Imagine, for a moment, having the ability to create a hybrid mutant with any combination of physics- and reality-defying powers – the likes of which never quite achieved in gaming before – but laid out in the pages of Marvel's most epic licensed property. That game would have made for one of the greatest comic-to-game adaptations to have ever graced a console.
X-Men Destiny could've been that game.
Instead developer Silicon Knights produced a lackluster beat-'em-up that presents the same tired issues the company has been facing for years with its 2008 flopbuster, Too Human.
The story, composed by Marvel mastermind Mike Carrey, begins at an all-too-quiet San Francisco peace rally, as Homo Superior and its devolved cousin Homo Sapiens unite under a banner of trust and sanctity. Mutants, however, cause quite the commotion, and before long the once harmonious celebration is engulfed in open warfare.
As one of three selectable mutants-in-training, the player must work to quell the invading anti-mutant force. Three initial powers are available to choose from, each of which are blander than the next. Density Control, Shadow Matter and Energy Manipulation (a quasi-Scott Summers release of vast energy explosions) compose the three tepid options, but choose well, as the next eight to 10 hours of gameplay will be spent repetitively mashing buttons to clear the game's exceptionally monotonous bad-guy grinding experience.
Beyond its tedious foray into X-Men'sillustrious and – more often than not – unexplained background, the game has graphics more akin to the 2004 X-Men Legends than the well-received movie tie-in title, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Character models look like something from the earliest days of the PS2, and even the less-than-thrilling action sequences manage to make the game hiccup more than any such subpar video should on a next-gen console.
As players coast through the game's criminally easy story, choices arise to help either the overly simplified X-Men or the more nuanced, but still poorly composed, Brotherhood of Mutants. Either choice does little to change the game, save for a few side-quests done to improve the player's standing amongst their mutant cohorts.
Where the game's mechanics vary is the collection and equipping of the game's many "X-Genes," a chosen manipulation that emulates an already well-known mutant's powers. Want those strong blasts of energy to freeze opponents dead in their tracks? Equip Iceman's frosty enhancement. A more powerful finisher? How about Colossus' earth-shattering abilities? While the game does well to present a multitude of options for players to attempt to customize the cookie-cutter characters, the "X-Genes" are really more of an enhancement than a complete ability overhaul.
Silicon Knights made the clear decision to go for quantity over quality in terms of enemy creation. Traversing different sections of each level trigger arena battles, letting waves upon waves of enemies enter into a very one-sided brawl with the player. Sometimes these waves consist of a short 10-man tumble, but when the game is feeling contemptuous, these short segments turn into 50, 60, or even 120-man royal rumbles, leaving the player to frantically dispatch as many as possible before the time (yes, for one reason or another these are timed) runs out.
With such phenomenal voice-acting talents presented in the movies, one would think the same tender care and love would be placed in Marvel's electronic universe, but alas drab voice-overs run rampant throughout the game's merely tolerable experience. From a Jamaican-sounding Gambit to the a-few-crayons-short-of-a-coloring-box Juggernaut, each performance seems to be lacking the same enthusiasm and believability that previous entries have had.
X-Men Destiny is salt in the collective comic gamer's wound. It took a concept so bright, exciting and captivating, and turned it into a lackluster experience sure to be soon forgotten.
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