Activision and Raven Software's X-Men Legends is a great game for many reasons, chief among them because it's the best X-Men game to come out since the Genesis days, but whether you remember those amazing 16-bit beat-em-ups isn't important. They're merely part of the primordial soup from which Legends was spawned, and if you have no clue what I'm talking about that's fine. Just know that this game is the ultimate interactive X-Men experience, and it actually plays good, even though it's a game that lasts longer than it should.

X-Men Legends is an action RPG where you basically run around beating the snot out of wave after wave of bad guys. Although you begin the game as Wolverine, over time you'll meet other X-Men and they'll join your party, so eventually you'll have four characters onscreen at once. Since there are over ten mutants in the game, including Storm, Jubilee, Iceman, Cyclops, and Beast, you have the option of mixing and matching different heroes to make use of their uncanny abilities. For example, if you come to a chasm, Iceman can create a bridge...of ice! Amazing!

Mixing and matching results in numerous combinations and you can switch characters on the fly, though if you prefer to play as just one that's certainly fine, and while you should keep an eye on the health of your teammates you don't need to constantly baby sit them. They more than hold their own, so you won't be carrying the load.

The coolest thing about Legends is the game's four-player support, so instead of leading a bunch of NPCs to water three of your friends can join in. The only negative to this feature is you all share health items, so it gets annoying if there's one guy or gal who's constantly losing energy.

Legends is a great beat-em-up no question, but it also excels because of its RPG elements. All of the characters can be leveled up, and you can equip them with items you pick up along the way. It's a fairly involving system and it's a nice complement to the non stop action.

Graphically, X-Men Legends is a mixed bag. The environments look fantastic, and the game's presentation is superb, as you can walk around Xavier Mansion, train in the Danger Room, and collect comic book covers. It's also cool that many objects in the game's levels can be destroyed, and it's a good way to release some frustration simply by splintering benches, breaking windows, and destroying large pieces of equipment. However, despite the game's sheen (special effects also look spectacular), the character models are a mess. While they look fine far away, they're ghastly up close because they lack detail. Hey it's Professor X! Oh no! He has no face!

The only thing I have against this game is its length. Even with its multiple combinations of X-Men and different environments, the game never stops being a beat-em-up, and where it could've concluded at a comfortable point, a sweet spot, if you will, the game just keeps going, and going, and going. It gets to the point where enough is enough. Games of this type were never meant to last more than 10 hours at a time, so Legends' over 25 hours of non stop fighting is a little much. I'm all for games that give me a "bang for my buck", but there is such a thing as jeopardizing the story flow by long and drawn out gameplay.

Even though it's a monster of a game that eventually put me to sleep, I can't ignore X-Men Legend's greatness as well as the value that's been crammed onto the game disc. It's truly one of if not the largest beat-em-up ever released, and the uncanny presentation is simply astounding. Quibbles with the graphics aside, X-Men Legends is one of 2004's best and brightest, and whether you're a fan of the comics or not is a non issue because Activision's game has "must buy" written all over it.