5 Best X-Men Video Games Of All Time (& The 5 Worst), According To MetaCritic

On the surface, it seems like the X-Men are the perfect group of superheroes to bring to a video game. The Marvel comic book characters have abilities that would be a blast to pull off with the controller in your hand and their personalities drive some truly intriguing storylines.

There have been occasions where X-Men video games turned out to be pretty great. Those elements all come together nicely in those cases. On the other hand, there have been some that really missed the mark and disappointed fans. The ratings at MetaCritic lay out how fans felt about these games, even if not all of them are available on the website.

10 Worst: X-Men: The Arcade Game (64)

As evidenced by a solid score of 64, even some of the lesser games based on the X-Men were still pretty strong. That’s the case with X-Men: The Arcade Game. Initially, this was released in 1992 as a popular arcade game. That doesn’t have a score but the remastered version does.

Released in 2010 on the PS3 and Xbox 360 (then for Android and iOS a year later), this is an updated take on the side-scrolling beat ’em up. It allows players to control Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and others against notable villains. A lot of players saw it as a fun bit of nostalgia but not much more.

9 Best: X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (72)

Fighting games were all the rage for quite a while during the ’90s and into the early ’00s. It made sense that X-Men would get in on the action, especially given their inclusion in the beloved and iconic Marvel vs. Capcom series. Their own fighting game series was Mutant Academy.

The sequel to the original arrived on the PlayStation in 2001 and was met with a warm reception. The game itself follows a lot of what was expected from the genre at the time, though it lacked some modes for replayability. It does get a boost for having Spider-Man as a playable character.

8 Worst: X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse (61)

As fun as the Game Boy was as a portable system, it was difficult to overcome some of the limitations of the platform. There weren’t many button possibilities and things like graphics weren’t often a focal point. That’s part of what made X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse struggle.

Again, this is a rating of an above-average game so it’s not bad. It’s just that this 2001 Game Boy Advance release couldn’t live up to the best from the franchise. Another side-scroller, this game lets you control Rogue, Cyclops, Wolverine, or Storm to get revenge for the destruction of the X-Mansion.

7 Best: X-Men: Mutant Academy (75)

Putting out a video game sequel in about a year is a tall task. The fact that it was done for X-Men: Mutant Academy should be all that you need to know about the popularity and success of the first installment. The 2000 game was their first official foray into the fighting genre.

Similar to the sequel, this follows the tropes of the genre, not really doing anything new with the concept. Still, the novelty of fighting as mutants was fun and it released around the time of the film, which was a hit. The Game Boy version also boasted Phoenix as a hidden character.

6 Worst: X-Men: Next Dimension (56)

Developers seemed to have gone to the well one too many times. After finding success both commercially and critically with the Mutant Academy series, a third X-Men fighting game was put out. That was 2002’s X-Men: Next Dimension on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube.

Conceptually, it did a lot right with more modes, characters, and 3D maps, as well as narration from Patrick Stewart. There were issues with the unbalanced fighting and the fact that many character models looked pretty bad.

5 Best: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (77)

Even with a quality concept like X-Men involved, making a good video game based on a movie can prove to be a challenge. A lot of the time, these games are rushed to production to come out with the film and they miss the mark due to it. This is a rare case of things being different.

2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie was panned (with a MetaCritic score of 40) but the game adaptation scored quite high. It let you play as Wolverine in an action story. While the PC version was met with high praise, some other systems had disappointing ports.

4 Worst: X-Men: The Official Game (52)

On the flip side of the prior entry, X-Men: The Official Game is a case where something came out to tie-in with a movie release and was kind of a mess because of it. This arrived in 2006 to coincide with the release of X-Men: The Last Stand, which ended the original film trilogy.

Story-wise, it’s appreciated that this bridges the gap between X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. It explains Nightcrawler’s absence from the third film, lets you play as him, Iceman, and Logan, and even introduced HYDRA. Alas, the AI was dumb and the gameplay was too repetitive.

3 Best: X-Men Legends (82)

Side-scrollers and fighting games were good ideas with the X-Men but it wasn’t the ideal one. The best place to utilize these characters is in an action role-playing setting, which is just what X-Men Legends did in 2004 when it hit PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox.

Players could switch between multiple characters during the story, allowing for variety. It’s a similar concept to what worked so well for the Marvel: Ulitmate Alliance series. The game was praised for the combat system, customization options, role-playing elements, and more.

2 Worst: X-Men: Destiny (47)

Considering how far along technology has come, you would expect a game released in 2011 to be better than some from the past. Of course, that can’t always be the case and X-Men: Destiny is a prime example of that. There was reason for excitement, though.

The game was penned by Mike Carey, who actually wrote the X-Men: Legacy comic. While the story was fine, it was criticized for being too short. The real issues came from the game feeling unfinished and unpolished, as well as lackluster graphics.

1 Best: X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (84)

The first X-Men Legends game put the focus on Magneto as the main villain. Upping the ante, Apocalypse was brought in for the sequel a year later in 2005. That in itself allowed this iteration to be grander in scale than the predecessor, which was welcomed by players.

It takes everything from the previous game and improves it. The cast of characters is larger, there were more customization options, and online gameplay was even added. It was also a hit in terms of sales, making PlayStation 2’s “Greatest Hits” collection.

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