Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was released in Fall 2006 and developed by Raven Software. What it did well was mix the arcade style beat-em-up gameplay with a simple-yet-effective RPG levelling system. Taking control of some of the most prolific Marvel characters(such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine and many others.), the player was taken on a colourful tour of the Marvel Universe. From outer-space to the depths of Atlantis, the player was let loose on some of the most memorale locales in Marvels 70 year history.
Now in the hands of Vicarious Visions, who have past experience with the title having ported the first game over to the PSP and Wii, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 looks to replace the, for a lack of a better term 'comic book-y' stories and locales for a more current look into the Marvel universe. One of the largest stories to span the Marvel universe in recent years was Civil War. If you follow comics you have probably heard of the story arc. The gist of it is as follows, a young group of super-heroes are involved in an incident that kills over 600 civilians, 60 of which being children. Due to this and other such incidents the White House roll out the Super Human Registration Act, a law that states everybody with powers, be they good or bad must register with the government, expose their identities and work for the government. Several members of the super-human community see this as the only option to regain the trust of the government and the people including Tony Stark(Iron Man) and Reed Richards(Mr. Fantastic). On the other side of that coin, there are those including Captain America and Luke Cage that see this as a breach of privacy to the heroes who help protect the people. A Civil War ensues, with Tony Stark running the task force tasked with rounding up those heroes/villains who did not register while Captain America controls a rebellion group of heroes against the SHRA.
Now, if it sounds more politically charged than your average comic book, that's because it is. Marvel is a company very of it's time. The larger stories they tend to tell can be seen as mirror-images of the real world, whether it's the Pro-Mutant marches matching pro-homosexual marches or a panel in Amazing Spider-Man depicting the fall of the Twin Towers, Marvel is very much set in our world. With such a politically charged backdrop, it means the game has a more serious tone than the first game ever had. Gone are off-world battles with Galactus, in are prison escapes and defending convoys. Gone are Pitfall mini-games, in are black-op missions into foreign territory. And you know what? That's perfectly fine with me. I am totally down for a Marvel game that mirrors the current product and welcome the Civil War storyline with open arms, the problem comes when the game shifts in focus one too many times. I don't want to give anything away but the last third of the game sees the engaging Civil War story shifted to one side for another threat to take its place. Had Vicarious committed fully to the Civil War story 'til the end, I truly feel the game would be better for it. Because of this, the last third of the game suffers. The ending didn't come close to the the anticipation set by the first two acts.
As for the gameplay itself, Vicarious have chosen to strip some of the RPG elements away and streamline the levelling up and inventory systems. Unlike the first game, each hero has a total of 4 powers mapped to the face buttons which you can upgrade with Power Pips when enough experience is gained. On top of that are several character attributes that effect things like their HP, Their fire Damage etc. These can be bought with points found throughout the game. In the first game, the player would find items in chests and after boss fights etc that could be equipped by your characters, and these would have a variety of effects on that character. In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, that is gone. In it's place is Team Boosts. Your team has 3 slots for badges picked up throughout the game for completing set challenges or defeating certain enemies. These 3 badges effect all 4 members of your team. This allows you to focus on playing the game with no need to go through each of your characters and ensuring the right item is equipped. It can all be done in-game in a small pop up menu by pressing the back button.
Your team also has another weapon in its arsenal. Fusion Attacks. When you gain enough Fusion Power a star appears in the bottom right corner, which tells you you can now perform an attack combining two of your heroes. You can then perform a powerful attack mixing two of your teams powers. An example being, Spider-Man webs up as many enemies in a radius as possible pullin them into the centre, Deadpool will then flood them with grenades. These attacks are vital in playing the game and come in three flavours. Clearing Fusions damage enemies within a large radius, Targeted Fusions focus on one enemy, which comes in handy for boss battles and then there is Guided Fusions, where you move the point of attack around the screen with the thumbstick for 30 seconds or so. These attacks all have their uses throughout the game. It is not always wise to use a Targeted Fusion when you are surrounded by Latverian soldiers. It is important to think of when to use which type of fusion, when. The problem with these attacks are the lack of variety. A lot fo the fusions are duplicates replaced with a different texture. Hulk will pull out a big chunk of ground, Iceman will freeze it up and Hulk will smash an enemy. Do the same Fusion with Hulk and Human Torch and the onyl difference will be instead of ice, the chunk of rock is set on fire. It would have been more interesting to see more varieties in the animations used.
Lastly, is the character list. I find the playable characters in the game are a good choice of cast. They are varied enough in design and play style to keep the game feeling fresh when you swap out characters(which you can now do on the fly, as opposed to waiting for checkpoints) All the big hitters in the Civil War story arc are there, but the game doesn't handicap itself by limiting itself to people involved with the story. What the game also does is pulls out some of the lesser known Marvel characters in as NPC's. Though this means there are times you are having a conversation with a character you don't know, it also helps separate the game from its predecessor by offering fresh faces to interact with.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 may try to be serious and tell a more accurate portrayal of the modern Marvel Universe but don't let that fool you. It's still a fun game. Though some would argue all Vicarious had to do was more of the same, they chose not to. Because of that they gave us a product that has enough of the attributes from the first game to be a sequel, but with enough changes to stand on it's own.
