X3: The Official Game

X3: The Official Game is out just in time to coincide with X-Men: The Last Stand. While I am a huge fan of the X-Men Legends series, this game suffers from a bigger identity crisis than Mystique's. X3: The Official Game is part brawler, part action-platformer, and it does neither particularly well. The game's saving grace is that it is a pleasure to look at, and that the X-Mythos is just so darn compelling. The movie was better, but like the game, there is better X-Fun to be had elsewhere.It's hard to believe that Activision put out both the X-Men Legends games and X3: The Official Game. The two are as different as The X-Men and Alpha Flight. One rocks the free world, the other is dullsville, but from Canada, and Canada's a pretty cool place.

Much like Alpha Flight, X3: The Official Game isn't a total write off. It has superb character models that look like the walked out of the films. It has a decent fighting system. All three mutants (Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Iceman) play very differently, but all have healing powers... yeah, I know. And the game has a neat motivator built into it in that you can pick a different difficulty every time you play a level, and the tough you choose, the more upgrade points you'll get for your mutants.

But all is not rosy in the world of X3: The Official Game. The game features a good brawler system, but you rarely get to use it. The formula goes, fight two to three baddies, run around and look for a switch; rinse and repeat. Short levels with annoying puzzles, some on timers, do not do justice to the great physical locations or combat system. I don't mind a linear game, but you need to let a guy play. This felt more like X-Chores than a romp through the Danger Room.

The engine and graphics would have been put to far better use in large levels filled with baddies, and no silly tasks. Imagine if Prince of Persia levels were only two rooms long. I love the muties, but the game isn't charming enough to make up for poor design.

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