X-Men Legends was the first action-RPG to ever feature the Children of the Atom, and with the high praise it received, no one could fault developer Raven for keeping it one of a kind. With an ending that hinted at a sequel and with such a strong fan base backing it, there was no way that was going to remain one of a kind for long. Enter X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.

In a world where Megaman has had more games than the United States has had presidents, common knowledge throughout the gaming community is that sequels change nothing but the scenery of an original. This isn't true for Legends II. Like a good sequel, Legends II takes what worked with its predecessor, and fixes what didn't. The AI is a lot better, for starters, and you’ll be spending fewer Tech Bits reviving X-Men who've fallen off cliffs as victims of stupidity. It's not a guaranteed failsafe, though, as you may still be shocked to find Sunfire, an X-Man who can fly, taking a bungee jump without a cord, but this only seems to happen when you become separated from your team.

Legends II is also less linear than the original. The game is divided into chapters or "Acts" and at any time after you complete your first mission you can teleport back to the central hub of your current Act and travel to any of the areas you've previously explored. Or, if you feel like you're not doing well enough on your missions, you can train in the infamous Danger Room, relax by viewing what you've earned in the Review Computer, or enjoy the retooled Trivia Game.

Since one of the bigger complaints in the original Legends was a lack of powers and attacks, Raven upped the ante on how many mutant abilities each X-Man will have access to. While the controls are relatively unchanged, the increase in your offense (and defense) makes a gameplay innovation necessary. New in Legends II is a nifty power-switching feature that lets you change which mutant abilities are mapped to your buttons on the fly. So, if you're playing as Kurt and see a group of three enemies that look perfect for a dashing attack, Nightcrawler's Divine Blades are just what the doctor ordered. If you suddenly find yourself surrounded, you can change your attack to Sword Whirlwind and use that instead, all in game, live.

Another feature which will be greatly appreciated is Legends II’s new "auto-potion" feature, which, when your inventory is capped off on the maximum amount of healing potions you can carry, will automatically use a health potion when you walk over an extra potion on the field. It may not sound like much, but it goes a long way in helping to keep your team alive in a pinch where you have a few extra potions laying around.

Graphics:

Unfortunately, the graphics are once again a mixed bag. While the cut scenes in Legends II are once again drop-dead gorgeous (just check out the opening video alone (Magneto and Mystique look amazing) the in-game graphics still aren't up to par. Once again the X-Men are a cross between cell-shading and just plain “ugliness”. They look better than they did in the original Legends, but they still aren’t anywhere near as pretty as Activision's other recent super-hero outing, Ultimate Spider-Man. How about some definable fingers, instead of just a mesh of yellow-gloved-mittens, guys?

Sound:

The sound is great, but that's mostly because of the voice acting and sound effects. There’s nothing wrong with the background music per se, but it’s nothing really special. The typical battle tunes are there, without anything really dynamic or adrenaline pumping, but not much can be expected when you consider that Legends II is an action RPG; the orchestral scores of a Final Fantasy or Halo are hardly required. The voice acting is absolutely wonderful, though, with the returning Patrick Stewart further solidifying his legacy as the voice of Professor Xavier. Those familiar with Final Fantasy X should also keep an attentive ear open for Iceman and Blink, but overall every actor performs exceptionally in their roles, with each quip and mission briefing well done. The sound effects are great, with special mention to the classic "shink" of Wolverine's claws and Cyclops optic blast. The only complaints this diehard X-Men fan has is Nightcrawler’s teleportation “bamf” and Magneto's voice being too high, but that's merely opinionated nitpicking since there’s nothing particularly wrong with either.

Longevity:

X-Men Legends II excels in all of the aforementioned areas, but what really deserves special mention is the drastically improved longevity of the game. The original Legends had a great game with great gameplay, just like its sequel, but barely had anything in terms of un-lockable content or incentives to keep playing after your final victory; No longer. For the most part, each character now has at least one additional costume that he or she can change into from the outset of the game. Don’t like Wolverine’s Ultimate X-Men outfit? Change it to his costume from Astonishing X-Men and dice them baddies up in a more traditional yellow-and-blue ensemble. As you progress through the game from Act to Act, more and more outfits will become available to you. Each Act also contains tons of un-lockable Comic Book Covers, Sketch Book Artwork, loading screens, and videos, and you can now work to unlock three additional playable characters. Couple this with the ability to play through a new game with your saved statistics and a level cap of ninety-nine (instead of the old level cap of sixty in Legends) and you're looking at a whole hell of a lot of replay value for anyone who wants to make their mutants into gods among mortals. Oh, and have I mentioned online play through Xbox Live? That’s right, you can now log into Xbox Live and play as your favorite X-Man (or Brotherhood member, of course!) alongside three other friends, or even complete strangers with Optimatch and Quick Match. Lag is practically nonexistent, and the entire thing works very smoothly and fluidly just as if your friend in Hawaii were sitting beside you in your living room. The only way it could be any better would be if Legends II supported a way to join a game in progress instead of having to remake every time you wanted to include a new player, but even this isn't unbearable. The biggest hindrance to online gameplay is actually that you can't play with anyone who has a different TV setup than you. HDTV players can only play online with people who also use a HDTV, which means if you have friends who use a high def set and have their Xbox set up for it, they'll have to actually downgrade their Xbox's video settings before they can join you in a game. Bummer.

Overall:

Still, minor (and understandable) technical complaints aside, this is a gem of an Xbox game. Just like X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is a must-own for any X-Men fan, hell, for any Marvel fan. With nearly every aspect improved, Xbox Live play, and so much to unlock and enjoy, Raven succeeded in bringing true believers everything they could have asked for in a sequel. Excelsior!