As the newest addition to series based on the Marvel Comics characters, the X-Men, X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse offers gamers a totally new experience. In XML2, the X-Men and their archenemies, the Brotherhood, unite in an attempt to defeat the super-villain, Apocalypse.

This game is basically the same as the original X-Men Legends, except it has a new story and as we've mentioned you can also be the bad-guys. But don't get too excited, you have to level them up same as the X-Men, so Magneto isn't that great off the start, we know, we know, we were upset too.

They've also added many improvements to the game, the leveling up system is much better designed and you have many more abilities to choose from. Additionally, the teammates AI is drastically improved. We've been playing for hours and we haven't had one of the computer controlled team members die, or, more importantly fall off a ledge, or do any other dumb move that results in instant death; a very appreciated improvement.

However, they still have not fixed several concerns. Most importantly the loading time is still outrageous. You are simply at loading screens too often. If they had just improved loading time to the pause menu, we might have let them off the hook, but nothing, nada, zip, zilch, bupkis.

Additionally, the screen is still too cluttered and busy. All too often it’s difficult to tell things that are useful apart from things that are meaningless. Of course, this is a trade-off. The things that clutter the screen are the same things that result in the graphical beauty and vividness that this game exhibits. The solution? Avoid playing this game on anything smaller than a 27-inch television; it'll be much easier on the eyes that way.

The bottom line? This game is definitely a winner. If you enjoyed the first X-Men Legends then there is no reason why you shouldn't like this one. Even if you've never played the first one, you'll still enjoy this one, its just all an all-around good game.