While movie-goers flock to theatres to see a re-imagined version of one of the X-Men’s greatest stories, iOS gamers can now play through the original comic book storyline in Glitchsoft’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat — this is a $3.79 game with no in-app purchases. It’s not free-to-play and it’s not pay-to-win. It’s pay-to-play while the developer nervously watches sales figures and hopes they made the right decision. Fortunately for Glitchsoft, they have made a game with the same name as a major motion picture now in theatres, so they should be ok.
As I mentioned previously, this X-Men: Days of Future Past follows the 1981 comic book story (and goes far beyond it) which inspired the 2014 movie. In a dystopian future on the verge of nuclear holocaust, an older Kitty Pryde (Kate) has her mind projected back in time, in order to prevent the assassination of Senator Robert Kelly by Mystique and her Brotherhood of Evil mutants. Saving Kelly should derail the events that led to all of her friends dying horrible deaths in the future.
Players switch between X-Men characters — Wolverine, Kitty, Colossus and more — as the game’s story unfolds, level by level. It all begins in the dark future, where the X-Men battle human thugs and sentinel robots, collecting experience points to upgrade their abilities along the way. Eventually Kitty makes her way to the 1980s X-Mansion, where she convinces the younger X-Men to aid her in her mission.
The game plays like the evolution of another Glitchsoft game, He-Man: The Most Powerful Game In The Universe. The animation is purposefully still, the characters styled to look and move as if they’d been pulled from the comic book page. There’s a lot of punching, kicking and exploring, with the odd super move tossed in for good measure.
It’s a solid game, enjoyable but not without its faults. As a comic book fan I’m having trouble reconciling Shadowcat’s basic attacks doing the same damage as Wolverine’s and Colossus’. Along those same lines, I should not have to punch down walls as Shadowcat — her entire thing is being able to pass through solid objects. And time travel, apparently. Being able to pass through solid objects and time travel.
If you’re going to pick up the game, I urge you to swap the control style from A to B immediately. Style A is on-screen virtual controls, and it’s a bastard. Style B’s reasonable touch and swipe controls are the way to go.
The X-Men: Days of Future Past game is a throwback to the 2D side-scrolling comic book games of old, and as such it has to take certain liberties with power levels and special abilities. That said, it’s a delightful little trip down memory lane that’s well worth the cost of a comic book.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
- Genre: Side-scrolling action-adventure
- Developer: Glitchsoft
- Platform: iOS
- Price: $3.79
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