X-Men: Destiny

Add in some middling environment and character visuals on top of the lackluster gameplay, and X-Men Destiny has some big problems.

There's no reason to play it, but it is not actively bad the way that some games are. It simply exists to kill time, and to make you think of the six thousand ways it could be better.

As far as the gameplay goes, X-Men Destiny works just fine. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about many of the other aspects of the game: a sweet, though way too short story, hideous graphics and an uninspired sound.

Too hit-and-miss for casual gamers, and tolerable for X-Men fans. Mechanic issues are forgivable only by appreciating the great X-Men renditions.

If you like the X-Men or brawler games (and who doesn't), X-Men Destiny is worth a rental, but it has enough issues and shortcomings to make a full on purchase prohibitive to most gamers.

X-Men: Destiny fits our 6/10 scoring criteria perfectly. It's an "above average" game, that succeeds in certain areas whilst falling down in others. There's no doubt that there is enjoyment to be had from this title, but one can't help but wonder how good it would have been with a lot more polish, and some variety thrown in.

X-Men: Destiny feels like a demo for a bigger game that never was. Little of the excitement that could have followed in the booted footsteps of X-Men Legends or Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is buried within its too-short campaign and thin smattering of gameplay. It's Dynasty Warriors for mutants; it can be fun at the outset, even with all the button-mashing, but the boxed-in world is not enough to distract from the hollow feeling of this particular destiny.

X-Men is a license with tons of potential that goes untapped in X-Men: Destiny. Choices don't really matter, the graphics look quite dated and still don't run smoothly. The boss fights and iconic characters are the saving graces that will still have the title find its way into fans' collections.

The game grows quickly tiresome, and doesn't go anywhere but down from there.

Even for an action brawler, this one is as mindless as they come.

The new adventure of the X-Men is poor and simple. Although the story looked interesting, the result is an average action game, without anything remarkable, that only hardcore X-Men fans will enjoy.

Silicon Knights just forgot to give us anything fun to do with our powers, making it hard to recommend Destiny to even diehard fans. [Holiday 2011, p.84]

It's really hard to encourage people to go out and buy this game, even the for the hardcore X-Men fans. Although some fanboys will just be happy with seeing some of their favourites in the game, I feel most will be disappointed in not being able to play as their favourites and by the very repetitive action.

X-Men Destiny is a partially failed game. It has some good ideas but fails in their execution.

X-Men Destiny is a very boring game. The gameplay is nothing special, the graphics are just not good and we haven't even begun talking about all of the glitches. It's great however that you can make a lot of choices while playing the storyline, but it's too little too late.

As it stands, the game is a rental at best, and even then only one to bother with if there's literally nothing else for you to play.

X-Men: Destiny isn't a bad game -- it just plays like an unfinished one.

Unlike movies, it's rare that games are so bad they're good. The rubbish ones are usually so unplayable that they're not worth plodding through. X-Men: Destiny is the exception that gets just enough right to be fun, while being sloppy enough elsewhere to be good for a laugh. It's the best kind of disaster.

There are some good ideas to be found here, but Silicon Knights seem to have lost it along the way. It's repetitive, unpolished, often boring, definitely not worth your money.

It's a shame that a clever concept was not given the care required to shape an epic quest with a completely fresh hero. From the short story and flaccid combat to the poor technical skill in the music and visuals, a few scattered collectibles and a handful of Achievements/Trophies are not enough to justify a sixty dollar purchase. In fact, it's probably not even worth the few dollars to rent unless you're a diehard fan of the series who must play every game, whether good or bad.

X-Men: Destiny trips and stumbles out of the gate, and never gets going. Way too many problems hold it back; the shortcomings range from control to story to presentation to technical elements, etc, etc, etc. It's just a really disappointing production and one that isn't even worth a rent.

I wish it wasn't true, but X-Men: Destiny is a dud

This game offers nothing that could justify spending money on it. [November 2011, p.76]

As the title says, the best part of the game is its ending. It's not just because the game is over but the credits offer the gameplay I hoped the actual game would have. As it is, though, it's an uninspired, bland brawler with little going for it.

The newest game from Silicon Knights is so mediocre and bland, it's very hard to believe that it was made by the same people who brought us Too Human and Eternal Darkness.

It's as if Silicon Knights threw together a boring action brawler and slapped the X-Men name on it to sell more copies.

In X-Men: Destiny, mindless combat and meaningless choices combine to create a new mutation of boredom.

This game should not have made it past the concept stages, not for a property so well-loved like Marvel, since there's no execution that could have fixed this, either.

After surprisingly decent superhero games like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, it's a major disappointment that Silicon Knights can't do better than this rubbish. We're amazed that Marvel and Activision let this one through. [Nov 2011, p.37]

There's nothing wrong with the idea, but the execution is unforgivable. [Issue#211, p.88]

An absolute mess that isn't worth your time.