Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

"A fun plunge into the next-gen Marvel universe"

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is the latest next generation game in a series of action RPGs that put you in control of a team of super heroes as they attempt to thwart the nefarious plans of a high powered super villain and his minions. This formula worked very well in the X-Men:Legends series for PS2 and the formula translates over well to the PS3 in this launch title offering.

GRAPHICS
I was a big fan of the X-Men:Legends series, and after seeing the trailer video of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, I was very psyched to get my hands on a next-generation title that expanded to include the whole Marvel universe with some of my favorite characters like Spider-Man and such.

In the graphical department, however, is where I feel this game falters the most. The character models themselves and cinematic movies are all very well done, and they've recreated 3D models of our favorite heroes as if they pulled them right off the page of the comic books. However, it's obvious that the game developers haven't quite gotten the hang of programming for the PS3 at this point (after all, it was a launch game), because once it's all animated there are a LOT of frame rate hiccups.

It's not even a matter of the frame rate freezing up and skipping occasionally when there are a lot of baddies on the screen. It's almost as if there are CONSTANTLY frames missing from the game, particularly noticeable when you scroll the screen as you walk through many of the expansive areas of the game. Perhaps my expectations were very high because I just bought a shiny new PS3 and my hopes were higher, but I also bought Ninja Gaiden : Sigma at the same time and that game doesn't suffer the same woes. It could be that perhaps I'm more sensitive to it than then average person as well.


SOUND/MUSIC
The character voices are pretty good, and they capture the essence of some of our favorite heroes quite well, particularly in the case of the well known favorites....Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain America, etc. The repetition of the individual characters catch phrases can get a little annoying at times, as you'll hear them over and over throughout the game, particularly if you stick with a particular team of four throughout (which the game promotes in a way).

The game's music is adequately "heroic", and I don't think it either really bolsters or detracts from the gameplay. It serves its' purpose well enough, but it likely isn't anything you'll be humming the next day. :)


GAMEPLAY
In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, you control a team of four super heroes, only one of which you directly control at a time. The other three will follow an A.I. controlled set of support instructions. You are able to freely switch between heroes on your team to deal with a current threat.

There are an entire host of playable characters from all over the Marvel universe to choose from, and each character gains experience individually and levels up, earning skill points that can be assigned to any of their unique powers. A character's powers usually ramp up in effectiveness as more skill points are assigned to them, and you can see what the effect of the next skill point will be before you assign it. This allows for some good strategic planning of how you want to allocate your points.

The skills are what set your characters apart. Though they all tend to fit into a particular genre (melee attack, projectile attack, team power-up, etc.) they all fit their respective characters well. Some abilities clearly stand out as powers to lean on if you want to maximize your effectiveness (Iron Man's initial projectile attack comes to mind).

Characters that are "sitting on the sidelines" earn XP at a slower rate, so you won't be too far behind if you decide to swap out players. There's also a new "team" affiliation that wasn't in the older games in the series that allows you to designate your specific team and earn reputation points by accomplishing quests. These reputation points can be spent to provide a global benefit to your team, such as +2% Damage or +5% Max Health for your whole team.

The team affiliation is neat, but it forces you to either stick with a specific roster of four heroes for the game's duration (provided you didn't blow reputation points on buying extra roster spots), or continue to take penalties to your reputation score to swap in a non-team member character. It would have been nice to be able to sample some of the other characters during my first play through, but I'm not a fan of slippery slopes when it comes to experience gain, or in this case reputation.

The difficulty of the game is fairly mild on Normal and with the right strategy of spending your skill points, you can cruise through even most bosses. However, when you lose a hero due to damage or inexplicably falling off a cliff in some stages, it ramps the difficulty up a bit. Some of the boss fights are tuned for a team of four, and when you're forced to go into a fight with less than that due to your defeated heroes not being able to be healed yet, it makes things much more challenging. Harder difficulties (which weren't attempted yet at the writing of this review) will likely ramp up the amount of health and damage potential that enemies possess, if the earlier games in the series are any indication.


STORY
If you're a fan of comic books and the Marvel universe, the game's story will be quite a treat. The story plays out like a true comic book, sending the heroes to exotic locations to try and thwart the plans of Doctor Doom, who manages through most of the game to stay a few steps ahead of the heroes. The minor villains you're pitted against at times have that classic "over the top" melodrama that's to be expected of most comic book villains, and it's quite amusing at times.

There are a few minor sub quests that are usually handled in between the combat sections of the game by talking to various heroes around your bases of operations, or by accomplishing a secondary task in the combat missions themselves. In both cases, they're fairly easy to complete and provide valuable reputation points, so they're good to pursue.


REPLAYABILITY
There are plenty of characters to play as, and the gameplay is simplistic, beat-em-up fun. So if you're the type who likes to try out different character combos, max out skill abilities, and really play the heck out of these types of games, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance has a lot of replayability. Aside from the main story, there's also a large number of unlockable "Training Discs" that often put you in a side-mission simulation against a boss, or a single hero simulation that forces you to play as a particular hero.


OVERALL
For a launch game, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance provides a satisfying experience overall. The gameplay is fun and if you have a love of comic books, it could help you easily overlook the game's faults that I've mentioned. If you're particularly bothered by graphical hiccups and some repetitive audio it may annoy you to a point where you dislike the game as a whole. Being a fan of Marvel, I find myself continuing to go back again and again for more "clobberin' time!"

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/09/07

Game Release: Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (US, 11/17/06)