Marvel Ultimate Alliance (PS2)

...watching the cartoons on the Marvel characters - Spiderman, Fantastic 4, Ironman, Captain America, X-Men - so I was delighted to hear that they were all included in a game. Running on the X-Men Legends engine it is much, much more fun multiplayer than single player. The reason for this is because the levels get quite repetative after a while, but also because the AI of your allies is so poor.

A PG that you can probably pick up for ...
...control of characters from the Marvel Universe (The Silver Surfer and Thing being my favourites) and battle a horde of enemies led by Dr Doom (the villain from the Fantastic 4 series). The very basic story is propelled along through cut-scenes after every level, although considering the high quality of rendering and animation they are for the most part disappointing. Most simply involve the heroes sitting round in a chamber discussing what their ... more

I grew up watching the cartoons on the Marvel characters - Spiderman, Fantastic 4, Ironman, Captain America, X-Men - so I was delighted to hear that they were all included in a game. Running on the X-Men Legends engine it is much, much more fun multiplayer than single player. The reason for this is because the levels get quite repetative after a while, but also because the AI of your allies is so poor.

A PG that you can probably pick up for around £15 now, this is an absolute bargain. There's just under 20 hours play time crammed into the title, although you will get alternate endings if you play through several times (which I highly doubt you will - it had begun to get stale by the end of my first and only run through it).

As I said before, multiplayer is where this game really shines. You and up to 3 friends take control of characters from the Marvel Universe (The Silver Surfer and Thing being my favourites) and battle a horde of enemies led by Dr Doom (the villain from the Fantastic 4 series). The very basic story is propelled along through cut-scenes after every level, although considering the high quality of rendering and animation they are for the most part disappointing. Most simply involve the heroes sitting round in a chamber discussing what their next plan of action will be. It is adequate but nothing more.

You will find you spend most of your time button bashing 'X', similar to Gauntlet and other such games. There is an option for stunning and magic attacks, although against bosses these are very ineffective. I was impressed at the diversity and number of characters - each had different abilities, speed, and strength. Playing with Thing for instance is a far cry from playing with Storm.

The action is non-stop with puzzles rare and simple. You will fight many bosses from the Marvel Universe, although most are obscure ones that you will never have heard of. These battles will be against a backdrop of cheesy music and even cheesier one liners - I loved it. The ending sequence features a spoof phone-in with voices of the characters that was very funny.

With the recent transitions from comic to film of many Marvel franchises, this game is currently very relevant. Whilst some of the films have suffered (Spiderman 3 and Electra being two of the more slated conversions), the Marvel world transitions seamlessly into a game. Great fun with a few friends on co-operative, the formula becomes a little stale after playing for a while by yourself. It has plenty of extras to keep you amused (combat simulator missions for each character for instance) but you are unlikely to play through them all.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed playing through this game, although I was somewhat glad when it ended. Linear and unoriginal it gets all the basics right so as to provide a strong foundation for a good game with reasonable (although not revolutionary) graphics and a decent story. The thing I really liked about Marvel is that it isnt pretension or too self-aware - it is just good, old-fashioned arcade fun. 

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