I wanted to really like Sega’s X-Men but it had far too many flaws. Between the limited roster, spotty hit detection, restrictive mutant power system, and ridiculous difficulty that game had problems. But I’ll be god damned if the production values weren’t off the charts for its time. Sega and Headstrong games would take their time bringing out the sequel as it was a late system release. But the wait was worth it. X-Men 2: the Clone Wars is a fine action adventure stands as one of the best in its genre.
The Phalanx from the comics serve as the primary antagonists. It’s a smart choice as the threat they pose and their abilities allow for a wide range of cameos from the X-Men Universe. The Phalanx arrive on Earth and seek to rule the planet by assimilating all of its inhabitants. Mutants prove resistant and so the Phalanx set about capturing as many as they can for experimentation. Their reach covers the globe and will take the X-Men to Russia, the Savage Land, and even Magneto’s Avalon. No one is safe and the threat will create strange alliances….
The roster of playable characters has expanded to seven with Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Gambit returning. They are joined by the lumbering Beast, Psylocke and in a strange turn for story reasons Magneto. Playing as Magneto sounds great and to an extent it is. The problem is his basic attack is far too weak to make him useful during most levels. His true value comes from cheesing boss mechanics and making those fights trivial.
One of the biggest problems with the first game is that outside of their mutant powers all four characters were basically the same. And even then use of your abilities was extremely limited. Now each character is distinct and it really is advantageous to find the right man (or woman) for the current level. Some like Nightcrawler and Wolverine can double jump while Beast, Psylocke and Wolverine can also climb walls. You’ll find that Wolverine is the all-around best character since he is the second strongest, very agile, and can heal. Beast is practically worthless; the hit detection on his attacks is terrible and he does nothing everyone else can’t.
Use of your powers is virtually unlimited this time but isn’t as game breaking as you would think. For characters like Gambit and Cyclops charging their attacks will make them stronger while melee fighters gain an even stronger attack to compensate. Nightcrawler’s teleportation doesn’t go through walls anymore, eliminating the sequence breaking you could do in the original.
The level design is all-around excellent with a very heavy emphasis on vertical movement. Each level is comprised of multiple segments and allows character switching at each point, even before a boss battle. Although the maps can be pretty expansive there is still a linear path to the exit. This is a much faster paced game than its prequel and when using a powerhouse like Wolverine you can really blitz through some stages. You’ll find that the balance in terms of difficulty is better as there are far more health power-ups however this can still be a brutal game at times.
Like the first game X-Men 2 features a steep difficulty curve that only gets worse as the game progresses. Part of the high challenge comes from using the right character for a given level. Even still by the halfway point it becomes ridiculous as there are enemies populating every inch of the screen. The developers tried to have some semblance of balance by placing an abundant amount of health restoring DNA but in my opinion it isn’t enough. Wolverine and to a lesser extent Psylocke became my go to heroes due to the wide arc in their attacks both on the ground and in the air. Wolverine is especially indispensable since he can heal minor damage when close to death. It would have been nice if certain characters like Beast and Cyclops weren’t dead weight. But on the whole I found this much more tolerable than the original X-Men.
For a 1995 release X-Men 2 looks great more for its art than any technical shenanigans under the hood. The system’s high resolution is used to make the vibrant art direction pop as you explore numerous familiar locations from the comics such as the Savage Land and Apocalypse’ base in Egypt. The sprites are large, detailed and well animated and fans of the comics will notice numerous cameo appearances and references. The only letdown would be the at times flat backgrounds which really do stand out against the rest of the visual splendor. The music here sadly isn’t as impressive as the first game. I loved the bass heavy drums and percussion of the original soundtrack but the tunes here simply aren’t as well composed and are forgettable as a result.
In Closing
What a great game. X-Men 2 smooths out the rough edges of its predecessor to deliver one of the best action games for the Genesis. The high difficulty will be off putting to some but if you take your time it is completely manageable. Even with that caveat I would still recommend it.
