X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

X-Men Legends II is an action role-playing game. It unites two Marvel Comics superhero teams, the heroic X-Men and the villainous Brotherhood of Mutants as they together face the mutant supervillain Apocalypse and his minions. Players can choose up to four characters to use at once from a larger roster. Players unlock additional characters as they proceed through the game. Four players can play on one machine cooperatively, and players can join or leave at any time. The game also features online play for up to four players, a first for the series. As characters gain experience points, their mutant superpowers and unique abilities can be upgraded. Items found during gameplay can also be equipped to further enhance a character's abilities. Characters can combine attacks to create a combo, in which two or more players punch or kick a single enemy at the same time. The character's special abilities can also be used in the same manner to create a Super Combo which inflicts massive damage on enemies. Each character has several mutant powers that players can assign to controller buttons. The game also features a skirmish mode, which allows players to fight against each other or waves of computer-controlled enemies. The mobile phone version of the game is primarily a beat 'em up with role-playing elements. Unlike the console versions, the game plays as a side-scroller in the same vein as the 1992 X-Men arcade game. There are five selectable characters, and players upgrade each through experience points earned. Players control one character at a time, and can switch to another at the press of a button. ==Synopsis==

Setting X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse takes place some time after the events of X-Men Legends. The mutant supervillain Apocalypse, having witnessed the X-Men's defeat of Magneto remotely, declares that the Age of Apocalypse is nigh. Prior to the game's campaign, he kidnaps Professor X and Polaris for unknown purposes. Locations include a military prison in Greenland, the mutant sanctuary of Genosha, the Savage Land, and Egypt. Plot The game begins with members of the X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine) meeting up with members of the Brotherhood (Magneto, Mystique, and Sabretooth) at a military prison outpost in Greenland to free Professor X, who was captured alongside Polaris. Magneto reveals that his son, Quicksilver, was also captured by Apocalypse. Upon freeing Xavier, the teams relocate to the mutant haven of Genosha. They find that the island was ravaged by Apocalypse's forces during an intense battle with Magneto's airships. The teams set out to free the island from Apocalypse's control. They briefly encounter Mister Sinister, who was experimenting on Genoshan mutants, and fight Grizzly, Lady Deathstrike, and Zealot as they free captive citizens and collect information. To free the island completely, they defeat Abyss, the first of Apocalypse's Horsemen. Assuming that the need for cooperation has ended, the teams decide to go their separate ways. However, Apocalypse kidnaps Beast from the X-Mansion and destroys it. Beast manages to point the team in the direction of the Savage Land, a prehistoric preserve in Antarctica. The teams work their way through the Savage Land, defeating Garokk, Sauron, and Omega Red, as well as the second Horseman, Mikhail Rasputin. They learn that Apocalypse has gained information from the ancient alien technology to use toward a machine of unknown power. Apocalypse sets his plans in motion by conquering New York City. The teams work to sabotage Apocalypse's resources by destroying his army's cloning facility and disabling his main power plant while defeating Sugar Man. However, Emma Frost is captured before the teams battle the Stepford Cuckoos and the third Horseman, Holocaust. Angel is captured shortly after and is transformed into Archangel, the final Horseman of Apocalypse. With Apocalypse's army weakened, the teams begin liberating New York City. They help Nick Fury regain control of the Sentinels from Bastion. Within the city, they defeat Apocalypse's armies, along with Stryfe and a mind-controlled Deadpool. The teams defeat Archangel at Apocalypse's tower, where they find Beast, now under the control of Mister Sinister; he kidnaps Sabretooth and escapes with Apocalypse and Mister Sinister to Egypt. They learn that Apocalypse's plan is to use Polaris, Quicksilver, Frost, and Sabretooth as part of a machine to fuel an experiment to grant him massive amounts of power. The teams then follow Apocalypse to Egypt where they defeat Mister Sinister while freeing Beast from Sinister's control. After besting the final guard, the Living Monolith, the teams battle Apocalypse and defeat him by stealing the powers from his machine. In the final cutscene, Magneto and Professor X part once again as adversaries, noting that Apocalypse was defeated but not destroyed. Beast ponders why the machine did not work properly, wondering if sabotage was a factor. As the X-Jet flies away, Sinister is seen on top of the pyramid, laughing, hinting that he sabotaged the machine. Playable characters X-Men Legends II features 18 playable characters, limited to only six in the mobile version. Several playable characters return from X-Men Legends, and select members of the Brotherhood of Mutants are also playable. Some non-playable X-Men and Brotherhood characters appear during levels. In some instances dialogue throughout the game can be character-to-character specific, depending on the player character's alignment and relationship with the non-player character. The Windows version features two additional playable characters, while the PlayStation Portable features four exclusive characters. • Beast • Bishop • Cable • Cannonball • Colossus • Cyclops • Dark Phoenix • Deadpool • Gambit • Iceman • Iron Man • Jean Grey • Juggernaut • Magneto • Nightcrawler • Professor X • Pyro • Rogue • Sabretooth • Scarlet Witch • Storm • Sunfire • Toad • Wolverine • X-Man ==Development and marketing==

