X-Men: Destiny

[Altimus]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

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Preview:

http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6317141/x-men-destiny-first-look-preview

[Flawless]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

Doesn't look that good to me.

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[trobinson97]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

I'm with you Flawless. It doesn't look great, but I'm a big enough X-fan to get some fun out of it. Shame you can't create your own character.

[Altimus]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

I'm with you Flawless. It doesn't look great, but I'm a big enough X-fan to get some fun out of it. Shame you can't create your own character.

A big shame. I thought this was one of the bigger selling points of the game when they first started to announce it.

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

Coming out in just over a month, saw a gameplay video and it looks rough. (9/6)

Seems like it could be a major bomb. Not much pub behind it at all.

[Altimus]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

Coming out in just over a month, saw a gameplay video and it looks rough. (9/6)

Seems like it could be a major bomb. Not much pub behind it at all.

Seems like there is nothing behind.

The game looks like a Xbox/PS2 game with some weak playable characters. As I said, if they had a create a character option than I would have probably bought it.

[mrclutch]

The video I saw doesn't look very promising. I would be more excited if they made a this console generation of the Xmen games that were on the original Xbox that were like MUA. Maybe someday.

[mrclutch]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

So anybody picking this up in the morning. Would like to see some impressions. My guess is that it will suck but maybe it will suprise us all.

[Boltman]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

So anybody picking this up in the morning. Would like to see some impressions. My guess is that it will suck but maybe it will suprise us all.

This drops tomorrow?

Man it fell off of my radar fast and I've been so unimpressed with everything I've seen and read about it so far that I'm sure i'll just be renting this one.

[Burns11]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

It's a careless, cynical, opportunistic mess that Silicon Knights and Activision should be ashamed to release.

Ouch.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/28/x-men-destiny-review/

Sometimes you read about a canceled game and think, "Oh, that's too bad, that could have been fun. I wish they'd just release what they had finished so I could check it out."

Do me a favor. The next time that thought should happen to flit across your mind, remember X-Men Destiny. Because when someone has a cool idea and releases it unfinished, this is exactly what it looks like.


After the death of Charles Xavier, the X-Men are in shambles, scattered to the wind. So when a new opportunity at peace between humans and mutants is shattered by what appears to be the work of Magneto, the team needs all the help it can get.

That help comes in the form of bulky football star Grant, Japanese immigrant Aimi, or Adrian, the son of an anti-mutant Purifier. Moments after choosing your protagonist, their power set will emerge, whether that be energy projection, energy-boosted quick attacks or "density control," which lets you take and dish out high amounts of damage.

As your hero spends their first day of mutantdom fighting Purifiers and other faceless foes, they'll use gathered experience to unlock five of the eight available abilities in whichever of those three trees you selected. They'll then augment those abilities with defensive, offensive and "utility" X-genes collected (and occasionally hidden) throughout the levels.

For example, one combination may include the Colossus offensive gene (which boosts the damage of finishing moves), the Emma Frost defense gene (diamond skin, naturally) and the Psylocke utility gene, which lets you use your mutant abilities more frequently. Picking up the randomly distributed X-genes occasionally rewards a costume instead, offering an aesthetic change only.

Lengthy animations bog down every attack in your arsenal, giving the whole thing an annoying, sluggish feel that's heightened by occasionally laughable slowdown.

When you collect a matching set of four X-genes you're able to activate some sort of special attack based on that hero's powers. (I'm foggy on the details of this hopefully-not-too-crucial feature, because despite collecting over 30 X-genes I never got four that matched).

Despite my frustration at never being coordinated, deciding which X-genes complement each other and which you'll spend experience points to improve is a unique, engaging system. Unfortunately, digging up as many X-genes as possible means combing through drab environments (boring) rather than performing well in combat (slightly less so).

I say "slightly less so" because lengthy animations bog down every attack in your arsenal, giving combat an annoying, sluggish feel that's heightened by laughable slowdown. With four or five basic attacks and four mutant abilities that can be triggered once you've collected enough energy, you'll soon realize the X-gene system is really just a smokescreen for shallow gameplay.

When you're not clobbering thugs, you'll also have some choices to make as you encounter X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants throughout San Francisco. Of course, since the ham-fisted decision is always "good or evil," you're really only making one binary choice at the start. It's less "branching path through the narrative" and more "stump."

Choosing an evil or good mutant to side with in a scenario occasionally means you'll get one of two different missions, but since your mission is really just "punch some guys in the face," even the "good or evil" choice lacks consequence.

You also get "faction" for these choices, but if there's any effect of that whatsoever, I didn't notice. Most big conflicts against the Purifiers include good and evil mutants, so the writers didn't have to create two versions of the scene. In fact, toward the end, you'll actually just choose a side, thereby nullifying whatever course you'd previously charted.

A lot of the dialogue is repeated regardless of which protagonist you chose, so don't expect much story fluctuation there either. Then again, at one point, I was prompted to do a ground pound on some weak concrete by Emma Frost, who said "It's an easy smash through for you!" Maybe we don't want to stretch this writing team much thinner.

Once you realize that most available X-genes are just variations on a handful of themes, and that the characters' stories are all fairly similar, the whole experience wears a bit thin. At least, it would wear a bit thin if it lasted longer than five hours.




No, you didn't misread that. This "action RPG" (really just a slightly evolved brawler) is five hours long. And if you're hoping for some sort of New Game+ mode, don't: You can replay the game after beating it, but the only thing restarted is your meaningless faction standing. If you're hoping to keep your X-genes but play through with a new ability tree or character -- you know, the interesting stuff -- you can't. The mind boggles.

I value concision in games. I've said many times that I'd rather have a fantastic five hours than a mediocre 10 hours. X-Men Destiny is neither.

X-Men Destiny is five hours long because someone wanted a line item in a fall release schedule and didn't want to wait to finish it. It's a careless, cynical, opportunistic mess that Silicon Knights and Activision should be ashamed to release. In fact, its concision almost comes back around to being a virtue, because at least you can quickly move onto something more pleasurable, like selling X-Men Destiny to a stupid friend you hate, or burying a beloved family pet.

In years past, Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack has railed against critics writing "previews" that feel more like reviews of what's still a half-finished product. How ironic that his company and Activision have just forced me to do exactly that.

[Boltman]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

Wow.

After reading that glowing endorsement, I won't be even renting this one.

[Zalf]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

Got it from gamefly today and just finished it. So it is definitely short. It was fun but not great while it lasted.

I can imagine this started with "Let's make XML/UA and let the player create their own superhero.". At some point it turned into let the player use one of three pre rolled genetics and no one else. So it lost the team aspect and the play your favorite hero aspect that really made the previous game and didn't really add the create your own hero aspect that have been something new. Combine that with half(being kind) the story content and a much weaker alt costume system and the game just doesn't hold up in comparison.

It is probably worth a rent/gamefly if you are a xmen/comic fan but I am both and would have been seriously aggravated if I had dropped $60 on it.

[BRxSKINSx]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

I was looking forward to this game....I guess I was the only one....I found nuthin in the reviews/previews from ign that made me want it.... It did sound good though....

[Rouchicus]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

There is no shortage of X Men fans who are gamers out there. It should be pretty obvious that making a game where you can create your own character and put them into this world, is one of the biggest desires of the fans.

I really don't see what keeps them from doing one. I mean, they could probably get away with an average type of gameplay if they made the character customization good enough. Had intentions of renting this over the weekend, looks like I'll be passing though.

[Cyros]

Re: X-Men: Destiny

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