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In the forty years since Marvel first unveiled its mysterious Uncanny X-Men, the Children of the Atom, the mutants have never been so popular. With the brand new movie out in cinemas and the comic books going from strength to strength, it's time for another barrage of X-Men videogames. But is X-Men: Mutant Academy worthy of the name?

This new Game Boy Color title is unfortunately not the game of the film, but a beat-'em-up containing characters from the comic books. Other X-Men games have also employed this tried-and-tested fighting format, and Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm and the rest have even pitted their wits and powers against Street Fighter characters. Which begs the question: why bother releasing yet another X-Men fighting game?

Unfortunately, there are few surprises on offer, from the moment you slip in the cartridge and turn it on. The Options menu allows you to vaguely fine-tune the difficulty and length of any round of aimless bashing, and you are given the choice between Survival mode, Battle mode and Story mode. In the Story mode you fight your friends and then your enemies, and every few scraps you will see a nice picture. Supposedly, you are travelling round the world, fighting in cities and locales (admittedly well rendered) as far flung as Antarctica, Egypt and London.

When you've fought all the heroes and villains, you are rewarded with an extra character, but if you choose someone like Wolverine or Sabretooth, this is not really a challenge to get your weird mutated teeth into. Similarly, the only way that the Battle and Survival modes differentiate between each other is in the order of rounds. You have the option to take on just a few enemies in Battle mode, and Survival mode sees you carrying on from one mutant to the next for victory or early death.

If X-Men: Mutant Academy does well in any quarter, it's in the quality of each character, and their fighting modes. Wolvering has his Adamantium claws to slash away with, Cyclops his laser beam an Storm the requisite amount of lightning balls. Falls of the movie, the comic book or the cartoon will love taking on the role of their favourite mutant, even though the choice is limited to Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Magneto, Toad, Gambit, Sabretooth, Mystique and Pyro, with the two hidden characters available after completing the Story mode. Perhaps the PlayStation version of the game, released at the same time, will make sense of the whole 'Academy' concept, but unfortunately this little game is simply a functional fighting title.

An impressive feature is the ability to play against a pal (with a game-link and anther copy of the game, naturally) so they can play the forces of evil and you the forces of good, or vice versa. There is also (as the game is called Mutant Academy) the chance to learn all the moves in the Training mode. However, when you get right down to it, this game is just about facing in the general direction of the foe and pressing A a lot. This is really only for beat-'em-up freaks and X-Men fanatics. Let's hope that a movie tie-in game is coming soon, because this game isn't X-actly X-citing!

Have you been worked up by all the hype surrounding the X-Men movie release? If you have then you'll no doubt want to rush out and buy X-Men: Mutant Academy on the Game Boy Color. But wait! Think first - take away all the X-Men glitz and what are you left with?

Nothing but a slightly dodgy fighting game with nothing out of the ordinary. The graphics are mediocre, the gameplay is simplistic and you'll complete it in no time!

Graphics 60%
Not outstanding, just OK!

Sound 60%
A little annoying.

Playability 80%
Not very original.

Lastability 80%
Fine for a quick fight.

Overall 70%
Great game, but no X-Factor.