Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

If you’re an active Marvel fan, then you know what the Civil War, how it came about, and how it went down. However, the storyline isn’t the only thing that seriously lacked in the sequel I had been looking forward to since the first game’s release. With every level I played in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, I gained more and more disappointment. Coming from a true Marvel fan, here are the reasons I think Activision should create time-travel and go back to stage one of developing this game. *Warning: There may be spoilers from the game.*

I’m sorry kiddies, but the plot and storyline is complete garbage. It starts off following true to Civil War, then just completely turns it around to “nanite attack”, throwing the entire war story out the window! Wouldn’t the story have been just fine with heroes fighting each other until the eventual surrender of Captain America? Would it of been too much to ask to have a final boss fight against Captain American and the anti-reg, or Iron Man and the pro-reg? Hell no…lets throw in a battle with “Cyborg Nick Fury” instead, and screw it, why don’t we make him playable too?!!?

Not only was there not as many characters in this game, as a whole, they aren’t even as good. Captain America and Iron Man, the two main characters of the game, are weaker and not as fun to play as. They throw in a bunch of characters that weren’t even around or alive during the Civil War. (Thor, Hulk, Carnage, Magneto?) They put these characters in rather than actually putting in awesome Civil War/New avengers characters like The Punisher, Dr. Strange, or Ronin. It was cool that they added the Thunderbolts villains, but they aren’t even playable until the end of the game, and by that time, I was so pissed that I didn’t even want to replay it with them. Only a small slew of characters were available for the most part of the game. A “secret team” was created in the storyline that was supposed to be composed of characters not even involved in the war. However, this team was made up of people like Spider-Man and Wolverine. These two had a huge part in the original story! Not to mention, they put the wrong characters on sides (Fantastic 4).

The enemies in this game are terrible. Whirlwind? The Grim Reaper? Cyborg Nick Fury!!?? What happened to fighting other heroes or registered villains? Even if they decided to stray away from that, could they not choose cool enemies? The only excitement I got out of the battles in this game were the ones where I fought other heroes. Also, there is only two costumes per character, and each one only allows certain moves to be done. Most of the costumes were done terribly. Wolverine looks like a pissed off, hairy oompa loompa.

All of the controls are the same, and the feel is the same as the first. That’s the problem, we’ve seen this all before, and there is nothing special. The upgrade system is on a better set up, but the big change is the “Fusion” moves. These moves are like White Castle burgers. Delicious at first, but only make you upset and annoyed later on. The fusion moves kick ass, but then you realize they take the same move and recycle it with similar characters. For example, Luke Cage, The Thing, and Hulk all pull a chunk out of the ground, and Gambit, Deadpool, or Iceman charge/freeze/plant bombs on t, then they throw it at a target. The amount of characters that simply chase one another around punching and kicking is ridiculous.

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In closing, to say I hated this game would be a stretch, just because it is Marvel…and you still get to beat up bad guys. If you aren’t a Marvel fanboy, you might even love this game. At the very best, I can give it a 3 out of 5, and if I added in my Marvel fanboyism (yes I made up that word), I would give it the score of 2. I don’t recommend a purchase. A three-day rental is more than enough to suffice.

Tags: Activision DS Marvel Marvel Civil War Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 ps2 PS3 Ultimate Alliance Xbox 360