Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Todd Vote on 10.31.2009

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has arrived, and Activision looks to expand the action RPG dominance with the new title. How does it stack up to the original? Come in to find out.


Title: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Genre: Action RPG
Players: 1-4 locally & online
Rated: T for Teen

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is back, with 24 characters to choose from, tightened controls, and Fusion powers. Fusion powers are available to all the characters in the game, and are done by linking up the powers of any two heroes. Fusion powers are a big part of what the game is being sold on; well that and a mix of two of Marvel's most popular storylines. Secret Wars, and Civil War. Will you choose to fight by Iron Man, or will you stand with Captain America against hero registration. Those are your choices; let's see how it plays out.


Songbird, locked and loaded

Graphics
The game opens with a cut scene of Cap, Iron Man, Wolverine, and Spider-man working with Nick Fury on a mission in Latveria. I said it with the first game, and it looks to continue here, the cinematic cut scenes are still some of the best I have seen on current systems. They are just really well done, with crisp images, and great lighting. The detail in the cut scenes is amazing. Even looking at the details of Captain America's costume, everything in the cut scenes looks great. The actual in game graphics are at least on par with what was offered in the first game, perhaps a bit cleaner, but overall as good as we have come to expect from Activision's line of super hero RPG's, dating back to X-Men Legends.

The real graphical beauty is to be had when utilizing the various fusion powers available in the game, particularly the versions of fusion that bond with Thor, or Storm, and use the Tornado of Doom (my words, not Activision's). Try mixing a fusion with Thor and Deadpool, and watch the havoc that the Tornado of Doom creates on screen, as Deadpool starts chucking grenades into the nucleus of Thor's already deadly tornado. They are definitely something to behold. Another example of the awesomeness that is Fusion Powers would be Spider-man combined with someone like Iron Man. Spider-man uses his webs to draw in as close to 15 enemies as he is able to get, while Iron Man blast them with a beam from his chest that simply decimates anything caught in Web Head’s little cluster. Quite a site to behold, and I am not afraid to say that the Fusion Powers are easily the most graphically impressive aspect of the game. I spent a couple hours at least, just trying to run through them all and see what everyone did together, and how awesome it looked.

The game falters however with the lack of enemy variety. I noticed through the game that the enemies on nearly every level were the same with simple pallet swaps for color, if anything done to them. I ran into soldiers of several varieties, and robots. That was about it as far as enemy variety. This is not a knock on the enemies themselves, as they could do plenty of damage, but I can’t see a little more variation taking up to much memory that the enemies couldn’t be a bit different on different levels. You fight the same kind of soldiers in Washington DC that you will end up facing in Wakonda.


Kicking Names, and taking ass...

The game does have some minor clipping issues, and suffers from some slight slow-down, but this is only when the screen is so jam packed with enemies, that you can’t even see where you are. Yes, there were times when I lost track of my character on screen. This was mostly when I was playing with friends online, and you know how everyone always seems to fight in different directions in these games? Yeah, occasionally I would be surrounded by enemies, and lose track of where I was at. The slowdown, and slight clipping never really distracted from the gameplay, and would usually be corrected within a matter of seconds as soon as you cleared some of the enemies off of the screen. As far as losing my character, I won’t blame the game for that, as it is more my fault than the developers.

Gameplay
This is the area where some people are going to disagree on. As was evident by my online session. We seemed to be split on the gameplay, one of us thought it was so repetitive, that he didn’t even finish the game. Another felt the gameplay was repetitive, but it was also very fun and addictive, and he stuck with us throughout 2 complete play-throughs of the game. Lastly, myself, and the 4th member of our party just enjoyed everything that was going on. As a fan of beat em up games, this was right up my alley.

The game opens, as I stated above in Latveria, where Nick Fury is running a covert mission that we later find is without consent of the US Government. You start with a team of Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, and Spider-man. Each player is equipped with a light attack, a chargeable heavy attack, a grab button and of course your jump/fly/swing button. The blocking and dodging is mapped to the left bumper, while the right trigger, in association with the designated face button controls your characters super powers. The right bumper brings up your health pack options, which will pop a designated button on top of each characters head, so you know which button to push to assign the health pack. Fusion attacks work similar to the health, in that you hold down the left trigger, and push the required button to activate each fusion power.

Additionally, the order in which you press your light and heavy melee does have bearing on which type of attacks you use. For instance, a light, light, heavy combo will create a pop-up attack; alternately, and light, heavy, light attack will cause your enemy to be knocked down. Combining different melee attacks with your super powers to figure out what creates the most carnage can be fun, especially when you have other players with you who can work with you. A friend and I had some fun with this; we tried to do a pop-up attack with someone, then tried to see if maybe Spider-Man was able to snatch the popped up enemy out of the air with his web attacks. I have a feeling if we can get our timing down, this should work.


Fire the Lazer!

