X-Men: Children of the Atom

Review

by Colin Williamson

X-Men: Children of the Atom is a product of the crazy minds at Capcom, the fine folks who brought you the classic Street Fighter II series and its countless sequels. The end result is a game that plays like the Street Fighter titles you know and love, combined with some really luscious animation and crazy special effects. All of the X-Men have been redone in Japanese anime style and duke it out in style with powerful super jumps and "X-Power" combo moves.

It seems like all the X-Men are angry at each other, so they decide to take out their aggressions on each other in a one-on-one fighting tournament. From the Danger Room to the destroyed streets of New York City, everyone from Wolverine to Magneto is getting in on the earth-shattering carnage.

The traditional six-button control scheme works well, and most Street Fighter joystick movements will pave the road to victory. There's the addition of larger arenas and more unique special moves (check out Omega Red's tentacle attack). Overall pacing of the game has been significantly sped up when compared to previous Capcom 2D fighters.

If you thought the character designs were over-the-top, just wait until you check out the bosses -- Juggernaut takes up the full screen and is truly unstoppable, and Magneto is the master of cheese, making himself invulnerable. You'll also be disappointed to know that X-Men: Children of the Atom's artificial intelligence is incredibly cheap, and tweaking the difficulty settings in the options screen does basically nothing.

Even though it's the old Street Fighter in a new, Marvel Comics sponsored bottle, X-Men: Children of the Atom is a fun -- if frustrating -- fighting game. If you're a fan of the mighty mutants, you certainly can't go wrong with this game.