XMen Arcade (XBLA) Review (Xbox 360)
X Men Arcade was one of the staples in early 1990s arcades. The game debuted alongside the original Mortal Kombat and the excellent Street Fighter II. X men has three defining features that would help it suck up the quarters of young geeks across the continent. Unlike the other smash hits of 92 Arcade had the X-Men brand behind it bringing in the predominantly male comic book audience. It also featured a unique dual screen arcade cabinet that allowed up to 6 six players to play at once. The final nail in the coffin that kept kids playing was the laughable dialog that spouted out of the characters mouths. Does this arcade classic hold up 18 years later?
The gameplay in X-Men Arcade is straight out of the beatem up textbook. As one of six mutants your job is to eliminate every enemy combatant on the screen until you are prompted to move the next area. Usually levels will be comprised of five to eight of these scenarios leading up to a final boss to end the chapter. Players are able to land a combination of punches, kicks and jumps to defeat their enemies. The bosses on the other hand require co-operation to defeat as usually require more hits than an individual player can provide.
Watching your favorite X-Men dispatch bad guys on the screen was one of the big draws of X-Men arcade but it wasnt the main event. All the kids that gathered around the cabinet wanted to see those cool mutant powers in action. True to their comic counterparts each mutant had their own unique ability. Cyclops can blast a large amount of area in front of him with his eyes, Nightcrawler can teleport around the screen, Storm conjures whirlwinds and Wolverine brandishes his famous claws. While each of these powers are unique they all have virtually the same result; the loss of health for using your powers and a large number of defeated foes.
In the arcades using your powers meant spending more money to continue as the health meter counted down. In the Xbox Live port of the game there is no penalty for death or spamming the mutant powers. As long as you are playing with others online you can just keep spamming your mutant powers until death and just continue with the press of the start button. Despite this fundamental change causing players to spam their mutant powers playing with five other players is an excellent experience. The netcode included with X-Men Arcade functions fairly well. For the most part there is little lag however when everyone is attacking a single boss the game can sometimes slowdown.
The nostalgic gameplay isnt the only aspect of that will draw in long time X-Men/Arcade fanatics to this downloadable title. Each member of the X-Men appears as they did in 92, wearing their classic comicbook costumes. Newer fans may find these costumes questionable or downright laughable. Wolverine always did look a little odd wearing dark brown and yellow. The environments are fairly detailed for a 16-bit title. Enemy sprites and background objects do tend to repeat themselves. In each zone you will find that you are fighting multiple copies of the same enemies. This however does not diminish the fun factor.
The music and general sound effects of X-Men Arcade are totally forgettable. Regardless of which mutant you have chosen to represent you the enemies will respond with the same generic screams and thuds from the hits you have landed. It was a fairly standard practice back in the early 90s used by developers to conserve memory and in 2010 it just shows the games age. The dialog featured in X-Men is what most people will remember. The English dialog is some of the worst written for a video game but the gaming community has embraced it. There are smiles to be had to hear magneto screaming Welcome to Die or I am the master of magnet.
X-Men Arcade is not a game that offers a lot of depth. There are a few treats that konami has included to keep dedicated players coming back including extra difficulties and access to the Japnese version of the game. If you ever played this game in the arcade back in the day then you know how fun it can be. The Xbox Live version does everything it can to recreate this experience outside of installing a two panel arcade cabinet in your living room. Nostalgic gamers and comic book junkies should be all over this title but newer gamers or those unfamiliar with the X-Men may shy away.
Xbox 360 and Xbox Game Reviews – TeamXbox