In addition to the standard attacks, each character also has two of their super powers available to them right from the start of the game. More will become unlocked to you as you level up the two you start with. For the most part, each character will feature at least one range attack, and one close quarter attack. Some feature what could best be described as a lunging attack, as these abilities will actually cause you to lunge at your opponents for an attack. They are largely unchanged from the first title, so if you have played that you have a good idea of what to expect from this game.

The leveling system here actually works really well. You have to option of assigning your points to whatever you want. The great thing about this game is that you also are given the option to have your points distributed automatically. This works great for those of us who aren’t big fans of the RPG aspects of the game. I’ll be 100% honest here, I used the auto assign for about the first 4 ranks I went through, and I think that was the best way to do it for me anyways. I set it to auto, but once I started figuring out which abilities I liked for each character, I started to distribute the points manually. For example, we found out fairly early into the game that the Hulk Smash ability was a great way to recharge your fusion meter, so needless to say this ability was paid attention to when distributing points. This worked for us, but to each their own. Some will enjoy playing with the characters and their abilities more than others, and finding the best way to make the character work for you is half the fun of the game.


Guided Fusion at work

The obvious big improvement of this game over the first is the inclusion of Fusion Powers. These monsters are a sight to see, they are accomplished by two players pushing the left trigger at the same time. There are three main types of Fusion attacks, clearing, guided, and targeted. While maintaining that these are all really cool to look at, they do lose some luster once you realize that the variety of on screen visuals presented by these attacks is not as varied as it could be. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of variation for a first attempt at these abilities, and I love the room they have to expand. But as someone who has seen ever fusion in the game, I just felt myself wishing that they would have included more variation on the three main types. Not necessarily different types of fusions, but definitely a better variety of the on screen animations for each type.

What I am trying to say is that when it comes to guided Fusions, there are only several variations on them. For instance, you will be greeted with the aforementioned Tornado of Doom. Option two for guided fusions consist of one or both players shooting an energy beam at the other while the two move around trying to trap as many enemies as possible in the beam. The last variation of the guided fusion consists of the two characters running around the screen smashing everything in their path, or one character doing the same while trapped in a ball of energy created by the other character.

Now the clearing fusions will either consist of two large characters jumping up and down while the shockwaves created will demolish anything in range. Variation #2 on these consists of one character on the ground, and one in the air shooting and destroying a near perfect circle surrounding the two selected heroes. The last variation here is only slightly different from the air shooting circle I mentioned, which one character will throw a prism of sorts in the air, and the other will shoot the energy beam into the prism which is then redirected to the numerous enemies on the screen.

Lastly, when it comes to targeted fusion attacks, you will either have the larger character pick up a chunk of rock, for the smaller character to fuse with energy before smashing it down on a group of enemies, the alternate here is variations of the Fastball Special.

While all of the Fusion attacks look awesome, I had hoped for a bit more variety in the look and feel of the actual attacks. I guess that is probably just me being selfish, and wanting more. There was plenty to keep me interested, but I found myself wondering what could have been. Imagine fusions between characters with a history? For some reason I was expecting something special when it came to a fusion involving Spider-Man and Venom. I love the idea, and hope they expand it vastly in the next game.

In the aftermath of the Latveria mission, believed to be a success, Ms. Marvel comes up missing after being sent to gather intel on what could be a criminal group. Your team is sent to investigate, and discover a plot from Latverian Prime Minister Lucia von Bardas to destroy most of America. Your team thwarts the plan, but entire city blocks are destroyed in the ensuing battle. That consequences cause the government to consider the Superhuman Registration Act (SRA). Nick Fury disappears; Iron Man tries to talk the US out of the SRA.

Later on an episode of The New Warriors TV show there is a scuffle involving the New Warriors; in which villain Nitro causes himself to explode leaving more than six hundred civilians dead. Due to this act of Super Human negligence, the government has decided that a Super Human Registration Act is needed, feeling that is the supers are caused to register, then they will be easier to keep track of, and thus future incidents like the one with the New Warriors will be avoided (I'm not sure how getting heroes to register will cause villains to stop blowing shit up, but whatever). This is the point at which things start to get interesting. As it is right around this point where you are expected to choose a side in the war.

You choose anti-registration, and you team with Captain America and Luke Cage, with Iron Fist available for you to play as. Go pro-registration, and you join the fight with Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Songbird. Keep in mind that your choice here on the first play-through will have bearing on what powers become available to you, as well as what characters you can play as. Go pro-reg, and Captain America, Luke Cage and Iron Fist are locked until the stories converge again at the end of the game. Likewise the same is said for Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, and Songbird should you choose to go anti-reg. This is yet another aspect of the game that I wish would have been used more. I haven't read the civil war books, but I know that there were others on both sides. Why not lock all the pro-reg characters when you choose anti-reg? It would have served to make you enjoy it more when they do become available again.


Look, register or GTFO

The pro-reg side of the war is bolstered by nanite technology controlled super villains like Venom, Bulls-eye, and the Green Goblin. These nanite controlled villains also happen to be the catalyst for the two factions coming back together and realizing there is a much bigger problem to deal with than the SRA.

