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Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (PC DVD)
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Description:
In a nutshell:
X-Men Legends expands into the whole of the Marvel universe with a game featuring more heroes, villains and superhero brawls than a hundred mighty Marvel crossovers. The lowdown:
It was hardly the deepest action role-player around, but with X-Men Legends, developer Raven found the perfect balance for most comic book fans, between simple action and an expectedly convoluted storyline featuring as many characters as possible. This is basically the same game turned up to 11, as you initially take control of Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man and Wolverine in a battle against Dr Doom and his newfound allies. The graphics are perhaps not quite as detailed as they could be but the scope of the story and the variety of the settings more than makes up for it. Considering how much the game packs in there's few Marvel diehards that will be disappointed by this. Most exciting moment:
Although the game works perfectly well on your own it's really at its best when playing with friends. Depending on the system, you get both online and four-player options, with each player controlling a hero. Many of the superpowers can be combined into a single special move making team work a must (until there's a fight over a health power-up anyway). Since you ask:
Although all the obvious heroes are included as playable characters some of the more obscure unlockables include Black Panther, Daredevil, Nick Fury and Silver Surfer. There's also four exclusive characters for the PSP version (including Captain Marvel and Hawkeye) and more for the Xbox 360 such as Colossus and Moon Knight. The bottom line:
The ultimate celebration of the Marvel universe in interactive form.-HARRISON DENT
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4/5 |
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
(June 10, 2008) |
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With rave reviews flying in from all directions for Marvel's latest feature film "Iron Man", and "Incredible Hulk" slated for a few months' time, I though it might be worth taking a look at something a little more ... interactive. To affect the minutae of stories, character development or even the final outcome, is something that (for the time being at least) is restricted solely to video games.
Thankfully there are a few Marvel games out there that do justice to the source material. At the forefront is "Marvel Ultimate Alliance", one of the best Marvel team-ups available (and that includes the comics!). The story is not complex, favouring character sub-plots and episodic action, but there are all the ingredients needed for a successful super-romp: the villainous Dr Doom, long-time foe of the Fantastic Four, has deigned to accept the assistance of some of the world's deadliest super-criminals in a plot to steal godly power and extend his dominion over the whole of the planet. He is accompanied by the Asgardian god Loki, a nemesis of the Avengers, and the indestructible robot Ultron, most recently featured in the "Annihilation Conquest" comic saga. A host of other familiar faces gather for their own ends to rain destruction down upon those that might stop them: the Marvel super-heroes.
The fun of this game, which has garnered some very positive reviews, comes from the host of familiar faces. As the player you control a team of four heroes from a huge selection, much in the vein of Marvel's previous video-game hit, "X-Men Legends". Each of those heroes is upgradeable in terms of skills, powers, and familiar RPG attributes such as strength, durability and agility. Several costumes are unlockable, including some neat old-school outfits for favourites like Iron Man, Spider-Man and a whole bunch of the X-Men. Battling enemies during your varied missions and adventures garners experience points to be spent on these attributes, creating an increasingly powerful team. You can mix and match from any of the spectacular, uncanny and amazing heroes: the X-Men, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and solo heroes such as Ghost Rider, Blade, Daredevil, and many others.
The developers have ensured that beating up Ultron robots and the Mandarin's terracotta soldiers is especially fun. Characters keep up a certain level of banter throughout, and some cut-scenes are changed depending on the characters you have in your team. Iron Man, for example, might have a few words to say to the Mandarin during their first encounter; when Wolverine comes up against Deadpool, you're treated to some special dialogue. Similarly there are "safe zones" which are you base of operations in each of the game's five Acts, allowing you time to run around Stark Tower or Dr Strange's mansion in safety. Background stories for characters are revealed here, as well as a few interesting details about the ongoing sub-plots.
In fact, most of the game's more subtle additions begin to shine in these places. Your army of unlockable heroes soon inhabit the op bases and offer a bit of chit-chat or short, XP-earning missions should you be so inclined. There are places to train your heroes using group or solo VR "combat discs", adding more story (and more currency to buy new skills!), as well as trivia quizzes to earn big bucks. These offer rewarding distractions to the combat-based main content of the game, although you'll never stray from the primary storyline for long. And, if you're lucky enough to own one of the next-gen consoles or a beefed-up PC, some of the graphics are truly spectacular and make the time spent with your chosen heroes a true joy!
Available for a bargain price now after a year or so since release, any fan of the comics, the films or just the characters themselves should really pick this up an give it a go - you couldn't possibly be disappointed.
8.7 / 10
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5/5 |
X-Men Legends+
(October 12, 2007) |
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If you are a fan of X-Men Legends 1 and 2 then in all likelyhood you will love this game as well. It follows the same format as the X-Men Legends (XML, can't be doing with typing it all the time) game but also suffers from the same problem, in that there is no great encouragement to swap around characters in the team (in fact with the Reputation system there is active encouragement to keep the same team all through out the game). Saying that there is no reason why this game can't be replayed with a different team each time you want to replay it.
True this game is your standard XML button masher game and so you will probably benefit from using a decent control pad but if, like me, you never get tired watching Wolverine do his thing, flinging Cap's shield around like a frizbee with a thyroid problem or just a nice relaxing bit of webslinging then this game is for you. |
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3/5 |
Slick but no depth
(March 16, 2007) |
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This title offers a lot; set in the Marvel universe it has a deep history to delve into and allows you to be any one of a number of superheroes. You can tailor your character and equip them with various equipment to supplement your powers as you travel round in a group of 4 heroes on various missions, levelling up as you gain experience and allocating skill points to bespoke your character.
But... it soon becomes clear this is very much a console RPG rather than a PC RPG, the missions boil down to a lot of button mashing to dispose of lesser enemies followed by a lot more button mashing to dispose of the end of level boss. This is interspersed with various puzzles which usually involve no more than pushing a few blocks around. It is soon apparent that there is not a great deal of scope to use the one skill point you get per level up as most of the powers can only be pushed up in line with your level anyway so you are almost bound to end up with the same character regardless.
Although you go round as a group of four there is no real tactical element, the other characters are just scenery most of the time apart from a couple of the puzzles. Last but not least do not choose normal difficulty because after about the first couple of hours the game is just too easy.
An okay game if you are a fan of Marvel and just want a fast action game but not if you are looking for something to stretch your mind. |
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