X-Men: Destiny

For the X-Men mutant character called Destiny, seeDestiny (Irene Adler).

X-Men: Destinyis anaction role-playingvideo gamebased on theX-Mencomic book series. It was developed bySilicon Knights.Written byMike Carey,the writer of theX-Men: Legacycomic book series,it was published and released byActivisionfor theNintendo DS,PlayStation 3,Wii,andXbox 360consoles.

X-Men: Destiny
Developer(s)	Silicon Knights Other Ocean Interactive(DS)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Producer(s)	Doug Heder
Writer(s)	Mike Carey
Composer(s)	Steve Henifin Robert Baffy (DS)
Engine	Unreal Engine 3
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS,PlayStation 3,Wii,Xbox 360
Release	Nintendo DS,PlayStation 3&Xbox 360 NA:September 27, 2011 EU:September 30, 2011 AU:October 5, 2011 Wii NA:September 27, 2011 EU:October 14, 2011 AU:October 26, 2011
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Along with many other games published by Activision that had used a Marvel license,X-Men: Destinywas de-listed and subsequently removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014.Due to legal issues between Silicon Knights andEpic Gamesover the misuse ofUnreal Engine 3code, bothX-Men: Destinyand another game,Too Human,were recalled, and had their unsold copies destroyed.As such, it marks as the final game to be developed by Silicon Knights before filing for bankruptcy in 2014.

Gameplay

InX-Men: Destiny,players are put in the roles of new mutants (Aimi Yoshida, daughter ofX-MencontactSunfireand sent to be under the X-Men's protection to escapeJapan's increasingly violent anti-mutant campaign; Adrian Luca, the son of a deceasedPurifiersleader who has been conditioned to believe mutants are evil; Grant Alexander, aUC Berkeleyfootball player from Georgia who is unwillingly recruited by his friends to look for a 'mutant growth hormone') who choose to join either the X-Men or theBrotherhood of Mutants;from there, they make decisions for the ultimate destiny of their character.X-Men: Destinyplaces an emphasis on the players' freedom of choice, as opposed to a more traditional linear type of gameplay. This was supported by quotes in the official press release: "the all-new original video game casts players as new mutant recruits in a rich, branching storyline that features a deep element of choice and gives players ultimate control of their destiny".

Throughout the game, players collect power enhancements called X-Genes. Every X-Gene can unlock three types of abilities: offensive, defensive and utility. X-Genes can be mixed and matched as the player sees fit for a unique experience.

Some retailers packaged the game with exclusive pre-order bonuses. Those who pre-ordered onAmazon.comreceived an early unlock code forEmma Frost's outfit and X-Genes;Best Buyoffered an early unlock code ofJuggernaut's costume and X-Genes; andGameStop's pre-ordering customers receivedHavok's suit and X-Genes.

Plot

InX-Men DestinySan Francisco has been divided into human andmutantareas due to conflict. The player chooses from one of three mutant characters who have been created for the game: Aimi Yoshida, Adrian Luca or Grant Alexander (voiced byJamie Chung,Scott PorterandMilo Ventimigliarespectively). Player choices affect which mutants become their allies and enemies through decisions made in the course of the story.

The game begins at a peace rally in memory of the deceasedProfessor X,seen through theMutant Response Division's Chief Luis Reyes. Things quickly turn when the rally is attacked by an anti-mutant extremist group called thePurifiers,who are kidnapping mutants, not killing them as they usually do. The latent mutant powers of the player character are awakened, and they are forced to defend civilians from the Purifiers. The player character then meets with mutants from both the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants and chooses to join a group as they go afterCameron Hodge,leader of the Purifiers. Hodge is wearing a suit of power armor and personally joins the hunt for mutants. The player eventually corners Hodge on top of a building but is interrupted byMagneto,accused by Reyes of attacking the rally, who drops theGolden Gate Bridgeon top of the combat zone.

The player character is saved byNightcrawlerat the last second and is teleported toChinatown,where they are tasked with findingGambit,who is currently operating a nightclub nearby. After meeting Gambit, he asks the player to help him raid a Purifier warehouse which contains technology used against mutants. After the raid, Gambit gives the player character the location of the secret underground lab where Purifiers hold captured mutants. At the lab, the player character meets several captured mutants such asQuicksilver,SurgeandColossus.With their helpJohn Sublimeand theU-Menare defeated, and the captured mutants are rescued. Acting on information gained by the X-Men, the player character goes to a secret underground base used by Hodge and the Purifiers. They find Hodge, who is now wearing a more powerful power armor containing drained mutant powers. Hodge boasts that the powers drained fromPixieandCalibanwill allow him to find any mutant, and that he is being helped by some other group or person. After the fight, Hodge falls from a generator tower to his apparent death.