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse was announced on October 21, 2004, exactly one month after the release of X-Men Legends. It was shown at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and San Diego Comic-Con in 2005. It was first released for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows in North America on September 20, 2005, Australia on October 12, 2005, and in Europe on October 14, 2005. The PlayStation Portable version was released approximately one month later in North America on October 19, Australia on November 23, and in Europe on November 25. Developed by Barking Lizards Technologies, a distinct version of the game was released on the first-generation N-Gage handheld platform in Europe on October 28, and in North America on October 31. A mobile phone version developed by Mforma was launched on December 19. A playable demo was released for the Windows version of the game on November 3. Developer Raven Software sought to expand on the preceding game's scale. As such, characters were given additional powers to choose from. Locations were also made more diverse. "With the environments we tried to create [something] more exotic and organic" stated Dan Vondrak, Project Lead on X-Men Legends II. Gameplay and story aspects were adjusted to ensure that four players can play continuously, whereas in the previous game certain missions were limited to one player. The CGI cinematics were created by Blur Studio, who would go on to create cinematics for games such as Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Vicarious Visions's engine powers Rise of Apocalypse and its predecessor. They were also responsible for the PlayStation Portable version of the game. Karthik Bala, CEO of Vicarious Visions felt strongly that the PSP version should have the same gameplay as the consoles: "One of our main goals [...] was to really bring the depth and detail of the console game over to portable form on the PSP". Four new exclusive characters were added to the PSP version along with nine new side missions. The control system had to be modified to accommodate the PSP's fewer buttons. Online play is available on the PSP, both in ad-hoc and infrastructure modes. Bala stated that it was a priority for his team. Beenox ported X-Men Legends II to Windows. ==Reception==

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse received generally favorable reviews. All platforms hold aggregate scores in the 80–85% range at aggregate review websites GameRankings and Metacritic. Reported scores at Metacritic ranged from 59% to 100% approval. According to the NPD Group, Rise of Apocalypse sold over 63,000 units on the Xbox during the month of its release. It sold enough copies to be added to the budget line known as PlayStation 2's Greatest Hits. PALGNs Jeremy Jastrzab felt that Rise of Apocalypse "caters for X-Men fans and if you can gather three others, you're going to have a great time". Tom Byron of 1UP.com praised several aspects of the game, and felt that amidst The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Ultimate Spider-Man and Fantastic Four game releases in 2005 X-Men Legends II was the best release from Marvel that year. Commentary on gameplay was generally positive. G4TV's reviewer lauded the destructible environments, but felt that the gameplay lacked variation. PALGNs Jeremy Jastrzab felt that the game's menus were convoluted and difficult to navigate, and also felt that the game began to drag near the end of the story. GamesRadars Raymond Padilla had similar complaints about the frequency and length of the game's load times. Padilla praised the addition of online play and the automatic upgrade system. Reviewers have high marks on the game's cast of characters, but were divided in their opinions of the choice of voice actors. GameTrailerss reviewer disliked that several famous X-Men and Brotherhood characters were not playable, but appeared only as side characters. They also cited issues with voice acting and a convoluted story. Greg Mueller of GameSpot also praised the game's vast cast of characters. Barking Lizards, Vicarious Visions and Beenox handled the ports for different platforms. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was followed by Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, jointly developed by Vicarious Visions, n-Space and Savage Entertainment. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was released on several consoles and handhelds in the fall of 2009. Vicarious Visions developed the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, while n-Space developed the Nintendo DS, PSP PS2 and Wii versions. Savage Entertainment ported the version developed by n-Space to the PSP. ==Notes==