Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

"Blatant repetiveness at odds with addictive Marvel fan service"

Introduction
In the spirit of the successful X-Men Legends games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is an attempt to expand the action RPG concept into the next generation.

How the game is played
Up to four players take control of one mutant in a mobile unit of four. Any spots not filled will be controlled by a decent AI, that acts mostly in a fairly logical and sensible fashion. The game plays out in real time, and often boils down to the player frantically inputting the commands to do moves. Out of the 16 or so characters from the Marvel Universe, they all abide by the same basic system of attacks - a sweep, an uppercut, a three or so hit basic combo and a charge move. The individuality of the characters is through the special move system which is tied to the RPG elements of the game, namely levelling up and accumulating points to spend.

Often the execution feels slightly hectic and clumsy, as there is (to the credit of the graphical engine) a lot going on on the screen. A lock on feature would have been appreciated, as attacking toward the general direction of the enemies seems a little amateurish sometimes. The control system using the wiimote and nunchuck is surprisingly ok. This is a first generation Wii game (and a multiplatform one at that) so to expect the developers to stretch their publishing deadlines to make a fully fluid motion sensitive control system at this point in time would have been a tad unrealistic. What we get is an alternative set of controls that allow the player to alternate between motion based input and button based.

This was a wise choice as to have to rely on moving the wiimote when often your view of what you are doing is hazy would guarantee frustration. However when you do have a proper opportunity to take advantage of the equipment, it works quite decently. A little more rumble feedback and sound from the wiimote would have perhaps enhanced the satisfaction a little more, but nevertheless, swishing your hand to the side to do a slash move, or jabbing forward to do a frontal assault adds immersion to the title.

Story elements
The game follows a plot typical to a title that transcends a few different mythologies. ie: All the good guys team up ato fight all the bad guys, who have also teamed up. It works fine, and does its job in setting decent missions and having some great characters involved. In terms of characters, development utilised the franchises well, with a lot of cooler, seldom seen in games heroes (Thor, Elektra, Colossus) accompanying the more usual faces ( such as Wolverine, Human Torch, Spiderman) and making some great teams. There is a lot of voice acting and cutscenes which give some incentive to keep playing. As expected there is a lot of bonus content available to unlock.

Criticism
The main problem this game has is its repetitive level design. So many installation type levels. Generic sci fi does not make for eye candy. Most missions follow a predictable pattern of opening a door, having the next door closed, killing the enemies that closed it, and then opening the closed door. The levels are all fairly uninteractive too. The things that can be picked up and destroyed are all very obvious. This is the next generation, we should be seeing a little more depth in interactivity.

Presentation Being a game with many characters on screen, it wouldn't be right to expect completely fluid character and enemy models with millions of polygons crammed in. A more suitable basis to judge the game on is how effectively it handles the Power Stone-esque chaos on screen. The Wii Hardware does this admirably, and the game never slows down. Despite what I said earlier, the models aren't utterly crap either, perhaps a tad blocky up close, but at a distance they are quite convincing. My biggest graphical problem is again, the drabness of the setting. And a few crusty looking explosions. Sound is pretty excellent, with a lot of the voice talent sounding very authentic from those great morning cartoons.

Overall, of the 7 or so Wii Launch titles, I got this second. Its a good single or multiplayer title, especially good for short bursts of arcadey action. The controls work well, although certainly don't match Zelda for their responsiveness or execution. An admirable attempt to bring a game to the Wii that could just as well have stayed on the controller based systems in the hands of a lazier developer. Hopefully the Wii keeps enticing developers to bring their titles to the party, as third party games are essential to any console.

I'll give it a 7, and recommend it as a second game to get, next to something more immersive.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/07