The nanites start to take on a mind of their own, or rather the mind of whoever is controlling them. They have started to fight against both sides, and ole Nick Fury pops back in just in time to figure out that there is something bigger going on here. Nick asks your squad for help, because Cap and Iron Man are to wrapped up in their own affairs to see the bigger picture.

I won't go any further into the story, as I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't played yet. But I'll say the story takes you from Latveria, to Washington DC, all the way to the Wakondan Village, and the Negative Zone Prison Alpha, designed by Reed Richards to contain the heroes who refused to register. Plenty of new and interesting sites to see in this game.

Overall, I would say that the gameplay is improved from the first game, but I am not sure I am as big of a fan of the storyline as I was in the first one. In the first Ultimate Alliance game, your actions could have consequences, characters died, and things just felt more epic. This time out just didn't seem to have the same UMPH!

The last thing I want to touch on is the in game conversations. This has to be the most unrealized idea of the entire game. When having an in game conversation at one of the bases, you are given options on your response ala Mass Effect. The difference here, is that whether you choose diplomatic, aggressive, or defensive, nothing changes. The game plays the exact same way other than the boosts you can earn. It is a nice idea to have options on your responses to the people you talk with, however what is the point if it has no bearing on the outcome of the conversation, or the game itself?

Sound
This part here is always hard for me to judge. Sound, unless it really stands out as it tends to do in most AAA franchises, is usually one of the last things I will notice about a game not counting the voice work, which is surprisingly well done.

I found myself highly entertained by the one liners and jokes quipped by the four characters on screen. Deadpool by far has the best dialog in the game in my opinion, as some of his one liners just had me rolling. He'd say things like "Bet you wish the designers would have given you more hit points" as he is slashing up a baddie. Overall the voice work is very satisfying.

Everything else worked, but was largely un-noticeable, which I suppose is a good thing, if you are noticing the really weird sound it makes when Wolverine gets his claws out, then there is more than likely a problem with that particular sound, right?

Fun Factor
Fun factor, for me is dependent on how much fun I have playing both with friends, and by myself. When playing online, the game is at its peak. It is a blast to play through from start to finish, so much so, that I am now playing through again with a friend, after playing start to finish twice, completely. However when playing alone, I found myself growing bored, and wanting to play something else after about an hour or so.

To me, replay value is not only the ability to go through the game again, but the desire to do so. Even after beating both the pro-reg, and the anti-reg side of the story, I am still playing this game. Honestly, one of the biggest shocks about this game is my want to go back and go all RPG completist on it to find everything I need! Yes, you heard it right. I want to 100% finish an RPG!

My only complaint here is that it seems instead of adding more of what made the first game great, we instead get a little less. I remember UA1 having several different costumes for each character, with a lot of characters that you had to work to unlock. This game features only one alternate costume for each person, and they are all unlocked the same way; by beating 50 enemies. In the first game, if I remember right the way to unlock costumes was varied drastically for each character.

Now unlocking characters was a different monster in the first game as well, there are three hidden characters to unlock, Thor, Jean Gray, and Hulk. This can be done by collecting enough of a certain type of item, or through a code. The rest of the characters are unlocked simply by progressing through the game.

Lasting Appeal
As I said, I just can't seem to get enough of this game right now. I know there is technically less to keep me interested in this one than the first game featured, but all the right parts are refined just enough to keep my attention.

As I said above, I think what we have here is an overall better game than the first Ultimate Alliance, with a story that is not quite as solid. I'm thoroughly enjoying playing the game, but it is going to be different for everybody.

The Final 411
Overall I left the game satisfied with what I had gotten. The game is a blast to playthrough with friends, and it is obvious that it was designed with co-op play in mind. While being fun to play by yourself, it just doesn't have the same fun factor as it does playing online with friends. I was a little bummed by the lack of extras, as I remember the first game being loaded with alternate costumes, and other things.

I think gameplay-wise, MUA2 surpasses the first game, however I have to give the nod to the first Ultimate Alliance when it comes to the story. As a whole, the first games story just felt more epic. Your decisions had consequences, and I really liked that. If you get a chance, check out the Hulk-ku from the game I included below.

Graphics	8.0	The graphics are solid, some minor clipping kept me from rating them higher.
Gameplay	8.0	Solid gameplay, with a less solid story than the first time out. I was satisfied with the gameplay
Sound	8.0	I loved the one liners, and the interaction between the heroes in the cut-scenes. The sound is well done here
Lasting Appeal	8.5	The game is fun, and I keep coming back to it. The only let down is that it seemed like there wasn't near as much on offer as in the previous game, but I find myself playing it more than I did the first game.
Fun Factor	7.5	Like I said, when playing with friends, I could put this in at anytime. It is a different monster when playing alone, and I tended to grow bored a bit by myself. Overall a satisfying game with a story that I feel is not quite as strong as the first game.
Overall	8.0   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 9 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Screenshots