Marvel: Ultimate Alliance – PC – Review

Dr. Victor
Von Doom is threatening the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, heading up a group known
as the Masters of Evil and Captain America asks Thor, Spider-man and Wolverine
to take out the cyborg-controlled assault ships.

After a
sterling cutscene, which nicely captures the personalities of the first team of
fighters, you work through the helicarrier until you encounter Scorpion. Get
past Scorpion (the first of many boss battles aboard the helicarrier) and you
will eventually get to the bridge where Nick Fury awaits you. Black Widow is in
trouble and needs your help. But perhaps the foursome of Spidey, Captain, Thor
and Wolverine are not what is needed for this mission. No worries. Just find the
S.H.I.E.L.D. logo within a level, portal down and pull up Ms. Marvel, or Ironman,
or Black Panther, or …

If this is
sounding like an all-star card of some of the best Marvel super-heroes of all
time, you are absolutely right.

But it gets
even better. There is Daredevil, Deadpool, Dr. Strange, Elecktra, Ghost Rider,
The Fantastic Four, and – get this – the SILVER SURFER!

Those that
have played X-Men: Legends will recognize the way the game plays out. You have a
level, a team of four, and many enemies standing between your team and its
objective at the other end of the level. As each of the superheroes has unique
abilities, the right mix will see you through each of the challenges that wait.
As you fight, you get experience, which translates into leveling and improved
skills. The lazy can let the game auto-assign skill points, but the person that
wants to manage the team will be able to disable the auto-assign feature and
customize the characters the way he or she sees fit.

While the
gameplay is similar to what has been seen before, what truly sets this game
apart is the story … well, and all the cool characters you will have the
opportunity to play as. With Dr. Doom’s nefarious plot as the guiding point,
thrown into the mix are evolving suspicions surrounding existing characters.
Sure, Nick Fury may trust her, but doubts linger as to which side Black Widow is
on.

Combat is
handled well. Players can mouse target and then attack, there are special
attacks associated with numbered keys, and left clicking is a normal attack
while right click charges up the special attack. But there is more than one way
to fight. You can tap the space bar (double tap is a double jump) to jump and
then hit a numbered key for a smashing melee blow. You can also block and dodge
attacks.

Yep, Raven
and Activision thought of just about everything with this control scheme. The
puzzles are tending toward simple, with players given the ability to push and
pull objects into new locations. One thing that didn’t transition from the X-Men
titles was the ability for Iceman to extinguish flames with his initial ice
shard skill. Targeting is also a little strange. For some strange reason, in
certain areas (like during the fight with the dragon, Fin Fang Foom, moving at
him was very hard to do. The character controlled would reverse and run in the
other direction. And ranged attacks were very hard to control, direction-wise.

There were
other stutters encountered. In the video options, the resolution was upgraded
but when the Advanced Lighting key was hit, the game shut down the host
computer. The camera, which needs to be rotated to see where you are going,
sometimes gets hung up on environmental objects and you can’t see where you need
to in order to either engage the enemy, or activate an environmental element.

Glitches
aside, though, Ultimate Alliance was still a Marvel fan’s dream come true. The
characters have attitude, and there are so many cool team members to choose
from, with more unlocked as you progress, that the game’s variety feels wide
open. This is a good thing as the game itself is rather linear in nature.

The
graphics, in spite of the burps, still are very good, and the sound is spot-on
for the game. Multiplayer is handled two ways. Offline another player can jump
in by plugging in a second control device – just like the console versions.
There is also an arcade multiplayer mode in which the game essentially follows
the same path but the players are trying to outscore one another. The game also
has the ability to play online.

Boasting the
largest collection of Marvel heroes and villains in one title, Marvel Ultimate
Alliance is a terrific game for the die-hard fan of Marvel comics. Those that
enjoyed X-Men: Legends will also find this game entertaining. There are some
failings, but overall, this is a game that is a delight. More than 20 playable
characters, 17 locations, and the ability to control the destiny of the world
and Marvel Universe – this game has the elements superhero fans crave.

Review Scoring Details for Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Gameplay:
7.9
A crash when you
hit a certain button? Not good. There are load times, but the game plays
decently well and is somewhat intuitive.

Graphics:
7.9
The camera gets
hung up and is a hindrance at times. Ironman may not look as good as he should
and Thor looks a little bit like Hulk Hogan. Other than that, though, the
environments and animations, along with the special effects, are well done.

Sound:
8.3
Very solid voice
work.

Difficulty: Medium
Three settings to
enable players to find their challenge level.

Concept:
8.3
Good story and a
great cast.

Multiplayer: 8.1
Cooperative play
is always fun.

Overall:
8.2
There are some
glitches, but the pure joy of unlocking that next hero and then trying to come
up with the perfect team is reason enough to work through the game a couple of
times. It looks good, it plays decently and will cause the occasionally joyful
noise from anyone who has treasured the Marvel comic books.