Those who’ve played any of the X-Men Legends games before will know what to expect, but if like me you haven’t then it’s really quite a straightforward business. Rise of Apocalypse is a pretty uncomplicated brawler at its core, in which you, along with up to three other mutants (that can be either AI or human controlled) travel all over the place beating seven bells out of anything that looks like it might need it. All kinds of enemies and characters from the X-Men universe make an appearance, both well-known and not so famous.

There is also tons of stuff to destroy and much fun can be had smashing boxes, pipes, and suchlike and hoarding all of the goodies that fall out. But behind the mindless smashing and bashing lies a strong RPG element that elevates the gameplay, and it means your characters can level up and learn new abilities like any “serious” RPG. Brilliantly this doesn’t mean you need to become an RPG-lover overnight either as the developers allow you to make the PSP take care of this side of things - genius.

The game plays really well and it’s interesting to mix and match the different characters and to see how their differing abilities and powers come in handy; you might need to bridge a gap with Magneto’s magnetic abilities, or put out a fire with Storm’s for instance. Cleverly, just because you don't have one of the aforementioned characters, that doesn’t mean you’ll struggle, there are always options no matter what obstacle you come across.

The only downsides to the PSP version are the console’s fault, not the game's – the much-complained about loading. This PSP game just loves to load for every little thing; inventory screens, cut scenes, options, you name it, nothing seems to pop up instantly. There are also a few jitters with the frame rate when you save the game, a flaw which is very disconcerting at first.

Minor gripes aside, this is yet another top PSP game that you’d do well to check out, even if the RPG element might have put you off initially. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is an instantly playable game with some real depth, and does both the legendary series and the genre justice.