Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

1. Official Site
2. Platform: ps3
3. Publisher: Activision Blizzard
4. Developer: Vicarious Visions
5. Release Date: 09/15/09
6. Genre: RPG

by Ron Burke

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since we got our first taste of the Marvel mashup, Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  Raven did an incredible job with the title, combining cooperative play with a cast of over 25 characters to create an RPG / Action title that garnered stellar reviews, including a 90% from yours truly.  Handling the PSP and Wii version was long-time partner Vicarious Visions.  One of the first things I had noticed is that Vicarious had taken the reins from Raven for primary development.  Raven used the Alchemy engine for the first game, but this time around it seems that Vicarious Visions wanted to play with their own toys.  As Deadpool would say, “I've been besmirched! This besmirchment will not stand” – will this title besmirch the series, or bring it to a new level?  It was time to grab a pair of controllers and find out.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance opened up with Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil assaulting the U.N.N Alpha – a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier in Nick Fury’s fleet.  Using an assault by Galactus as a distraction, Dr. Doom assaults and conquers Earth with the stolen powers of Odin.  Assembling a super weapon built from M'Kraan Crystals (recovered from Deathbird in the Shi'ar Empire) and a Muonic Inducer (stolen from Galactus) to weaken Doom.  In Doom’s weakened state, Odin was able to recover his powers, blasting Doom with a lightning bolt so powerful it left only his trademark mask in its wake. 

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (previously known as Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion) takes its first steps in pulling back fans of the first game, as well as making new ones, with its story setting.  The game takes place during the Civil War series – a 7 issue comic run penned by comic giant Mark Millar.  In this series, as well as in the game, the United States government has enacted a bill called the Superhuman Registration Act that would ask all heroes and villains to register themselves as “human weapons of mass destruction”, as well as revealing their true identities to the authorities.   Those that register would be given the opportunity to work as deputized agents for S.H.I.E.L.D.   Obviously the villains have no interest in this proposal, and the heroes have split their allegiances.  Do you see the Registration Act as something any responsible civil servant would sign, or do you see it as removing the rights of the individual?  I won’t ruin who ends up on which side, but suffice it to say, you will have to choose. 

Deadpool – “…wait speaking of video games, you ever play Street Fighter?”

Vicarious Visions did not sit on their hands between October of 2006 until September of 2009 – they’ve made some significant upgrades to their Alchemy Engine (it has powered Crash Nitro Kart, Madagascar The Game, Shrek 2, X-Men Legends, the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance, just to name a few), integrating the Havok physics engine, new sound engine components, upgraded lighting, and much more.  All that is well and good, but it’s how it is used in the game that matters.

This game, just as the first, kicks off with some fantastic CGI work from the award-hoarding studio Blur, but this time we get a much larger helping.  The introduction outshines the incredible work from the first title, but there are also several other cutscenes throughout the game that are equally astounding.  Capturing each character in both mannerism and movement, Blur has created masterpiece after masterpiece in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - impressive hardly covers it.

The art department at Vicarious Visions had big shoes to fill in the gameplay graphics department – the first title featured a wealth of detail in each character with an unshakable framerate.  To that end, Vicarious Visions has delivered handsomely.  The game features more than 25 characters once again, but there have been significant upgrades in terms of detail and features.  Each character is, once again, painstakingly rendered to perfection.  Their costumes and animations are detailed even at very close inspection, something shown heavily during the dialog portions of the game.  Many of the characters are more recognizable (e.g. Deadpool, Gambit, Green Goblin, etc.) than the some in the previous game (Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, Black Panther), so it’s good to see some old favorites get the Next Gen treatment.  The upgrades to the engine continue with new facial animations including lip synch. 

Like its predecessor, the game runs at 720p with an rock solid framerate, but it does come at a price.  The camera floats between user controls and AI controls, and occasionally it drops the ‘Intelligence’ part completely.  For the vast majority of the game, the camera works exactly as planned, but it always seems to rear its ugly head during the worst moments. A good example would be during an early boss battle – the camera became trapped behind the rather large boss, making it impossible to see your characters at all.  Attempts to turn the camera met with disapproval as it was still under system control.  This, combined with times where the number of characters, explosions, flashing light, shaking camera, and more that makes it almost impossible to keep track of who you are controlling, can create a bit of frustration – it’s a good thing that these moments are brief and infrequent.

