I am predisposed toward enjoying any game I get to experience with a family member. In this case, I played through “X-Men Legends II” with my son. So, this game is liable to get a better score because of this — this is acknowledged.
Stepping back from it, beyond the multiplayer appeal of the X-Men Legends series, it’s also relatively creative in its approach, mixing dungeon crawling, melee combat, and rpg-style leveling up/equipping to great effect.
The X-Men are a natural pairing for this kind of game too, as part of the appeal is mixing and matching your teammates (four at any time) to adjust to varying situations. Maybe you need to get to a hard-to-reach area. Or remove an obstruction. Or you need to lean into long-range attacks during a battle scenario. the various mutants with different abilities match the demands of the game.
Where the sequel ups the ante from the first title is to give you access to the enemies from Magneto’s brotherhood to fold into your team, providing a whole host of new game styles and fun characters to commandeer.
I loved the first game in the series. It honestly flirts with my Top 100, and while I think the law of diminishing returns is in effect with the sequel, I can’t deny having a goofy grin plastered across my face for much of the playtime.