Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

The problem with comics and the characters therein is that
they have been around for too long. There are too many of them. Unless you are
one of those people in their forties that still live with their parents and
appear on programmes entitled “Why am I still a virgin?”, then you are not
likely to really know half of the characters, where they were born, who killed
who, and what over-elaborate experiment created what powers. Or why they all
wear spandex.


The majority of normal people, and I include myself in this,
only know the ones that got turned into Saturday morning cartoons back in the
Seventies and Eighties. So, Spiderman, obviously, the Fantastic Four, X-Men,
maybe Iron Man, certainly the Hulk, and Spiderwoman are about it. Anyone after
that have made cameo appearances in one of them at some point, and that is
where the extent of our knowledge of them ends. Well, aside from some of the
associated bad guys.


Movies have extended this knowledge somewhat, but not much.


This doesn’t mean we don’t like them. It doesn’t mean we are
not fans. It also doesn’t mean we don’t soil ourselves when Wolverine is
knocking seven shades out of Sabretooth. It does mean that we like other things
and have had sex before.


So when a game like Ultimate Alliance comes along, featuring
god-knows how many comic book heroes and villains, you find yourself scratching
your head. Who the hell is Speedball, for example? Surprisingly, the game was
fun -kind of like a cross between the old Gauntlet game and an RPG. And now
there is the obligatory sequel, I’m guessing with bigger this and more that.


And guess what. It’s the same game with bigger this and more
that, with a bit of extra something or other thrown in for good measure. This
is not necessarily a ‘bad thing’ though, and it certainly isn’t in this case.


The story here has taken inspiration from a story that ran
in comic form at some point; there is a mutant civil war raging after the
Government passed legislation requiring all those lovely folks with super
powers to register and reveal their true identities. One mob, led by Captain
America think that this is bad, the other, led by Iron Man think this is good.
Needless to say, as is usual with comic book stories, there are a few twists
and turns along the way.


The game begins with a few heroes at your disposal, and as
you progress through the level, more become available to you. However, a couple
of levels later, and you face a choice - pro-registration or anti-registration?
You make your choice, and suddenly the number of heroes available to you
reduces, as some of your allies become, well, your enemies. This has been
handled both cleverly and strangely though. For instance, a certain number of
heroes are available whichever side you choose; they will just go along with
whatever you decide, which is fine in one respect. The downside of this though
is that, no matter which side of the war you make your stance, the other side
are strongly presented as the enemy, both in the attitude of you colleagues,
and the way they speak to you. It’s quite bizarre, for instance, to see Iron
Man et al snarling about “taking you down”. It just seems hideously out of
character.


The game play runs exactly the same as that in the original
title, namely run through levels jumping, hacking, gunning and punching your
way through swarms of generic enemies, before reaching a boss. Yes, I know. It
is not original, but it doesn’t matter. It’s mindless fun and that always gets
a thumbs up. The devs have also tried to spice things up with ‘Fusions’. After
defeating a certain amount of minions, you earn yourself a star which can be
used to trigger a ‘fusion’ attack. You hold your left trigger, pick one of your
allies, and all of a sudden the pair of you explode or hurtle around the screen
dealing out much comic book death. The nice part about this is that every
combination of heroes has the ability to do this, no matter who you choose. The
bad part about this is that, in truth, there are only 3 standard attacks, and
who you pick to ‘fuse’ with determines which of these 3 attacks you do. Still,
it’s a nice little addition.


As in the original game, there is an absolute ton of things
to find, unlock, and digest. Whether it be art-work for the game, or profiles
on pretty much every character in the game, there really is a wealth of goodies
for both the serious fans, and those that like comic book heroes and villains
but don’t devote all their time to it. Like me. If you want to learn, there is
plenty there for you.


Graphically the game isn’t that far removed from what we have
seen before, thankfully. The original outing saw some lush graphics,
environments and character models, and it really is no different here, just
more so. From the utterly pant-moistening cut scenes to the many varied and
detailed landscapes, you cannot help but marvel (ahem) at the gorgeousness of
it all. Especially when the screen is full of good guys, bad guys, robots,
environments exploding, and super powers flashing without the slightest hint of
slowdown, pop-up, or screen tearing. To keep all this in check is no mean feat,
and the developers have done a superb job of keeping it in line.


I don’t often mention the whole “replayability” thing with
titles. More often than not, it is down to the game and the person playing it
as to whether it gets thrust onto E-Bay or played until every point has been
gleaned. In this case however, I’m impressed. The wealth of things to unlock
and search out mean that scanning through the levels again for items you may
have missed the first time round isn’t that much of a chore. There is also the
option of taking the opposite choice to the one you took in the first place. I,
for instance, went anti-registration on my first run through, but was keen to
have a blast at the other side of the coin to see what I had missed. And to top
it all off, the whole game has an on-line co-op mode. Heck, it even has co-op
on the trivia games.


This type of game isn’t the best graphically. It hasn’t got
the best storyline in the world. It hasn’t got the most impressive game-play
mechanics either. However, everything here is done with such attention to
detail and love that you cannot help but be sucked in. And to top it all off,
the number of playable heroes has been greatly reduced. Now there are only a
couple that I have never heard of before rather than a lot. But more than all
this, the game is damn good fun. In all honesty, what more do you need?


8/10

For max fun you gotta play with 3 others, one of the best laughs I've in ages, especially the fusion attacks. Lots of fun.

was a damn good laugh, will have to do it again.

On easy?

meow! meow!