Carl Saenz CIS 487 Assignment 2

Overview Developer: Activision/Raven Software in association with Marvel Comics Type: Action-RPG style Price: $14.99-$19.99 Hardware Requirments: Game Cube, PSP, PS2, Xbox, or PC PC Requirments: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP, 1200MHz P4, 256MB RAM, 2.5 GB hard drive space, 64MB video card

Overview (continued) This game is based on the classic story of the X-Men and their fight for peace in the world. The main focus of this presentation will be the Game Cube version.

Story The X-Men have teamed up with Magneto’s “Brotherhood of Evil” to battle Apocalypse’s forces. The main reason for this is that Apocalypse has kidnapped Professor Xavier, Quicksilver (Magneto’s son) and Polaris (an X-man). They battle with Apocalypse’s “Four Horsemen” and other henchmen in order to thwart his attempt at remaking the world in his image.

Player’s Role Play as the X-Men and Brotherhood characters to improve stats and progress in the story line. The player may choose various teams of 4 characters depending on the scenario or keep his or her favorite 4 the entire game.

Installation Console: PC: Insert disk in drive Select “New Game” Have fun PC: Click “Next” several times

User Interface This game is based on the Baulder’s Gate: Dark Alliance engine which has a very straight-forward user interface. Armor is found/purchased from vendors The player has the option to unlearn skills and redistribute stats at a certain cost.

Game Play Each player controls one character at a time and can switch between 4 characters during a mission. Various team bonuses are available depending on which for characters are chosen. Certain features are able to be automated (i.e. stat/skill/armor assignments)

Scoring The score is simply based on the amount of XP gained per character and the tech-bits earned (currency). The highest level a character can get to is 99 while the tech-bit max is unknown (exceeds 1 million)

Artwork

Artwork (cont.)

Artwork (cont.)

Sound and Music Patrick Stewart plays Xavier because he’s awesome! The music is not Final Fantasy standards but it fits the game.

Special Features Virtually every object in the game can be destroyed by the player (including walls). Some characters can fly over obstacles while others can make bridges for their teammates. You can use the bad guys!

Manual The manual outlines the basic gameplay and story line of the game. It describes various parts of the interface and what they mean. Most importantly, it points out default settings and how to change them (i.e. what’s automated)

Bugs Nightcrawler doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Certain items dropped by enemies are unattainable when they land in certain places. PC version has major issues with network play Minor glitches exist with AI and terrain

Review This game is fun because of the destructible terrain and large variety of playable characters. It is not a necessity to master every character and his or her skills

What’s not to Like? More armor should be implemented for the characters (each one can carry 3 pieces). The minor bugs noted earlier Game Cube version is not playable over the internet and has certain secret levels/characters removed

Compared to Other games… It’s good (9/10). The graphics could use improvement compared to Diablo 2 Expansions to the story could be made, but no major design flaws have been made. It blows Baulder’s Gate out of the water

Appropriate Audience Any TEEN (ESRB rating) who is a fan of X-men or RPGs The audience member should also own a PSP, PS2 or Xbox

Summary Strengths: Weaknesses: Decent variety of character/character classes Good balance (keeping 1 class just as useful as another) Good story compared to others of its kind. Weaknesses: Not on Battle.net or something close to it for multiplayer