Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Vicarious Visions
Genre: Action RPG
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Platforms: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii
ESRB: T - Teen

Reviewer: Eric

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was always that game your average gamer would make fun of or they would tell you how awesome it is. It never had the best graphics or most advance online features but it does offer hours of great gameplay. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 offers most of the same, though it does have enough to play through the Marvel Universe all over again.

Vicarious Visions brings a solid storyline to the table with the second Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game. Instead of trying something original Vicarious Visions is giving us the Marvel Civil War storyline, an event that turned the Marvel Universe upside down. Seeing and actually playing this event is a dream come true.

You start the game helping out Nick Fury. As the game progresses you can get an idea what is going on and whose side every one is on. At certain points in the game you will meet up with new characters, may they be either heroes or villains. In case you never read the Marvel Civil War you don’t have to worry because Vicarious Visions got all of the details in here, even another story at the start (you’ll figure it out).

The second Ultimate Alliance game has a lot of characters, 24 playable ones and almost an endless amount of cameos. There have already been some talks on downloadable content with new characters so maybe we can see some new events thrown in the story, mainly the sub stories that dealt with the Marvel Civil War.

All of the characters have their own set of special attacks. Depending one whose side you pick you’ll unlock even more special attacks. Along with all of the special attacks there are fusion attacks, 250 to be precise. I am one for fusion attacks but there are only about ten different ones really. Every attack is pretty much the same; it depends on what their main attack is. Spider-Man shoots webs, Iron Man has beams, and so fourth. One of those characters shoots that attack and another one will spread it every where. Fusion attacks really help out but I wouldn’t want to advertise and say how there are 250 unique attacks.

As you progress through the game you will come to points where you have to interact with other characters from the Marvel Universe. You have to pick from three choices for these questions, offensive, diplomatic or defensive. The choices really don’t change the outcome of the game too much but it can make the dialogue a tad on the funny side or completely hardcore, you just pissed me off.

Graphically the game looks nice, a nice improvement from the last game. It does look like a next generation game but I have seen better and we will continue to see better I bet. In no means I am saying Ultimate Alliance 2 looks bad but the clipping issues really doesn’t help out. It is sloppy and you can see the lack of shape in some of the characters. Its 2009 why are we will seeing games with bulky haired characters?

Camera issues are not as bad as they use to be back in the first Ultimate Alliance. Small areas are still plagued by the camera issues (damn camera never wants to pull back). I wish they would have added in different set camera options because it just seems unfair when you have to zoom-in at a point where you really don’t want to.

The voice acting is fairly spot-on for the most part of the game. I have a few grips with certain character choices but your favorites due return to reprise there voice work. The epic music helps out too, giving you that feel that you are playing the Marvel Civil War. Top notch stuff here.

Online play offers the same great gameplay as the single player campaign. The one thing online play does differently are the longer loading screens. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 already has some long loading screens (too many 5 to 10 second delays, even for a PS3 game). You can expect to add a few more seconds when playing online mode. It really is a shame that Ultimate Alliance 2 has to suffer some such a dumb mistake from the programmers.

Final Verdict
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 may not be the best game on the market today but it is the best Marvel based game on the market. The loading times are a real buzz kill when you are trying to do basic team set-up options. With a set of characters like this though and a solid 20 to 30 hours of gameplay though this is a nice game to add to your collection.

Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 9.50 out of 10
    + Easy to play. The Playstation 3 controllers make things a lot easier too.
    - Hitting the same few buttons all the time might get boring.
Graphics: 8.25 out of 10
    + So this is what the Marvel Civil War looks like in video game form…sweet!
    - Cutscenes are not the best looking out there
Audio: 9.25 out of 10
    + The in-game score and voice work was done real well.
    - Characters re-use the same phrases a little too much.
Replay Value: 10 out of 10
    + Two story paths and full online mode, sign me up Captain America.
    - You have to pick Iron Man’s side at some point.

Overall
9.25 out of 10