Depending on the player's choice between the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants, they go to eitherCyclopsorMystiquewith the new-found information and are tasked with finding Pixie and Caliban. With the aid ofForge,the player character finds Caliban and realizes that Hodge's ally isBastion,the robot who killed Professor X before being destroyed by Magneto. Bastion somehow survived and uploaded himself to the MRD satellite, and even Reyes is working for him. With Caliban's help, the player character finds Pixie. Still, the helicopter carrying her is shot down by a laser beam and crashes, killing her. Immediately after, regardless of the player's choices so far, Magneto accuses Cyclops of shooting down the helicopter and, alongsideJuggernaut,attacks both Cyclops and the player. After the fight, Magneto grudgingly gives the player character a chance to join the Brotherhood, and they are forced to make an important decision.

Regardless of which side the player chooses, they are tasked to take down Reyes, who seems to have mind control powers. Reyes plans to amplify his power with Bastion's satellite so he can control all humans and mutants on Earth. After fighting several allied mutants and saving them from Reyes' mind control, the player finds the broadcasting tower used by Reyes and shuts down the signal with the aid of Cyclops and Magneto. Bastion downloads himself into Reyes, now wearing an enormous version of Hodge's armor, and takes control of his mind. Bastion also sends several Sentinels to join the fight. After the player brings down Bastion and his Sentinels, Reyes surrenders himself to the authorities, to which the player character responds that they are the authorities now.

The ending depends on which side the player chose to join at the end of Chapter 7.

• If they sided with the X-Men, Cyclops, the player character, and the X-Men are seen watching over the ruins of San Francisco. They promise to create a world where mutants and humans can live together in peace. Cyclops says that there's another storm coming that might be worse than the ones they've already endured.
• If they sided with the Brotherhood, Magneto and the player character are seen watching over the ruins of San Francisco. Magneto declares the formation of a mutant-only nation, and he states that he will teach the player how to survive in a world that despises mutants.

Development

Silicon Knightsdeveloped the game in collaboration withActivisionafter beinggreen-lightedin 2009. Anonymous sources claiming to be former employees have said that the development team was split between 'XMDandEternal Darkness 2,with management indifferent towardX-Men.

Denis Dyack,the founder of Silicon Knights, has responded, stating that the project budget was drastically reduced due toMarvel's acquisition byDisney.He has asserted that the perception of indifference had to do with resources at the developer being re-allocated in response to the shift in budget; the developers were not informed of the reduced budget so as to maintain morale.To remedy this, Silicon Knights put $2 million of their own money into the project, which stunned Activision and had said on the record that it was not a good business move.He also admitted in 2019 that he was not heavily involved with the game development as he was busy handling thelawsuit against Epic Games.

In 2022, assistant director Julian Spillane revealed that one of the reasons whyX-Men: Destinyfailed was due to a general lack of knowledge of the IP from the leads and directors. For example, when he pointed out that the boss fight with theJuggernautcould only be beaten using psychic powers instead of health depletion to zero as he is indestructible, as per the character's lore, his superiors told him not to focus on "unimportant details." When they submitted the build to the publishers for approval, Marvel sent them copies of Marvel encyclopedias as a way to tell Silicon Knights to do more research on the characters. Spillane also explained that due to the lawsuits with Epic Games, the developers had to use their own internal engine which was considered inferior to Unreal Engine 3.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	(PS3) 50.90% (X360) 48.47% (Wii) 40.44% (DS) 32.50%
Metacritic	(PS3) 50/100 (X360) 47/100 (Wii) 36/100 (DS) 33/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
Destructoid	2.5/10
Eurogamer	5/10
Game Informer	7/10
GamePro
GameSpot	4/10 (Wii) 3/10
GameTrailers	5.5/10
Giant Bomb
IGN	5.5/10 (Wii) 3.5/10 (DS) 2/10
Joystiq
Nintendo Power	(Wii) 2.5/10 (DS) 2/10
Official Xbox Magazine(US)	5.5/10
The Digital Fix	3/10
The Escapist

X-Men: Destinyreceived generally negative reviews, with most pointing out the button mashing combat, lack of consequences to choices, and overall lack of polish.GameRankingsandMetacriticgave it a score of 32.50% and 33 out of 100 for the DS version;50.90% and 50 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version;48.47% and 47 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version;and 40.44% and 36 out of 100 for the Wii version.

Joystiq(now a part ofEngadget) criticized the sluggish gameplay and short story, stating the game feels unfinished and gave the Xbox 360 version 1.5 stars out of 5, ending the review with, "...at least you can quickly move onto something more pleasurable, like...burying a beloved family pet".GamesRadar,although praising the fan service of the game, echoed the sentiment of the game feeling unfinished, calling it mediocre and citing the graphics being similar to "an HD remake of a last-gen game" and although the boss battles received some praise, the majority of the fighting was considered dull and repetitive, awarding the game 2.5 stars out of 5.However,Game Informergave the game a 7 out of 10. They praised the fulfillment of fantasy for mutant lovers that this game provides, as well as replay value, despite the questionable graphics.

External links

• Official website
• X-Men: DestinyatIMDb