GameHoof.com

Developer Silicon Knights
Publisher Activision
Release date Q3/Q4 2011
Genre Action

X-Men: Destiny is an upcoming video game based on the X-Men comic book series. It is currently being developed by Silicon Knights and is planned to be published by Activision. It is currently scheduled to be released in Q3/Q4 2011. The story is being written by Mike Carey, writer of the X-Men: Legacy comic book series. The game was announced at the 2010 New York Comic Con on October 9, 2010, and it has not yet been announced on which consoles it will be released.

Gameplay

In X-Men: Destiny, players will be put in the role of a new mutant who joins the X-Men; they will have to make choices to decide the ultimate destiny of their character. According to early sources, X-Men: Destiny is placing an emphasis on “choice” as its main focus, as opposed to a more traditional linear type of gameplay. According to the official press release, “the all-new original video game casts players as new mutant recruits in a rich, branching storyline that features a deep element of choice and gives players ultimate control of their destiny”.

BLACK AND WHITE
Your currency comes in the form of X-Genes, which can be used to boost yourself or as gifts to other X-Men to form alliances. You’ll have the chance to choose which characters become friends or foe, which is a nice touch if a little blunt for a series that has always been about moral grey-areas.

Speaking of which, every significant decision you make in the game will be not-so-subtly signposted as the action freezes and you’re forced to go one way or the other, drastically altering the path of the story. It’s as subtle as a brick to the face, but it’s stylishly done.

The rest of the game is action, and you bring your chosen skills into the third-person fight. Chaining regular attacks will fill your Mutant Power meter with juice, allowing you to unleash ever more devastating abilities on your enemies – again depending on the core skills you choose to select from the start.

While Destiny already seems unlikely to claw back much of X-Men’s lost popularity, it’s wealth of licensed characters (Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and many others) are already confirmed.

And the storyline fits snugly into those explored in the comics should ensure decent fan service with just enough super-hero fare to tide us over until Batman: Arkham City finally arrives.

Plot

Destiny is based in San Francisco, after the dead of Profesor X, the city is divided into human and mutant areas due to conflict between the two groups. The game begins at a peace rally being held in memory of the deceased Professor X, where the player chooses from one of three mutant characters to play as, who have been originally created for the game. The game allows for the player to decide which mutants become their allies and enemies through choices made in the course of the story.