Last time, I described my and Jenn’s first foray into cooperative gaming as a couple. Flush with success, after finishing Tales of Symphonia we immediately went looking for another co-op experience to share.
After 60+ hours of being largely relegated to participating in the game only during battle sequences in Tales of Symphonia, Jenn was feeling ready for a bit more of a challenge in our next title, something that would have her actually using that controller in her hands more of the time. In other words, we were looking for a game that was specifically designed with co-op play in mind rather than one where it was a secondary feature, but also that would not punish the players too much for one of their number being relatively inexperienced.
It is worth taking a moment out to mention a game that, while I love it dearly, does not fit these criteria: Gears of War. Don’t get me wrong, it and its sequel are excellent co-op games, and I have spent far, far too many hours playing them. It is advisable, however, to enjoy them with a partner who possesses roughly equal gaming proficiency. This is for the simple reason that the mission will end in failure if either player dies, which is a recipe for anger and frustration if one player is dying significantly more frequently than the other. In addition, there are sequences in both games where the players must accomplish tasks with limited or no aid from one another, so do yourself a favor and think long and hard about how much you value your relationship before playing these games with an inexperienced partner.
Now let me tell you about a game that does fit the bill: X-Men Legends II: Rise of
Apocalypse. If you are wondering why I’m going straight to number two without talking about the first X-Men Legends game, I have no good answer for you. This is what we played next. On the plus side, no knowledge of the prior game is really necessary to play this one. A basic knowledge of X-Men lore might help in some small way, since there is a recurring, optional minigame involving answering trivia questions about their past and present exploits for bonus experience points, but it is by no means required. Being able to at least tolerate the sometimes patently ridiculous Marvel Universe, on the other hand, is an absolute prerequisite. So, what is it that made this a good co-op game for us? Let’s dive right in.
A villain for which words are largely insufficient.
The gameplay is top-down, action-oriented beat-em-up style, in which you, your partner, and a couple AI companions (for a total of four characters in your party) punch, kick, and mutant power your way through hordes of villains ranging from giant ants to creatures that words are largely insufficient to describe. The choice of available characters is quite good, and you can pick from among both X-Men and the Brotherhood (those guys that hang out with Magneto) to form your party. Each character has a relatively distinct set of abilities and attack powers, so both you and your partner should have no trouble finding one that suits your preferred play style, be it mashing the punch button until everything is dead or levitating enemies from a distance and hurling them off ledges. The very first mission restricts you to a party that consists of Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, and Magneto, but it is over within minutes, and after that you are able to build your party from a wider range of characters, although some of the roster has to be unlocked (like Iron Man, for example. Yes, I am aware he is not a mutant. Talk to the developers.).
There is no split screen action here: all four characters in your party move about on the same screen, so you and your partner must be willing to stick together as you move about the stages. Each player directly controls the movement and actions of a single character, but you are able to change which character in the party that is on the fly. What this meant to us was that Jenn picked two characters to put in the party as “her” characters, I picked two as “mine,” and each of us was then free to swap control between “our” two characters as we liked without worrying about stepping on each other’s toes. This ease of control switching has a very important benefit: if your character dies, you just switch to controlling one of the three surviving party members, and the game goes on. Dead characters can be revived relatively frequently as well, so the untimely demise of one hero never causes too much of a disruption. This setup makes even a player who dies frequently able to continue playing without forcing a reset to the last save point.
Another aspect of the game that makes it forgiving of co-op between players of different skill levels is the fact that resources are shared: money, items, and health potions that you pick up from fallen enemies go into a communal pool that both players can draw upon, meaning that there are no difficulties even if one player needs to use 80% of all the health potions to stay alive while the other only needs 20% of them. Of course, this does mean that it would be wise to communicate with your partner before doing something like unilaterally spending all of your combined cash on better armor for yourself.
Another big frustration-saving feature is the arcade-like ability for players to drop in and out of the game at will by using the pause menu. So, for example, if one player is having a difficult time keeping up with the speed and precision of movement needed to win a particular boss fight, they can choose to drop out of the game and let the AI control their character for a while. I would caution, however, that this feature is a double edged sword: there were times when Jenn was quite happy about being able to get herself out of the way so that she didn’t feel responsible for the death of the whole party, but if you use this option too much, it can lead the second player to feel as if they aren’t really contributing or that the first player would really rather just be playing alone.
Not every part of the game is purely multi-player – the character management elements that give the game some RPG flavor are solitary activities. Each time one of your characters gains enough experience to level up, you are awarded some points to spend both on increasing that character’s basic attributes, like total health, and on learning and improving their special abilities. Any controller can make these choices for any character in the party – the one that controls within the menu screen is the one that opened it. I should hope that it goes without saying, but don’t change things about your partner’s character unless they tell you to, even though the game permits it. There is no quicker way to turn your multi-player experience into a single-player one. And while I’m giving advice, don’t criticize the character customization choices your partner makes either. Some friendly kibitzing is to be expected on both sides, but do not force your ideas about character optimization on your partner no matter how silly the choices you think they are making are. The game is not nearly difficult enough to make squeaking every bit of performance out of a character necessary, so remain calm and let your partner have their fun.
In sum, if you’re looking to blow off some steam by making stuff blow up with a partner, X-Men Legends II is a solid choice. Don’t expect too much out of the story or voice acting, as both are mediocre, but those typically aren’t the draws of beat-em-up games, are they? The game offered Jenn and me an amusing way to spend some time gaming together without making either of us feel awkward about our respective skill levels, so it gets a thumbs up from us.
Everyone Look Busy! 