PixlBit

Mediocre at best, this game has plenty of X-Men characters and plenty of problems

August is Super Hero Month for Retro Game of the Week. Join us each week as we look at different oldschool super hero games, good and bad alike.

If you've missed out on the last couple weeks, you can catch up here. You can read about Batman Returns (SNES) here and Spider-Man (PS1) here. 

In October 1992, the X-Men cartoon began and was a huge success, going on for five seasons. The first game to really capitalize on its success was Sega's X-Men, released for the Genesis in 1993. This action platformer was developed and published by Sega. You can play as four different X-Men: Wolverine, Cyclops, Gambit, and Nightcrawler (who wasn't even in the cartoon). You can switch between these characters at any time. You can also call in four other X-Men to aid you in battle: Rogue, Archangel, Iceman, and Storm. 

While the game seems to be good on the surface, dig a little deeper and you'll discover that this was somewhat of a cash-in. It's not as bad as LJN's Uncanny X-Men on the NES, but this game has plenty of problems. First of all, the entire game takes place inside the danger room, which is just stupid. All of the bosses are holograms. So the whole game is just a practice session for the X-Men. You'll start out in the danger room, then move around for a little while until the game transitions to the next level. In between levels you'll return to the danger room. 

Each character has his own unique abilities--that is, their mutant power. Wolverine uses his claws; Cyclops can shoot blasts from his visor; Gambit shoots his kinetic cards; and Nightcrawler can teleport. Using mutant power will decrease the blue bar at the top left of the screen, which is just under your health bar. When you're not using your mutant powers, the blue bar will slowly begin to fill again. These powers are fine except for Wolverine; his attacks are quite useless without his claws (he'll have to punch an enemy several times whereas the claws will defeat them right away). 

You'll probably want to switch to another character when the one you're using is low on health, but if you switch back, that character's HP will still be low. It's great to be able to swtich, but here the game shoots itself in the foot. If you switch back and forth too many times, the game won't let you switch anymore, which defeats the purpose of this game mechanic! This is especially bad since Nightcrawler is needed at times to teleport past walls and Cyclops is useful with his easy-to-pull-off double jump. And if you die, you start back in the danger room and will have to start at the beginning of the level. 

The combat is shoddy at best thanks to the bad hit detection. If you're standing right on an enemy, you can't hit him, so you'll have to move back. But he can hit you! Some of the enemies can be really annoying, especially the ones with guns--they'll shoot at you the moment they appear on screen, not giving you enough time to move out of the way. Each of the four characters fight a little differently: Nightcrawler is the fastest of the bunch and Gambit uses his bo staff, while the others just punch. Wolverine's claws are very useful, taking out enemies in one hit, but they use mutant power. 

The enemies may be annoying, but the bosses are just lame. They're bland and can be frustrating, plus there's no boss music. A boss will just randomly show up to fight you at points throughout a level, making it feel like they just threw them in to make the game longer. Usually they just jump around the screen and shoot projectiles at you. Juggernaut just runs back and forth on the screen--this, I believe, is the epitome of a lame boss! And the hit detection problem only makes these battles more painful. 

The levels will take you to the Savage Land, the Shi-ar Empire base in space, and other bases. Each level looks distinct, but the level design is not good at all. Most of the levels are maze-like and confusing, having you move all around, hitting switches, riding elevators, and just plain not sure what to do. In one level, you have to destroy a bunch of switches so a certain door can open. The platforming sections are also terrible. Half the time you'll fall right through a platform if you don't land on it just right.

One cool thing this game did do is at the end, just before the last level, you have to reset the system (physically get up and hit the reset button on the Genesis). This coincides with an onscreen prompt which looks like a computer screen telling you that the system must be reset. This is a cool feature, although it poses a problem if you're playing the game on an emulator.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the music. . . . . it's terrible! The extremely tinny sounds are grating on the ears and will easily give you a headache! It's by far the worst music I've heard on the Genesis, so be sure to play with it turned down very low or on mute.

Final Verdict--2 Stars: Not Worth It

I know some people love this game, but those are the ones with nostalgia for it. People, this is not a good game. X-Men fans will be pleased with all the X-Men and bad guys that make appearances, but everything else is pretty much broken. The level design is confusing, the combat is shoddy, the bosses are lame, and the music is just awful. Plus the characters have no personality due to their muted voices and stiff movements. Suffice to say, this game is not fun to play. Slogging through the levels is a chore. Luckily, Sega would make up for it (mostly) with an excellent sequel on the Genesis: X-Men 2: The Clone Wars. It would be best to play that game instead.  

Join me all month long as we look at retro super hero games, good and bad.