
The game also features online play for up to four players, a first for the series. Four players can play on one machine cooperatively, and players can join or leave at any time.

Players unlock additional characters as they proceed through the game. Players can choose up to four characters to use at once from a larger roster. It unites two Marvel Comics superhero teams, the heroic X-Men and the villainous Brotherhood of Mutants as they together face the mutant supervillain Apocalypse and his minions. X-Men Legends II is an action role-playing game. It sold enough copies to be added to the budget line known as PlayStation 2's Greatest Hits. Some reviewers were critical of the game's voice acting and felt that the gameplay was repetitive. Critics felt that the inclusion of online play, additional mutant powers, and a larger cast made the game an improvement over its predecessor.

The game was well received by gaming critics on all platforms. High quality cinematics were created by Blur Studio. The developers intended the game to have a greater sense of scale than its predecessor, and writers created a story where the villains known as the Brotherhood of Mutants would need to ally themselves with the heroic X-Men to defeat a greater threat. It is set after the events of X-Men Legends and features the mutant supervillain Apocalypse as the primary antagonist. It was released in September 2005 for the GameCube, Microsoft Windows, N-Gage, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox. It is the follow up to 2004's X-Men Legends.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is an action role-playing game developed primarily by Raven Software and published by Activision.
