JJ BANKS’ Blog

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Published By: Activision
Developed By: Vicarious Visions
Genre: Action RPG     

     Let me start by saying that I’m a comic book fanatic and with that said “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2″ is at best an OK to average game. First of all the story is loosely based on one of the lamest storylines in Marvel history and while the cut-scenes/cinematics started off strong they quickly digressed to pretty lame and simple. The game may look like its predecessor but the controls and gameplay are way off and the blame has to fall solely on Vicarious Visions who tried to pick-up where Raven Software had left off and failed miserably. The game has no great improvements and there are plenty of noticeable drop-offs in quality.

EPIC FAIL = Vicarious Visions takes over the MUA franchise.

     What’s wrong with “MUA2″ you may ask? Well, the camera is quite uncooperative at times, the controls don’t feel as solid as they use to, the “fusion” gimmick isn’t as cool as the character combos from the past, and the menu screens for an RPG are quite clunky. Also, the game is really kind of short for a dungeon crawler as it took me only just under 13 hours to beat the game and I’m a gamer who takes his time. I did all the simulator missions, read all the intel on characters, and found almost all of the hidden artwork. I did this all in a few gaming sessions and never felt like I was getting $60 worth of entertainment. I am however happy that they have kept the trivia game alive and well.

“We’re putting the band back together!”

     Much like how the most recent Wolverine film was an absolute abortion to what could have been great, I felt the same way while playing “MUA2″. The plot is based on Marvel’s “Civil War” storyline but it quickly falls a part into some kind of futuristic robot threat to mankind drivel, with a blatant rip-off from the Halo Universe. You see there are these tiny robots that get inside the characters and take control of them, it’s kind of like an evil virus running wild and it’s called “The Fold”….wow, reminds me a lot like an element from Halo called “The Flood”. C’mon if you’re going to steal at least be somewhat clever about it. This storyline also restricts which characters you can play with at certain times depending on where you are in the plot, for instance at one point I couldn’t play with both Iron Man and Captain America even though they’re two of my favorite heroes. Also, the new look Venom is and always will be gay and stupid!

     When I ended up beating the final boss I really didn’t feel an sense of accomplishment like I did with the “X-Men Legends” games and the other “Ultimate Alliance” game. Instead I had a flashback to the end of “X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse” and remember something being featured about a possible sequel with Mr. Sinister as the main villain. Anyone else remember that? Or know what became of that? Or am I just tripping my balls off? Anyways, while this review might be coming off as pretty harsh I will say that “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2″ is not an absolutely horrible game. I guess I’m just being a little hard on it because I loved the three games before it so much. But just let me sum it up with this: If you’re a gamer with no real interest in comics or the Marvel Universe, then there are dozens of other games out there you should be playing instead of this.

2 Stan Lees Out Of 5