Wade Wilson – “I love this weapon more than any other thing in the whole wide world, and you wanna know why?”

Obviously the bar was set very high with the first title, with cooperative play and RPG-lite elements that brought the world of Marvel to life.  Raven had all of the practice making X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II: rise of Apocalypse, and the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but clearly Vicarious Visions was paying attention.  The same great cooperative gameplay has made its way across to this title, but with some much-needed improvements.  The first Marvel Ultimate Alliance title had reduced its inventory management as you only collected items from bosses and sub-bosses.  The item system has been removed from the game, replaced with a Boost Medal system that instead provides various team-wide bonuses.   These can be accessed via an in-game quick-menu (it pauses the action), keeping the action moving forward. These start off simply including +15% fire or lightning resistance, extra experience, 10% of damage incurred is changed to stamina, etc. and build up to more specific bonuses like additional melee damage or adding a chance to stun.  You can only assign these three at a time and there are literally dozens to choose from, so you’ll be able to greatly customize how your team operates, even beyond character selection.

Each character starts with only two powers, with that number growing to four as you reach higher levels.  This ensures that you will not be overwhelmed with too many options too quickly.  As you dispatch enemies you’ll gain experience that will allow you to gain or enhance your powers as you see fit.  Additionally, abilities can be upgraded as well and at any time provided you can pay the upgrade cost.  Each character has their own set of abilities and powers, so the effect of an upgrade will vary wildly.   These powers and abilities can also be managed from the quickmenu system mentioned above.  If you want to get a more detailed representation of the upgrades and what stats they modify, you can see this in the start menu. 

Each character in the Marvel universe has incredible powers, but none are powerful enough to withstand their combined might.  This simple concept is the very basis for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, and the reason it was called Fusion at one point.  You have three types of Fusion attacks, Clearing, Guided, and Targeted.  The Clearing Fusions are usually a wide area of effect spell that encircles and consumes your enemies, usually in a circular pattern.  Targeted Fusions are what you’d expect, with the combined might of two characters unleashed on a single target.  Guided Fusions can be controlled and moved about, giving you the ability to follow your prey.  One example might include Storm flying high to create a controllable cyclone that Gambit then fills with kinetic cards for additional damage.  One player controls the movement of the storm while the other taps X to expand the range of the attack.  Another example could be Wolverine and Deadpool linking up and running through enemies at high speed, claws ripping through flesh as they move faster and faster.  The Fusions are charged through damaging enemies and nearby property, and there are over 250 possible combinations, so each team will unleash their power in a new and interesting way.  Given that each character’s power is unique, some are more effective than others, so once again you’ll be asked to choose wisely.

Deadpool – “My common sense is tingling...”

The game kicks off a year ago with a Nick Fury lead assault on the Latverian castle of diplomatically elected Luccia von Bardas - successor to Doctor Doom after his apparent death.  Squaring off against the likes of Electro (he always seems to be the first to take a beating in these games), Scorcher, Wizard, and The Tinkerer (or at least many of his mechanical minions), you destroy von Bardas’ castle - a win for Nick Fury, but unfortunately he isn’t in the ‘explaining why are here’ mood. 

A year later you’ll land on familiar ground (if you played the previous game) at Stark Industries.  As before, this central hub allows you to view dossiers, movies, and tips as well as take on simulation training, re-run previous levels, interact with other Superheroes, and even relax with some Marvel trivia between missions, as well as taking on your next mission.  

