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Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Published: Sat 9 Dec, 2006 | On:

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance follows on from the X-Men: Legends series of beat 'em ups slash RPGs. The game play hasn't changed a lot from the button mashing madness, but they've served up a whole barrage of new characters sure to please fans of Marvel Comics.

M: UA's (poorly written) story revolves around S.H.I.E.L.D (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) leading the fight against the Masters of Evil, virtually every super-villain the Marvel Universe has to offer. Who is S.H.I.E.L.D leading, do you ask? Why, virtually every super-hero the Marvel Universe has to offer, so it all balances out. The big bad-guy in charge is Dr. Doom, and you're taking orders from Colonel Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. There are a few twists here and there which have you questioning otherwise trustworthy characters. These are followed mostly through dialog trees and fetch-quests. Unfortunately, the story really is quite bad, and the dialog leaves a lot to be desired. I guess it's hard to write something that encompasses so many characters, but it would have been nice to have some of the creative team from Marvels writers on board.

M: UA starts you off with a four-man team consisting of Captain America, Thor, Wolverine and Spider-man. What!? You say? I thought I could create my own team!?! Well cool off sparky, you can oggle at Invisible Woman soon enough. The story just needs you to believe that swapping out the characters is part of a grander plot. You soon find yourself at a S.H.I.E.L.D "Access Point" that lets you replace team members, as well as save the game. Hooray for save points! Several characters are available to choose at first, but you'll need to unlock quite a few more to get the full roster, which isn't a bad thing. One of the great things about M: UA is the ability to create authentic "Marvel Teams", such as the Fantastic Four, or the Avengers. Playing as such a team gives you enhanced attributes, such as increased damage or regeneration. It's also a bit of a kick for comic fans to see their heroes fighting as they're meant to.

As was mentioned previously, the bulk of the game play is button mashing. The controls are fairly standard. You have two melee attack buttons, heavy or light, heavy also features a charge option; There's a block button that doubles as a quick dodge; Jump, for well, jumping. Jump also allows for flying in flight-enabled characters, in standard characters it's just a double-jump; A "use" button for interacting with objects, or wielding weapons; A team command button allows you to direct your AI team members; Finally there's the "powers" button, which when held down, toggles the other buttons into powers mode.

The "powers" system works very well in M: UA. Each character has a range of powers available, most of which are locked at the beginning of the game. This is also where the RPG elements come into play. As your heroes earn XP (experience points), they level up and gain "points". Locked powers become available when a level condition is met. You can then give points to the power to enhance it's attributes, or spend credits to do the same. The powers are split into groups of: Projectile, your character shoots out something for a ranged attack; Radial, your character emits an expanding circle of damage; Boost, you apply defense or melee attributes to your character or team; Special, your character can affect the enemy in unusual ways, ie, telekinesis lifts enemies into the air. Once you've unlocked a power and enhanced it, you can assign it to the face buttons of the controller, which you then use in play by applying the power toggle, then pressing the right button. You can have one Boost power, then two slots for Projectile, Radial or Special. The forth button is reserved for an Ultimate power which can only be unlocked at a medium level, and can only be used once the meter is powered up through regular combat. The Ultimate power is somewhat of a "smart-bomb" which can take out many enemies at once, or cause considerable damage to a boss character. If one character uses their Ultimate power, all others in the team that have enough charge will use theirs at the same time for a high-powered team attack.

Extras come in many forms. There are unlockable costumes, which is fun to play with. Costumes aren't just cosmetic though. Each one comes with attributes that can be powered up with credits. Each character has about four costumes. Another fun extra is "comic simulator" levels that you can pick up. You can choose to play famous comic stories from Marvels past. There are 15 of these scattered throughout the game. Then there are videos and sketches of comic heroes that you can find throughout the levels.

The graphics get the job done. Having been made for X-Box and PS2, the models are predictably wooden and lacking in facial expression. The 360 and PS3 mode run in HD, which makes it nice and crisp. Unfortunately, the game seems to slow down every time an achievement is unlocked for the 360, which isn't a big deal, but it is a bit annoying.

Sound is good, for the most part. Battle effects are fitting and add to the experience. The voice acting is OK, nothing to write home about. Some of the heroes (Spider-man in particular) have very grating voices that don't match most of the excellent cartoon voice acting from the numerous Marvel TV shows of recent years. One noticeable oversight is the fact that while some heroes were recorded for the in-game cut-scenes, others weren't, which results in silence from your characters, depending on who you have with you. For instance, when you're talking to the Crimson Dynamo (an Iron-man villain), if you don't have Iron-man with you, there's no voice acting for the heroes. There are a handful of catch-phrases that can get on players nerves as well.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is a fun action game that takes you back to the classic beat 'em ups ala Streets of Rage and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the early 90's, but with RPG elements that have you coming back for more. Fans of comics or super-heroes in general will have the most fun, but it will appeal to action game fans just as well. It is a pity that the story and acting fall short a little, but in the end, that's not really what we play games for, is it?