X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

Like many fans of Xmen Legends, I wasn't ready for the game to end. The entire game structure worked and offered an excellent way to experience our favorite Marvel heroes first hand. Activision apparently agreed and created Xmen Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse with the same gameplay architecture and new features wrapped around it. It does have a similar feel and look to the original, but the new features and functionality will keep the experience from feeling stale.

The first thing you'll notice about Xmen Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is that now the Brotherhood of Mutants have playable characters in addition to the Xmen. The story, as you might have guessed, revolves around dealing with the supermutant Apocalypse. As Xmen fans know Apocalypse is a common enemy of the Brotherhood and Xmen, who must team together in an attempt to defeat him. The plot, as with the original, is excellent and really takes advantage of the Xmen license.

Another major improvement is the multiplayer capabilities. Now, it's possible to play both the story mode and instant battles online. Both work well, but the addition of the online story mode offers new ways to play and replay that can increase the shelf life considerably.

Xmen Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse continues where the original left off and while improving on a number of areas. New features such as tools to help with the micromanaging of the RPG game elements and others help to increase the overall quality. Although the graphics and sound are not noticeably improved, that won't affect the experience as Activison takes us back into the Xmen universe.