The simulator isn’t simply something to while away your time or earn trophies - you can also earn valuable experience, new boosts, and other character rewards that can help you with your mission.  You’ll want to keep an eye out for simulation discs and you’ll want to use them early and often to build your team.  It also lets you re-run missions, giving you a run-down of what dossiers, boosts, audio logs, and more that you may have missed.  The basic training mission goes over the 12 combo attacks, 2 defensive, and 3 Fusion attacks present in the game (more on those later), acting as a great reminder or tutorial for those new to the series.  From there you can play a whole host of varied simulation missions including Command (capture and hold), Hows De Ducks (find and destroy several boxes full of ducks), Search and Destroy (locate hidden enemies and destroy them), and several more - 12 in all that you can unlock through the course of the game.

If you can’t tell, Deadpool is my favorite character.  Thankfully, once you defeat him, he will join your team, handling any 4th Wall Breaking duties you might have.  He adds a great deal of comedy to the game, breaking the levity of the struggle between the two sides of the Civil War.  If you don’t use him on your first run through, absolutely do so on the second – he even suggests as much when you recruit him!

The decision on which side to support in this struggle isn’t something you should make lightly.  It impacts a great deal of things in the game that are essentially irreversible.  Who you get as allies, which missions are available, boosts and abilities you can earn, and the entirety of the storyline is vastly altered.  Most games boast a pretty big replay value, but often have little to offer someone who has completed the game already – with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, there is an entirely separate storyline to explore!  Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is like getting two games in one!  The game takes roughly 9 hours to complete, so you’ll want to multiply by two to figure out how much time to set aside to beat both story threads, provided you start over completely.  There are three available difficulty levels with a fourth unlocked when you complete the game to add a bit of longevity and challenge as well.  You'll keep any levels you earn on previous difficulty levels, giving you access to the higher level powers and skills you may have missed on the first run through.

Deadpool – “Yay, now is fighty time, fighty time, blood, blood, blood!”

Obviously a great deal of this game hinges on how well cooperative play is handled, so I played the game for about an hour on my own and then drafted my wife into review service for the remainder.  The control scheme is fairly straightforward with the left analog moving your character and the right analog handling the camera when it isn’t AI controlled.  The X and O buttons handle light attacks and heavy/charged attacks, while the Square and Triangle buttons make your character jump (or fly, as character dictates) and grab your enemies.  The D-Pad allows you to easily change from one character to another by simply hitting a direction. The shoulder buttons unleash your powers, block incoming attacks, or allows you to heal other characters with the health pickups throughout the game.   The control scheme works very well and neither of us had any difficulty with the learning curve, with the exception of the very last item I mentioned – the health button. 

More often than not, you’ll likely store up two (the maximum) health tokens for more difficult fights or boss battles.  Unfortunately, it is very easy to accidentally attempt to use your powers and instead waste both of your health tokens instead.  This happened on more than one occasion throughout the game. 

The game handles cooperative play extremely well.  Balanced and well paced, the game encourages co-op with special team upgrades as well as the ability to carry your character back to the single player game.  Many of the simulations only seem possible with another human player.  The combination of characters for their Fusion power just adds greatly to this.

Also a new addition is a three-tiered conversation system.   You’ll encounter other heroes in the game that you can interact with, selecting an Aggressive, Diplomatic, or Defensive answer to their inquiries.  These conversations are unfortunately somewhat shallow as they don’t have any meaningful impact, even if you skip them completely, but they can grant bonus items based on your commitment to a particular style of answer. 

Deadpool – “Now I'M better at whatever it is Wolverine does!”

Most of the time when I see a developer change between products, it spells inevitable doom or a watered down shadow of the previous title.  In this case, I think Vicarious Visions has taken what Raven started and managed to not only match it but improve upon it.  Certainly there are a few nagging issues such as the health token wonkiness and the sometimes aggravating camera, but it is greatly outweighed by the great care and attention to detail paid to the Marvel universe.  They’ve even paid homage to Raven with an in-game Badge emblazoned with the Raven Studios logo.  Vicarious Visions has often had to sit back and build the second string of products – the Nintendo DS or Wii builds that sits in the shadow of the Next Gen versions.  After seeing what they could do with this title, I’m looking forward to seeing their next PS3/360 product!

Gaming Trend Score

91

1. Graphics: 93
2. Audio: 90
3. Controls: 87
4. Gameplay: 92
5. Value/Replay: 90
6. OVERALL:91