Licensed games tend, for the most part, to fall into one of two categories: crappy platform games and crappy fighting games. Experiences with dozens of Disney–licensed kids games (What, we’re supposed to collect coins? How were we to guess that?) and side–scrolling beat–’em–ups that can conquered by cleverly hitting the kick button repeatedly (*cough* Spawn *cough*) have left me dubious about licensed games, especially when the game is timed to come out with a major movie. The Fifth Element, Wild Wild West and Space Jam have left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t even wish to think of Waterworld or Dragonheart.

So, what makes X–Men: Mutant Academy different? Well, for one thing, the game’s been in production for a long time. Well before there was any buzz around the X–Men movie, Activision had a team quietly figuring out how to make a good fighting game with the most popular superhero team ever. When things didn’t work, they were changed, and when the entire game seemed in jeopardy, Activision started over from the beginning. So the final product doesn’t feel like a quickly thrown together game from a developer trying to make a quick buck. Instead it’s a solid, fast fighting game with some really nice eye candy.

This is not to say, however, that the game wasn’t influenced at all by the movie. Both the final cast of characters and their moves were obviously tweaked to appeal to fans of the film. Of the ten playable characters, there are some strange choices, like Toad and Mystique, alongside old standbys Wolverine, Cyclops and Storm. Gambit, who is not in the movie, appears, but there’s no sign of Nightcrawler, Psylocke or some of the other traditional X–Men. Toad is obviously patterned after his movie counterpart, using spitting attacks and a long tongue that never appeared in the comic book.

Every comic book fan has an idea of what the X–Men should look like, whether it’s the classic style of Jack Kirby’s Iceman or the rippling muscles of Jim Lee’s Cyclops. The graphic flavor of Mutant Academy is a nice blend between old and new, with a bit of the movie thrown in almost as an aside (the alternate costumes are the leather outfits from the film). Characters are large and impressive, with beautiful animation and expressive movements.

The controls are fairly standard fare, with a basic four–button control scheme – two punches, two kicks – complemented by throw and counter buttons. Combos are easy to slip in and out of and throws, while hard to execute, are devastating and almost all worth the effort – for the visual result if nothing else. A series of super moves rounds out each character’s arsenal. There are meters for supers, stringed supers and x–treme actions.

The most innovative addition to the fighting engine, though, is the ability to transfer power between the three meters. It’s tricky, but with some practice players can surprise opponents by draining all their super power into just one of the meters and unleashing a torrential downpour of violence. It’s not Tekken 3 but it is fun, fast and beautiful. Fighting game fans and X–men readers will both be well pleased with this Activision offering.