Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

"People with friends, heed this review"

Let it be said that before the Wii had its name, I was waiting for Ultimate Alliance. In the early months of 2006 I began stumbling upon articles describing a massive, four-player Action/RPG with over 20 selectable characters, set in the world of Marvel. I knew that I had to get my hands on this game.

Before the other Next-gen systems I planned on getting a Wii, so when this game was announced for the Wii I was set on purchasing them both. When I heard that this game "will have intuitive and fun Wii-specific controls for movement, combat and powers" I actually decided to buy a Playstation 3, this game and three extra controllers as soon as launch.

Why should you care about this back-story? Well, I feel I have something to put behind this review that no one else will be able to offer; ridiculous amounts of expectations. I wanted this game badly enough to switch from a $250 system to a $600 system in order to fully enjoy myself. This means I had to get a job, in college, to save up enough, and I did it. I was lucky enough to get a PS3 and I bought everything for which I had planned. Here's how it lived up to the hype I imposed:

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Graphics: I have a Playstation 3 but I do not have a high-definition television, access to someone else's, or an HDMI cable. Still, this game impressed me in the first two minutes of play. Let's skip over the amazing intro video, I had seen that online and I wasn't going to base my opinion upon it.

Environment: After one or two rooms I noticed a fire inside a fan unit on the wall as I stood near it. I was impressed to see the fire casts a realistic, flickering and fading light whose shadows were completely realistic. Well, the fan in front of the fire was moving, and this added to the shadows where necessary, creating a fire-behind-a-windmill pattern on the ground and on my party. - That was enough for me. - 10/10

Character models: Long have I been a believer of the F-Zero graphics clause which states, "If a game is as pretty when paused as it is at blinding speeds you've picked a winner." - The lighting on the characters is phenomenal, the texture on the suits is perfect and the fact that they are always shiny is just plain showing off. - 10/10

The fact that this title is playable in full 1080p (the best in picture quality at the moment - it requires high-end cables and a 1080p-capable setup) makes me want to drop the thousands I'd need to save up to afford it. But I won't, that's silly.

Sound: The music isn't the sort you find yourself humming when you're bored (note: Final Fantasy VII, Xenogears, etc.) but it'll keep you from blasting Korn over your television volume. - Worth having on, not worth purchase. - 7/10

Mechanics: Let us divide this into three more easily-explained categories:

Artificial Intelligence: Once one reaches the first boss-fight in Hard Mode they'll appreciate the beautiful, simple physics put into work in this game. A boss on the most difficult setting realizes that they can defend every single punch thrown at them, so you can't corner them on all four sides and pummel away until the health bar runs out of corn syrup. Your AI teammates do not grasp this concept and if there are three, the boss will hurl projectiles at you and block in their down-time. In order to be fair, I have to rate the AI well to compliment the genius of the bosses. They kill you first only because you're the one who knows better. - The enemies understand how this game works, your computer teammates do not. - 7/10

Controls: Splendid. Magnificent. Like those chocolate crinkle cookies my mom makes. Seriously, the controls are spot-on. One button is a slow, chargeable attack, one is a fast, combo-ready attack, one jumps/double-jumps/flies, one grabs, done. Then we get tricky, one button blocks and rolls, one button tells the AI what to do (as if they'd listen) and one calls up your super powers. The ability to change attacks on the fly and change characters within the team makes a nice compliment to round off the directionals, bravo. The six-axis tilt function is unnecessary but beats out having to rapidly push buttons in my book. - Perhaps a helmet that read your thoughts could do a better job of controlling this game but I wouldn't buy it. - 10/10

Physics: The physics of this game could be tweaked a bit I suppose. Only once did I see a glitch, it was when my friend tried to run off screen to screw with us, fell, and ended up floating. A simple exit and re-entry of the room solved this and I decided not to downgrade for it. Sometimes coins will get lodged between indestructible objects and the apparent ceilings of rooms. Sometimes they are reachable by flying characters, sometimes they are lost. Either way it can't possibly hurt the game play enough to complain.- The physics are fantasy-based like the rest of the game. - 8/10

Story: Eh, it wasn't Oscar-worthy but it's a comic book story. If you're at all like me, you don't care for the story of a comic book an awful lot but you somehow find yourself awesome for understanding and following it. The characters react more properly to situations than they have in the recent Marvel movies and the story adequately pulls the entire Marvel universe into play ... neat. - There's no way you read this for spoilers. - 9/10

Overall: Who cares about words when it all comes down to action? This is the genre into which Marvel Ultimate Alliance falls. With four friends the game runs seamlessly although there's always going to be that guy who stops and holds the entire party back until he's teleported into the middle of the screen in a beeping purple haze. I must admit that I've never tried the on-line multi-player options but I will recommend them without hesitation as the controllers are expensive, online play is free and friends who like comic books as much as you do are hard to come by. - Feel free to quote me on this. - 10/10

"Rent or buy?" Buy it, it'll make you feel better about the Human Torch sucking in the Overpower Trading Card Game although you always knew he was killer.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07