The 90’s were great for arcade gaming with hits like TMNT and Double Dragon. One of most popular beat-em-up titles was X-Men which released in 1992 and it featured various playable X-Men characters blasting through sentinels and various other enemies. Your ultimate goal? Defeat Magneto!
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HERE’S WHAT’S GREAT ABOUT IT….
GOOD ‘OLE FASHION FUN
If you enjoy simple button mashing beat-em up games, X-Men will surely be a fun game for you. It features six playable X-Men characters including the greats such as Wolverine, and my personal favorite, Storm. The game features eight stages including the final boss fight and you’ll find yourself battling through cities, caves, and more. The gameplay consists of basic attacks using X and A along with a powered-up attack using Y and this attack can often clear the screen of enemies.
JAPANESE AND AMERICAN!
Another cool feature for this XBLA release of X-Men Arcade is the inclusion of both the American and Japanese versions of the game. While the story line and core game remain the same it does feature subtle differences. The Japanese version features energy pills to pick up in levels, and your special attack won’t deplete your health until you use the blue special markers on your HUD. When using the special attack in the American version you’ll notice that your health is depleted prior to the blue dots on the HUD, which to be honest makes no sense. Text will also be in Japanese but there’s no depth to the story so it’s not an important factor.
MULTIPLAYER IS WHERE IT’S AT!
Not every game needs multiplayer nowadays, (I’m lookin’ at you, EA!), but X-Men or any game in this genre deserves it. Xbox LIVE Gold users will be able to hop on and enjoy six player co-operative play, or you can also play 2-4 player local co-op. Each player has to play as a unique X-Men character so you may have to take turns with Wolverine or Colossus. The online experience appears to be completely free of any lag based upon the game host and fellow players’ connections. You’ll find that you’ve got infinite continues here (Infinite in single-player too!) and you’ll need them. You get three lives per play but enemies like Magneto can kill you in almost a single attack, so endless lives are a welcome feature.
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AND THE NOT SO GREAT….
A SHORT-LIVED MEMORY
Maybe this isn’t a bad thing, maybe it is. It’s really a matter of opinion. Many arcade games were quite short, but punishing in difficulty. X-Men fits into that category and you’ll find the game is a short-lived experience and you can complete all eight stages in under a half hour in co-op. For fans of the genre it’s still fun, and you’ll replay it many times – more if you were a big fan of the arcade box itself. I’m personally new to playing this game, but I loved TMNT arcade which featured a lot of the same mechanics.
LET’S WRAP UP
Would I say X-Men Arcade is worth 800 :MSPoints: for what’s offered? Sure – if you have some nostalgic value to the game or the genre itself. Otherwise it’s better off waiting for a 400 :MSPoints: sale. You can get a couple hours of enjoyment to earn all the achievements, but there’s not much reason aside from nostalgia to go back to the game after that.
| Rating | Description |
| 8.5 | Gameplay Fun button-mashing greatness with some cool power-up moves in both single player and co-op. |
| 7.5 | Graphics It's an arcade port, and it looks decent seeing as how it's an 18 year old game. |
| 7.0 | Sound Cheesy background and basic voiceovers so horrible that they are comical to listen to. Good times. |
| 7.5 | Final Score |
