Is it your destiny to play this?
X-Men Destiny takes a step back from the gameplay of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series and instead lets you pick 1 of 3 new characters to choose from. It’s weird to play an X-Men game and not actually play as any of the main characters, but it’s all for the purpose of decision-making. Should you decide that this is your destiny?
The story takes place at a peace rally between human and mutants, but it’s attacked by a group called the Purifiers. Your character will have to choose wherever to work with the X-Men or the Brotherhood along the game, but the choices you make are all cosmetic and actually have no impact on the story at all, which is a shame. There’s little reason to go back for anything else other than hunting down collectables or trying to do the game on a higher difficulty for the remaining achievements.
Through the game, you’ll get to choose your powers as a mutant and you’ll find suits and X-Genes to apply for bonuses, as well as using XP earned through battles to improve your abilities. Combat is a case of button-bashing, with little skill involved…especially with a super levelled up character. The game follows a repetitive pattern of going forward, defeating a set number of enemies and moving on to the next area. Exploring is limited due to invisible walls and you can only climb across surfaces that shine.
I was surprised to learn that Silicon Knights were behind this game, which is a shock considering it’s so average. Ok, Too Human was poor…but Eternal Darkness was far from average. After a few hours, the pattern becomes so predictable that the game feels more of a chore to play through than anything else. The story has some good moments, but it’s not the best and doesn’t do justice to some of the X-Men cast.
There are also a number of bugs that I encountered, I got stuck in walls a few times and had to reset the game, while the camera is problematic at times too…especially during the platforming sections, but it’s really odd during a number of boss battles..It seems to either zoom in too much or zoom out too much. It doesn’t help that the game looks like it belongs on the last generation of systems either and the framerate can be inconsistent. Voice-acting is cheesy, but the music is decent.
The Verdict
X-Men Destiny is a letdown for any Marvel fan. The biggest crime is that you don’t even get to play as any actual X-Men, that would be fine if the game wasn’t so repetitive and dull, but it all feels the same after about an hour and the rest of the game drags as you make “choices” that don’t have any actual impact. It’s your destiny to leave this one unless you want a quick 1000 gamerpoints…
