
Is the latest X-Men game the most hated in the history of the franchise? This week’s release of X-Men: Destiny game brought a huge backlash, mainly from critics who felt there’d been some weasel-like attempts by the developers to cover up an ostensible lack of gameplay, graphics, and variety with b.s. plot devices — namely, the lack of fighting/finishing moves and realistic graphics, all in place of a confusing story twist involving a bizarre X-Men gene.
I can’t remember hearing about an X-Men game’s release that spark so much debate — I remember being a kid and the original X-Men coming out for Genesis and the hype was huge, though the game ended up being pretty decent (if somewhat lackluster by today’s standards). And though this doesn’t exactly stir so much controversy as it does bitter debate over what makes a good game, between Joystiq’s Justin McElroy, Game Informer’s Matt Miller, and a few rabid X-Men fans, Activision and Silicon Knights are kind of getting a beating.
McElroy seems to do his best not to sound dick-ish; he seems to believe that development was obviously rushed and for all intents and purposes an unfinished game came out:
“Despite my frustration at never being coordinated, deciding which X-genes complement each other and which you’ll spend experience points to improve is a unique, engaging system. Unfortunately, digging up as many X-genes as possible means combing through drab environments (boring) rather than performing well in combat (slightly less so).”

The ‘make your own mutant’ premise didn’t fly with others. At Game Informer, Miller added, “X-Men Destiny has a rewarding premise…”if only the battles and mission structure kept pace, there would be a lot to enjoy. Sadly, those elements feel repetitive and generic, and the whole experience is hamstrung as a result.” He did go on to add that if taken at face value, you can “enjoy the ride.”
Fans chimed in, if a bit less judgmental. When McElroy caught a lot of crap for what some thought was a biased review, others defended the review.
“It doesn’t matter who’s reviewing this,” wrote user mietha. “It’s a pile of crap, and a horrible idea at that, no matter how you look at it.”
Sammo21 said, @JustinMcElroy Justin, did you come across any hard locks, audio glitches, AI freezing (where the enemies just stopped moving), fall through any geometry? I’m playing the 360 version and I get nothing but that.”
That my sum it up, at least far as we can tell. Has anyone else tried tangling with this supposed travesty? Is it as bad as some are saying?
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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