Title: Marvel™: Ultimate Alliance
Genre: Action/RPG
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: 3rd November 2006
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If a group of super-wicked attacks the world, a group of Super-heroes will have to counter-attack. Moreover, if the menace has the face of Dr. Doom you can be sure that someone among Spiderman, Captain America or the Fantastic Four is in the nearby ready to save our planet from destruction.
With Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Activision has been able to create a real Special Event. Using tons of characters directly from the Marvel universe, we'll have the possibility to form up a 4-people team choosing among the 25 available and playable superheroes and Wolverine, Thor, Elektra and Iron-man are just few simple examples. The game itself is a Hack-'n-Slash, one of those titles in which you'll have to go over levels highly populated by enemies and bosses: as a meter of comparison, this new Raven game has several points in common with X-Men Legends 1 and 2.
Earth is under attack
After the attack to Earth made by Dr. Doom with the help of Mandarin, Loky, Mysterio and other "bad-guys", several Marvel Super-heroes decided to meet under the S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury's secret service, ready to ruin enemy's plans. During the adventure, the team of characters to control will face enemy from the Atlantis floor to the Shi'Ar space-ships: here we meet dozens of characters, sets and stories directly from the comics of the famous American publishing house.
The plot is not, unfortunately, worth an Oscar but it was inevitable as only a very simple and short story could have been able to link together so many Super-heroes.
The first level, a tutorial that will literally launch us into the action, provides a pre-ordered team with Spiderman, Captain America, Wolverine and Thor. In every moment of the adventure, we'll be able to pass from one character to another of the party and thus we'll be able to use the abilities and characteristics of every "owned" Super-hero. Moreover, the game contains some simple GDR features as the possibility to raise characters statistics and special abilities spending experience points earned. At the beginning of every chapter, we will be allowed to save, create a new party and distribute the experience points among the wanted abilities. However, the game is really immediate and simple as, for example, all the characters will earn points, not only the used team and there is always the possibility to let the CPU automatically choose the enhancements. Going on with the game, new moves and attacks will be available for our heroes and everyone will have his/her own super-powers.
With such bad-guys, Spiderman alone would have been enough to save us all
As said before, Marvel UA is a Hack-'n-Slash, a game in which you have to smash buttons more and think to strategy less. The first weak point of the title is exactly this one: the game-play is repetitive and the only thing you'll have to do is to push buttons as fast as you can. More enemies are on screen, more buttons smashing is required.
The strategic component is practically absent. The game-play is focused on the annihilation of all on-screen enemies until we arrive to the final boss of the level. Furthermore, the choice of the Super-hero will be more dictated by curiosity than by real needs as it will have almost no impact on the stage difficulty. The enemies' artificial intelligence is not at the "state of art" and only final bosses will be enough interesting and will need to be studied in order to understand points of weakness.
The game has a good level graphics even if, after the arrival of Gears of War, we all know that our console can do much more. Characters are well-defined but the sets are too plane and too repetitive. This is probably due to the fact that the title is a multiplatform game that has been ported also to current-generation consoles.
Marvel & the multiplayer
To a first analysis, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance seems a title developed for multiplayer: a party of 4 Super-heroes controlled by 4 friends and 4 joy-pads. The problem, however, is the on-screen chaos: if during the single-player campaign the button smashing temptation is strong, when on multiplayer it will be the only thing to do as among explosions, enemies and various colours, nothing will be really "visible".
Marvel fans will be fascinated by the incredible starting CG video, as well as by all the other videos, by an extra level of difficulty unlocked once you've finished the game for the first time and several un-lockable characters.
Final Comment
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is without doubts one of the best "Marvel" games currently available. The game pros can be summarised in the astonishing number of playable characters, while the cons are a not so articulated plot and a discrete technical realisation.
Evaluation
Presentation: 8.5
The starting CG video is at a Hollywood production level. Menus are exhaustive, simple and clear.
Longevity: 6.5
The game is simple, linear and repetitive. If you're not great fans of the series, you won't re-play it.
Graphics: 7
Super-heroes are well-detailed. Unfortunately this is not true for the sets.
Sound: 7
Shots, destroyable sets and super-powers are underlined by good sound effects.
Multiplayer Factor: 6.5
It is amusing to play with a party of 4 friends, but the game is too chaotic.
Overall Evaluation: 7
If you are a Marvel fan, just go out and buy this game: it won't disappoint you. On the contrary, if you're just searching for an enjoyable game, you'll better try it before the purchase.