X-Men: Destiny

X-Men: Destiny is an action role-playing video game based on Marvel's X-Men comic book series. It was developed by Silicon Knights. Written by Mike Carey, the writer of the X-Men: Legacy comic book series, it was published and released by Activision for the DS and Wii consoles.

Gameplay
In X-Men: Destiny, players are put in the roles of new mutants who choose to join either the X-Men or the Brotherhood of Mutants; from there, they make decisions for the ultimate destiny of their character. X-Men: Destiny places 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.

Plot
X-Men Destiny is based in San Francisco, which has been divided into human and mutant areas due to a conflict between the two groups. At the start of the game, the player chooses from one of three mutant characters who have been created for the game. The game allows for the player to decide which mutants become their allies and enemies through choices made in the course of the story.

The game begins at a peace rally held in San Francisco, in memory of the deceased Professor X, by the Mutant Response Division's Chief Luis Reyes. Things quickly take a turn for the worse as the rally is attacked by an anti-mutant extremist group called the Purifiers, who are taking mutants alive and not killing them as they usually do. Immediately after, the latent mutant powers of the player's character are awakened and he/she is forced to defend civilians in the area from the Purifiers. The player's character then meets with mutants from both the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants and makes the choice of joining either group as they go after Cameron Hodge, leader of the Purifiers. Hodge is wearing a suit of power armor and personally joins the hunt for mutants. While many characters wonder why the Purifiers are capturing mutants alive instead of killing them, the player character eventually corners Hodge on top of a building. The fight is then interrupted by Magneto, accused by Reyes of attacking the rally, who drops the Golden Gate Bridge on top of the combat zone.

The player's character is saved by Nightcrawler at the last second and is teleported to Chinatown, where he/she is tasked with finding Gambit, who left the X-Men after the death of Professor X and is currently operating a nightclub in Chinatown. After meeting Gambit, he asks the player to help him raid a Purifier warehouse which contains technology that the Purifiers use against mutants. After the raid, Gambit gives the player the location of the secret underground lab where Purifiers are holding captured mutants.

At the lab, the player meets several captured mutants such as Quicksilver, Surge and Colossus. With their help, the player eventually defeats John Sublime and the U-Men, a group of anti-mutant soldiers who experiment on mutants and drain their powers for their own usage, and saves the captured mutants.

Acting on information gained by the X-Men, the player goes to a secret underground base used by Hodge and the Purifiers. He/she eventually finds Hodge who is now wearing a more powerful suit of power armor containing drained mutant powers. Hodge claims that the powers drained from Pixie and Caliban will enable them to find and capture any mutant that the Purifiers want. He also says 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, he/she goes to either Cyclops or Mystique with the new-found information and is tasked with finding Pixie and Caliban. With the aid of Forge, the player eventually finds Caliban and realizes that the person who is pulling the strings is Bastion, the robot who killed Professor X before being destroyed by Magneto. Bastion somehow survived and uploaded himself to the MRD satellite; it is revealed that Reyes also works for him.

With Caliban's help, the player finds Pixie, but the helicopter carrying her is shot down by a laser beam and crashes. The player attempts to rescue Pixie from the wreckage, but is unable to before the helicopter explodes and kills her. Immediately after, regardless of the player's choices so far, Magneto accuses Cyclops of shooting down the helicopter and, alongside Juggernaut, attacks both Cyclops and the player. After the fight, Magneto grudgingly gives the player a chance to join the Brotherhood, and he/she is forced to make an important decision.

Regardless of which side the player chooses, he/she is tasked to find and neutralize Reyes who seems to have mind control powers to influence humans and even other mutants. 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 eventually finds the broadcasting tower used by Reyes and shuts down the signal with the aid of Cyclops and Magneto. However, Bastion downloads himself into Reyes, who is now wearing an even more powerful version of the power armor that Hodge was wearing, and takes control of his mind. Bastion also sends several Sentinel robots to join the fight. After the player defeats Reyes and his Sentinels, Reyes surrenders himself to the authorities, to which the player responds that they (either the X-Men or the Brotherhood) are the authorities now.

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


 * If he/she sided with the X-Men, Cyclops, the player, and the rest of the X-Men are seen watching over the ruins of San Francisco and promising that they will 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, before telling the player that it is good to know that he/she is with them.

If he/she sided with the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto and the player are seen watching over the ruins of San Francisco, with Magneto declaring the formation of a mutant-only nation and saying that he will teach the player how to survive in a world that despises mutants.