Once again it’s time for a Canada Day special, but unlike last year, it won’t be a Superman game. Superman, as a character, is generally known as an American Citizen. But, there is a Canadian super hero that is almost as well known. And not only is he Canadian, but it comes up a fair bit, and a few stories starring him has brought his team to the great white north. He’s also a major bad-ass and one of my favorite heroes. I’m of course talking about Wolverine of the X-men. So, for Canada Day, I’ll be looking at X-men 2: Clone Wars (no, it has nothing to do with Star Wars) for the Sega Genesis, bub.
The game begins throwing you right into a level. I’m not even exaggerating: you put on the power, you see the Sega start up screen and then you’re playing. You only learn the actual plot of it all after the mini level. What’s happened is that an alien race, the Phalanx (which sounds too close to phallus for my liking) has invaded earth and is attempting to assimilate the earthlings in order to rule to world (M. Bison: OF COURSE!). They’ve also kidnapped and cloned some of the mutants in order to run experiments on them. Only a handful of X-men are left: Cyclops, Gambit, Beast, Psylock, Nightcrawler and, of course, Wolverine! It’s pretty much up to these 6 (and later on, Magneto) to save both human and mutant kind alike.
I enjoy the story, its classic comic book or super hero cartoon type plot. The path to destroying the alien invaders takes some twists and turns, and though some of it could seem pointless, it gives the game more variety. Where I have to criticize it, though, is in its presentation. There are no real cut-scenes or images to advance the story: all we get is communication text between Xavier and Cerebro. It’s about as interesting for the eyes as text only adventure game, but without the interaction, and it just comes off as lazy, bub.
The game play is nothing too amazing, but does have a few intriguing elements. You start off with the basic platforming stuff: you run from one point to another and enemies along the way that will try to stop you. Then they give you the twist of being able to use mutant powers, such as Nightcrawler’s teleportation or Cyclopes’ laser. But beyond just that, each character has been given individual stats and some non-power related skills (example: some X-men like Psylock have a double jump). What holds it all together though is the design of the levels; there will be some times where you need to change your way of going through things. If you read any Walkthrough or guides, you’ll find that no two suggest the same route; one person might tell you to pick Beast before a certain section to bash through all the enemies, while another will suggest picking Nightcrawler to teleport past them and avoid conflict. I really like this for some reason; it feels like problem solving with more than one answer and it’s almost like giving your own person touch to the game, bub.
This video game is mostly based on the 90’s cartoon series more than any other X-men property (which is why I’ve been using Wolverine cartoon quotes in this review), and the game’s sprites reflect that. Now, I have this problem with how some super hero cartoons looked before Bruce Timm came along and really shook things up; a lot looked too stiff and too much like the comic books of the time. And sadly, that has translated into the game. The character sprites are really big, which can hinder the game play a bit. That being said, the graphics in this game are amazing. Everything is incredibly well detailed and it all looks like it’s supposed to. The backgrounds are also done in the same quality making it all that little bit more immersive, bub.
X-men 2: Clone Wars is a good game, but I wouldn’t say great. The gameplay (by concept) is fun, the graphics (taken for why they look like they do) are of good quality and the plot should be interesting, considering it’s a very “super hero” happening. However, these are cancelled out by somewhat clunky controls, sprites that are too big and based off a source with stiff looking characters and the poor presentation of the story. The sound doesn’t have a high point, but neither a low point. What saves this from being too average a game is how immersive it is though. As I’ve said, with the choice of 6 X-men (and eventually Magneto) and the well-designed levels, you almost get to add your personal touch to game. After it’s said and done, this game ends up being an enjoyable experience if you can see through to the end. I give X-men 2: Clone Wars 8 levels out 10.
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