X-Men Mutant Academy 2

16?! 16 different X-Men to play as? Yes, it’s true! X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, publishes by Activision, not only includes the most well known characters to the series (such as ones that a person might learn about from the X-Men movie), but there’s quite a few more that long time-fans to the series will be happy to see brought to life.

Mutant Academy 2, like it’s predecessor, is an arena fighting/combat title – destined for the consoles and controllers of only the most nimble of finger and most action hungry of the X-Men crowd. Once you pick a character (based on special attacks, stats, and well, darn it, just personal preference) you are immediately welcomed into the arena for the fight of your mutant life. You have basic attacks with which you can tap or easily direct, but if you think that’s going to get you by, you’re not even going to get past round one. Generally, you must memorize and master 3-5 button/directional combinations in order to unleash devastating attacks upon your opponents.

However, Activision hasn’t left you to sacrifice yourself as a virtual pummeling bag until you learn your moves the hard way – under the boots of your opponent. There is quite a helpful Academy mode which will allow you to learn, practice, and perfect your moves before you take them to the arena. You’re going to need it too – even on the easiest level the title is demanding.

I particularly enjoyed the comic book art representations used in the character profiles and some, what I will call, "decorative" menus and screens. It’s got that perfect look that we’ve come to know and love in the more recent X-Men comics. The 3D representations are pretty good too, as are the special "power-up" move effects. The only thing a bit lacking are the backgrounds – and though I suppose you don’t actually interact with the backgrounds, they are still pretty non-descript.

Game modes are fairly typical for a game of its type. You can either play alone against the system’s AI in battle mode, get your practice in academy mode, and beat up a pal in combat mode. There’s not too much variance from what you’d expect from a fighting title – but I enjoyed the game a lot more against a fellow X-Men fan.

Some added bonuses to this newest installation are new arenas, some bonus X-Men movie related material (in the form of concept sketches), new costumes, and of course, the aforementioned 6 new characters. One of my favorite additions, and perhaps it’s just a little quirk of mine, is the ability to unlock new looks for your characters as you progress through the game. Maybe it breaks up the monotony. Actually, it’s probably more the theory that you can never have too much of a good thing.

Overall, X-Men Mutant Academy 2 deserves a long and good look by fighting-games fans that also have an appreciation for the Marvel series. They game stays impressively true to the look, feel, characteristics, and powers of the X-Men series. It’s also challenging enough and offers 16 different characters to play as for an incredible amount of replayability. It is, however, a tough game to finesse and therefore people who aren’t sure if they like the genre itself might do well to give it a rent first.

Sound: 6
The sound isn’t too terribly exciting and the character voice-overs are sort of on the melodramatic side.

Difficulty: 6
Absolutely not for novices to the field as even the easy fields aren’t exactly pick up and play. Even experience "arena-fighting" players will find some of the combinations a bit hard to master and may end up relying on just a couple of the ones available.

Concept: 6 
Mutant Academy 2 really isn’t too different from it’s predecessor with the exception of a few more characters. While the original wasn’t a bad game, the new doesn’t have anything exceptionally new.

Multiplayer: 8
This game is definitely more fun against a human component.