XCN: Hi Chris, could you please introduce yourself and tell us what your role is on X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse?
CP: My name is Chris Palmisano, I am a production coordinator on X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse. As a production coordinator I have a number of different responsibilities ranging from collecting screenshots for articles like this, creating test disks for the Quality Assurance team, coordinating the in-game music, managing payments for the project, to constantly evaluating the game play experience.

XCN: If you could define this title in 3 words what would they be?
CP: Action, Adventure, Destruction

XCN: Out of all of the X-Men in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, which one is your favourite and why?
CP: My favorite is Nightcrawler. I really enjoy playing with him because he is fast, acrobatic, and has incredible teleportation abilities. If a player takes the time to learn how to use his powers he is an awesome asset to any combination of characters!

XCN: Gaming has become so main stream these days and with a number of titles being in the same genre it must be hard to come up with original ideas; can you provide examples that make X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse unique and rise above other titles in the same genre?
CP: X-Men Legends 2 offers a very unique team based game play style. The player controls a group of 4 characters and is able to switch between them on the fly. With all of the characters in the game having between 8-12 hero powers, and four playable characters on screen, the player has access to over 40 unique powers during regular level game play. We are very happy about the effects this has had on the game play, and as a result we have been able to add tremendous depth to the A.I. and boss fights.

XCN: What has been the main inspiration behind the game?
CP: Following the events of X-Men Legends 1, Apocalypse, a prolific mutant for the X-men Universe, identifies a perfect opportunity to take over the world. This attack forces the X-Men and their traditional rivals, The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, to join forces for the first time in a video game.

XCN: What new features can gamers expect from this title? And what has been the hardest part of development of this game?
CP: There are an incredible number of new features. Here is a brief list: gamers can play as the enemies from Legends 1, we have added in-game power switching, more than doubled the number of powers, introduced non-linear game play, and added online functionality. Of these new features Online play was the most difficult to integrate from a development standpoint, but also the most exciting addition to the game play. The multiplayer experience in Legends 1 was a huge hit, and we knew that to take this to the next level, online functionality was a must. Now gamers can play the full story mode online as well as danger room training missions, and skirmish modes. We are very excited to bring support online play on the Xbox, PS2, PC and PSP, and have even added exclusive online content.

XCN: Can you tell us something about the game that hasn't been mentioned before?
CP: We are trying to keep as many secretes about the game quiet until it ships, but I will talk about one of our new features. We have added a team bonus feature, so if player assemble certain notable teams from the comics, and use the proper costumes, they are rewarded with very significant bonuses.

XCN: How long has this title been in development? And how many people are involved?
CP:The title has been in development for a little over a year and has taken a tremendous effort from Raven, Supervillain Studios, Vicarious Visions, Beenox, Blur Studios, Nikitova Games, and Activision.

XCN: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us today, we wish you all the best with X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and your future projects.

Interview conducted and arranged by Luke 'Duke' Newcombe (19th September 2005), as part of an Xbox Community Network (XCN) collaboration.