X-Men: Mutant Academy

Overall: D+
Violence: C-
Sexual Content: B-
Language: A
Drugs/Alcohol: A

Platform reviewed: Sony Playstation
Publisher: Activision
ESRB rating: T

It should come as no surprise that a movie containing a cast of ten mutant action figures would find its way into a video game. But like other movie-inspired games we've reviewed (even the benign Toy Story II for instance), the spirit and premise of the film gets lost in the translation. Put simply, this game takes the most violent aspects of the X-Men movie and lets you relive them repeatedly.

In the movie, Professor Charles Xavier's Academy for Gifted Children was depicted as a normal school environment where mutants were instructed in controlling their special abilities so that they may be used for peaceful purposes. But in the game, Professor X (we assume this abbreviation refers to Xavier) is a whole new machine. His focus is to teach the X-Men to use their secret forces to destroy their fellow X-Men. The school becomes nothing more than a typical fighting arena (perhaps better named the WWF School of Hard Knocks), where two X-Men duke it out using good ol' punches, kicks, throws, and hitting each other with sticks or guns. Oh yeah, they use their super powers too. Who ever knocks out the other first, is the winner.

What a unique premise!

As the only distinctive aspect of this fighting game are the talents of the mutant characters, the challenge is to find what combination of three, four, or five buttons will release their most deadly weapons (the instruction manual just shows you when these super powers are available). There are only two methods for discovering what powers are available, and what moves you have to make to unleash them: trial and error, or entering the X-Men Academy where you can practice beating the pulp out of other X-Men while you learn basic button pushing 101, followed by advanced button combos 202.

Using the sultry Mystique (who, like all of the X-Men, fights in up to three available costumes including the painted on body suit she donned in the movie), I attempted to go beyond the simple jabs and kicks. It took many attempts but I finally managed to get her to release her most "X-treme" move. Suddenly she raises the huge gun she's been using as a club, and blasts out a series of lightning bullets, sending her opponent up into the air. After being shot more than twenty times, her rival drops to the floor. Fortunately, gory details are limited to small spurts of fluid.

Although a two player mode allows friends to battle each other with their favorite characters, all other gaming experiences are solo, with you against the silicon world. And after observing the female physiques in this game (both clothed and not so clothed), that silicon world may refer to more than just computer chips.

Rod Gustafson

Note: If you are curious to know more about the movie, then check out our review.

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