Don Jordan: I'll admit that I'm a nerd when it comes to comic books, especially my favorite characters, the X-Men.

I know their powers, identities, histories, you name it. I was the guy in the back of the theater during "X-Men 2" who you heard pointing out the obscure mutants in the background — the ones who ran by at blinding speed or juggled glowing energy orbs. My girlfriend recently called it "a freakish obsession." Whatever.

So when I sat down to play "X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse" with my friend Dan Smallwood, I was a little wary. Would the game's creators stick to the comics like gospel? Would they opt for the more marketable, leather-clad versions of the merry band of mutants? And most importantly, where did I put my chocolate milk?

I found my cocoa beverage and began the game. From what I could tell in the opening levels, the game is a cross between the "Ultimate X-Men" comic — a newer series that modernizes the mutants — and the "Age of Apocalypse" story line, which told the tale of an alternate universe ruled by the oppressive mutant, Apocalypse.

I was pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail associated with the characters. The default costumes were the modern version, but could be changed to the classic, spandex garb. Also, you can play as 16 different characters, including the more obscure such as Sunfire.

The game's big letdown was its simplicity. Most so-called "objectives" boiled down to just punching the crap out of everybody — a lot of brawn with no brains.

Dan Smallwood: "X-Men Legends II" tries to be a cool game. In some aspects of this it succeeds amazingly, but in others it fails miserably.

The style of the game is undeniable. Fans of the comic will be pleased to know that the look of the comic has been kept intact down to, like Don said, your choice in how you want your characters to look — modernized or old-school.

After we set up our team as their classic versions, we found that seeing the X-Men revealed in such an awesome visual presentation is dulled when you hear the voice acting, which breaks down what would otherwise be a flawless presentation.

Although the voices were seemingly drawn from the classic cartoon series, they seem completely out of place, even laughable, in the midst of an otherwise serious story.

Even if you can get past the voices, though, Don has a point: The gameplay is too easy for its own good.

At the same time, it's the most fun I've had since playing God of War for PS2, especially playing the game's co-op mode.

Control is fluid and the powers of the different characters are portrayed accurately. This last feature is driven home by the fact that almost any major character you could name from the X-Men Universe is here (even one early on that neither Don or I recognized until we looked it up).

There are some odd pacing issues, some laughable moments (Sabretooth in particular is hilarious to hear) and the game doesn't try too hard to be smart (you can solve almost any puzzle without changing your team members) but overall, this is one of the better superhero games I've seen in a long time, despite the atrocious voice acting.

Chalk up another home run for Activision.

Don's favorite character: Juggernaut. This armored abomination and half-brother of Professor X was perfect for the games clobber-first-and-ask-questions-later style.

Don's least favorite character: First, let's just point out that Toad is one of the comic industry's worst characters ever. Remember him in the first X-Men movie? Probably not. Aside from Toad, Bishop and Gambit were both disappointing in the mutant powers they could perform.

Dan's favorite character: Nightcrawler. Poofing around through walls behind enemies and then proceeding to kick them into last week is one of the greatest joys to be had while playing this game.

Dan's least favorite character: Rogue. We get that she's from the South. Thank you, now get rid of that voice. It's cool that she can fly, but Storm, Scarlet Witch, Magneto, Iceman and Jean Grey (Phoenix — get it right, people) all can, too, and without grating your nerves. Plus, the other characters that can fly have better powers to boot.