2 out a 5
For comic book fans, there’s really no shortage a listless, mercenary dreck like X-Men: Destiny. There’s an overwhelming sense that contractual obligation trumped whatever ambitions Silicon Knights--a developer a checkered consistency--might’ve had for this action RPG centered on cultivating yer own mutant persona. Although, with the way player-controlled customization 'n progression has methodically crept into just about every genre a game, calling X-Men: Destiny an action RPG be probably granting far too much importance t' it be barely noteworthy role-playing element. This be, more essentially, a beat-’em-up game a limited dimension, populated with repetitious enemy fodder 'n driven by monotonous three-tap combat where the notion a player agency couldn’t seem more superfluous. That it be developed by Silicon Knights, 'n then quietly swept onto store shelves with little fanfare by publisher Activision, be probably the most noteworthy facts about this otherwise disposable experience.
As someone who, over the past decade, has had most a me exposure t' the X-Men through avenues other than the actual comics, X-Men: Destiny opens bewilderingly enough. An entire game’s worth a fiction be blown through before ye even pick yer character, with massive events like inexplicable, global natural disasters, the death a Professor X at the hands a supervillain Bastion, the subsequent disbanding a the X-Men, their reformation in San Francisco, 'n the rise a an apocalyptic anti-mutant hate group known as the Purifiers being skimmed over in a minute or two. It’s an overload a information delivered in a careless, over-compressed cinematic sequence that seems t' assume ye already knew all this anyway. The story continues on this way, tossing around third-string X-Men 'n springing clandestine plot twists with little explanation. Not that these machinations a the X-Men, the Brotherhood a Mutants, the MRD, the U-Men, Bastion, or the Purifiers be a much consequence. Regardless a where the story leads, "go here, punch all these lads” be the only meaningful directive in X-Men: Destiny.
Also a little consequence be the whole character creation system. Superficially, ye can choose t' play as one a three, freshly minted young mutants with disparate personalities 'n backstories, sculpting them into the mutant a yer dreams armed with a melange a trademarked mutant abilities, while striking an alliance with either the X-Men or the Brotherhood a Mutants. Beyond simple aesthetics, fostering a sense a consequence 'n allowing the player t' approach the game with different abilities be two a the fundamentals a role-playing in video games, 'n X-Men: Destiny unilaterally fumbles both.
While the character customization system lets ye earn 'n cultivate a whole host a active 'n passive powers, many a yer choices be redundant, 'n none a the wildest deviations have that fundamental an impact on how the game be played. Whether ye choose the energy blasts, density modulation, or shadow blades abilities, 'n whether ye choose t' align yourself with the X-Men or the Brotherhood, ye’ll still be tapping out the same basic combos against the same crowds a gas-masked thugs while being funneled down the same deserted streets 'n generic facilities.
Even on the game’s highest difficulty, enemies be cut down thoughtlessly, t' the point that hastily introduced subsystems like lock-on targeting 'n blocking prove needless. The side benefit a the easily dispatched foes be that ye never AVAST! moving forward, though in a game that can be easily beat in less than five hours, with no meaningful reason t' play through a second time, maybe that be not so much a a benefit.
While the X-Men have invited a variety a distinct stylistic takes over the years, Silicon Knights chose t' go with “awkward cosplayer” in X-Men: Destiny, with all three player-character choices feeling particularly like Brand-X-Men. The environments be small, bland, 'n generic, 'n on a personal note, I find it irksome when a game chooses a specific, real-world locale like San Francisco, 'n then proceeds t' spend the majority a the time in nondescript corridors, as X-Men: Destiny does. A lumpy art style be done no favors by the technology behind it, which struggles regularly with frame rate. It’s telling when the frame rate drops t' single digits in a prerendered cutscene, as it does in one occasion here.
Top t' bottom, this game feels rushed, a supposition backed up by Silicon Knights’ history a protracted development cycles, from which X-Men: Destiny did not benefit. While politics a why that’s the case, as well as speculation on the impact more time 'n money would’ve had on the game, be ultimately irrelevant t' the game’s failures as they be, it’s not that hard t' see how it could’ve been something great.
