Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 has been a complete surprise for me. It is a top-down action-RPG with the spirit of combining multiple characters from the Marvel universe but what it lacks in its 'been-there-done-that' isometric dungeon crawling it more than makes up for in story-line and implementation of some truly beloved and compelling characters.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 : from a famousblueraincoat
Played 15+ hours on Xbox360
Available for Xbox360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, & NDS - ESRB: T
"Civil War"

My first introduction to comics was X-men in the early 90s, most notable the "Fatal Attractions" story-line in which Wolverine's adamantium skeleton is ripped out of his body sending his healing-factor in to a frenzy and fundamentally changing a character I had followed months in the Marvel Universe. I began reading backwards in to the late 80's and in to Uncanny X-men, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Avengers and my favourite line Alpha Flight. Jim Lee became my favourite artist, intricate histories and following spin-offs around specific characters became my hobby.

In later years I read through the Onslaught series which essentially pulls all of the main heroes I had come to love together united by a common enemy. The Avengers fought along side the X-men and the Fantastic Four in a scaling and epic battle that seemed to keep me enthralled for the majority of grade-school. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 almost captures that exact same feeling.

Much like other 'super-hero team' games in the past (X-men Legends, Ultimate Alliance 1, etc), Ultimate Alliance 2 allows a team of four selected heroes to trounce enemies in Marvel-Universe-consistent environments. The selection is wide, providing even further role-playing bonuses when grouping existing teams from the comics together. For example, deploying a team of all X-men will give higher bonuses to action-point recharge; all Fantastic Four characters will grant higher health-points.

Although it keeps with the very casual 'button-mashing' battle system that is so common to these kinds of games, the difference here is in the story-line and the high-concept team-building. Near the beginning, the plot seems extremely generic and I found myself really pushing to stay interested, but a few hours in to the development there is a turn toward the "Civil War" line from recent comic history.

The US government implements the 'Hero Registration Act' when public opinion of mutants and superheros takes a dive. The Act would force every hero give up their secret identities and register with the government, institutionalizing and regulating this kind of vigilantism. This results is a kind of moral divide between your own team of heroes and a handful of others along the way. You then make a choice between those heroes that are for institutionalization and those diametrically opposed. This, although seemingly a simple decision, was one of the most interesting decisions in a game I've ever had to make and will no doubt compel me to replay the opposing side in the months to come.

This leads to the playability and controls. This game is "sit-back and chill-out when you're hung over" kind of fun. It's somewhat mindless, boring at times, but the mild role-playing elements of gaining experience and developing specific powers keep you interested. Each character is some kind of mix between melee or ranged combat with a focus on offensive or defensive elements. There is one button for weak attack and one for strong. Each of the four face button controls one special attack when holding down the left shoulder button. When holding down the right shoulder button, you combine attacks with other heroes called 'fusion'.

Fusion is an interesting break in the monotony of button mashing. The combining of powers produces some really interesting effects such as Ironman's laser-beams will reflect off of Captain America's shield and disperse it in an area-attack. If further apart, they can be more of a focused attack. Wolverine paired with Daredevil will run alongside one another and high speeds juggling multiple enemies between them. Gambit will throw explosive cards in to a cyclone summoned by Storm. Although eventually you will find there are only about four or five different kinds of fusion attacks (guided, clearing, radius, etc.) they are all very interesting and well thought out.

So far I've talked about this game being a true surprise to me. It is honestly compelling and interesting in its kind of light-casual kind of way. This, however, is not to say that it is without fault. The camera in this game is abhorrent. If I had written this review right after the sections of the game where I would be most frustrated by not being able to see where I was going or what was happening on screen I might have scored it zero. Honestly, there were times where I had to literally turn my Xbox off I would be so frustrated. Not only can you not see where you're going, but occasionally you are so disoriented that you don't know where you've been.

Playing alone lessens this frustration, as the camera tends to follow the other player, leaving you to run directly off-stage as your health does nothing but deplete while you mash away at 'A' and wonder why you're wasting hours of your life playing such inconsiderate garbage. Why would you impede on a multiplayer experience? How could it be possible that human beings commit months and months to a project like this one only to have it never be actually enjoyed visually. It absolutely boggles my mind what a waste this felt like at the worst of times.

Although overly harsh, I think this brings an important point. If you are not a Marvel fan, you shouldn't bother playing this game. I admittedly might not be the best person to review this game given that bias, but if you're at all familiar with these characters and you're interested in teaming them together in odd combination, this is what is appealing about Alliance 2.

It hits all the right notes conceptually. The variety of characters is staggering, and the freedom to focus on a balance between melee/ranged or offensive/defensive makes for some really exceptional and dynamic gameplay. Unfortunately logistic issues of presentation of that gameplay can at times be so encumbering they not only obstruct your enjoyment, but entirely diminish what might be thought of as worth-while content.