overall lack of polish.
The story that drives "X-Men: Destiny" is one of its strongest assets. Charles Xavier is dead, and humans and mutants are on the brink of all-out war. The game begins at a peace rally in San Francisco, and as things soon take a turn for the worst it is here that you pick from one of three characters to begin your adventure. The lack of a true character creation option is a bit of a bummer, but at least each of the three playable characters -- Aimi, Grant and Adrian -- has a unique backstory, which encourages playing through the story multiple times.
In addition to picking your character, you also assign them a mutant power -- there's Density Control, which turns your fists into rock-hard weapons of destruction; Energy Projection, which lets you attack enemies from afar with projectile attacks; and Shadow Matter, which places a premium on fast-paced strikes. Each ability has upgradeable powers associated with it, and advancing though the story unlocks new, more powerful moves. You can also find X-Genes, powers stolen from other mutants, that grant you special abilities like added health or a dash attack. You can mix-and-match X-Genes to customize your character's skill set, though many offer similar benefits.
As you progress, you can choose to align yourself with either the X-Men or Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants by accepting faction-specific missions. These choices have little effect on the over-arching plot line, but do open up some fresh dialogue that you would have otherwise missed.
Regardless of which side you pick or what abilities, powers and X-Genes you equip, the combat in "X-Men: Destiny" rarely changes -- you'll be beating the stuffing out of generic bad guys with light and heavy attacks and the occasional high-powered combo. Gameplay essentially follows the same formula from start to finish -- you enter an area, eliminate 'X' number of foes, advance to next room and repeat. Yes it's repetitive, but I couldn't help but have fun unleashing my newfound mutant fury on any giant robot or mutant-hating thug who happened to get in my way. And my kids really enjoyed it, too.
Unfortunately, a host of problems kept dragging the game down. At the top of the list are the multi-stage boss battles that must be completed from start to finish on a single try. Words can't begin to describe my frustration at having to repeat the same early sequences over and over and over again because I died during the final stage of a boss battle. Would it have been so difficult to include an auto-save between each stage? Or perhaps toss out a health canister or two between stages? Really? Really? Other issues were of a more technical nature -- the random freeze, my character getting stuck in the environment, etc. -- but were equally as disappointing to encounter.
I had high hopes for "X-Men: Destiny," I really did. The thought of being able to create my own mutant and fight alongside some of the most iconic super heroes of all time had my Marvel fan-boy juices flowing. Sadly, Silicon Knights' effort didn't live up to my expectations.
That's not to say "X-Men: Destiny" is a bad game. I had fun with its simple combat and geeked-out at the inclusion of many lesser-known members of the X-Men fraternity. But that fun was dampened by some rather-frustrating design decisions and an overall lack of polish.
The story that drives "X-Men: Destiny" is one of its strongest assets. Charles Xavier is dead, and humans and mutants are on the brink of all-out war. The game begins at a peace rally in San Francisco, and as things soon take a turn for the worst it is here that you pick from one of three characters to begin your adventure. The lack of a true character creation option is a bit of a bummer, but at least each of the three playable characters -- Aimi, Grant and Adrian -- has a unique backstory, which encourages playing through the story multiple times.
In addition to picking your character, you also assign them a mutant power -- there's Density Control, which turns your fists into rock-hard weapons of destruction; Energy Projection, which lets you attack enemies from afar with projectile attacks; and Shadow Matter, which places a premium on fast-paced strikes. Each ability has upgradeable powers associated with it, and advancing though the story unlocks new, more powerful moves. You can also find X-Genes, powers stolen from other mutants, that grant you special abilities like added health or a dash attack. You can mix-and-match X-Genes to customize your character's skill set, though many offer similar benefits.
As you progress, you can choose to align yourself with either the X-Men or Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants by accepting faction-specific missions. These choices have little effect on the over-arching plot line, but do open up some fresh dialogue that you would have otherwise missed.
Regardless of which side you pick or what abilities, powers and X-Genes you equip, the combat in "X-Men: Destiny" rarely changes -- you'll be beating the stuffing out of generic bad guys with light and heavy attacks and the occasional high-powered combo. Gameplay essentially follows the same formula from start to finish -- you enter an area, eliminate 'X' number of foes, advance to next room and repeat. Yes it's repetitive, but I couldn't help but have fun unleashing my newfound mutant fury on any giant robot or mutant-hating thug who happened to get in my way. And my kids really enjoyed it, too.
Unfortunately, a host of problems kept dragging the game down. At the top of the list are the multi-stage boss battles that must be completed from start to finish on a single try. Words can't begin to describe my frustration at having to repeat the same early sequences over and over and over again because I died during the final stage of a boss battle. Would it have been so difficult to include an auto-save between each stage? Or perhaps toss out a health canister or two between stages? Really? Really? Other issues were of a more technical nature -- the random freeze, my character getting stuck in the environment, etc. -- but were equally as disappointing to encounter.
Visually, I liked the comic book-inspired art style and shattering graphic overlays, but could have done without the pop-up boxes remaining on my screen until I stopped fighting long enough to hit the Back button and clear them away. The character models can be hit-or-miss, and there was noticeable slowdown during more frenetic battles, but overall "X-Men: Destiny" was solid from a presentation standpoint.
At the end of the day, perhaps the biggest issue with "X-Men: Destiny" is that it could have been so much more than what it inevitably is. A little more polish here, a few new combat wrinkles there and "X-Men: Destiny" could have been something special. As it is, however, it's more uninspired than uncanny.
"X-Men: Destiny"
Developer: Silicon Knights
Publisher: Activision
Available for: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 ($59.99)
Rating: T for teen
Score: 6.5/10
