Air out the tights, slip on the mask, don the cape, and prepare to flex some muscles in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, an action role-playing game featuring the largest cast of costumed crusaders and mutant messiahs in a video game to date. Twenty Marvel superheroes have joined forces to combat the diabolical Dr. Doom and his Masters of Evil. The action will take players to Atlantis, the Skrull home world, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli-Carrier, and more as they guide a four-person party through 17 comic book-inspired locales. Moves include a flurry of air and ground strikes, from grapples and blocks to chargeable powers and deadly combos. Objects within the environment can also cause damage, and a choice of one- and two-handed weapons can help less extraordinary heroes mete out justice against throngs of enemies. Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions add a number of visual enhancements to the action, including dynamic lighting effects, articulated body parts, and more.
As players decide on which heroes to enlist in their super group, including such iconic characters as Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Thing, Captain America, Elektra, and Thor, they can customize their team's name, icon, and vehicle. The party's reputation will increase over time through heroic deeds and by successfully completing mission objectives, allowing players the opportunity to further enhance the team's or a specific character's attributes. The cast includes more than 140 comic book characters in total, many of which are available in the single-player storyline and can be unlocked for multiplayer action. The latter supports both cooperative and competitive battles, with in-game statistics tracked for each team as players earn experience points and receive powerful new equipment. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance also features unlockable bonus content, such as alternate costumes that modify a character's base statistics in the areas of defense, melee damage, and so forth.
Controls
Left Thumbstick = movement control
Right Thumbstick = camera control
A Button = attack
B Button = smash
X Button = action
Y Button = jump
Left Bumper = block, dodge
Left Trigger = team commands
Right Bumper = scroll automap
Right Trigger = special powers
D-Pad Up = control hero 1
D-Pad Right = control hero 2
D-Pad Left = control hero 3
D-Pad Down = control hero 4
Back Button = hero management menu
Start Button = pause menu ~ Keith Adams, All Game Guide
Review
While comic book-based video games have traditionally been weaker than Tony Stark's ticker, Activision has enjoyed fantastic, amazing, and incredible success with its Marvel licenses. That trend continues with Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, a near dream lineup of heroes and villains in classic beat-'em-up action. Fans of Gauntlet Legends, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and the developer's previous X-Men Legends series will want to run, fly, or swing to their nearest store and procure a copy for a clobberin' good time.
Players begin with a party of Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Thor, with the option to swap out characters at access points on each level. The game is divided into five acts, each offering multiple stages in an assortment of themed worlds. Dr. Doom has assembled a rogue's gallery of Marvel villains for his nefarious purposes, and Nick Fury has united the best and brightest of Marvel's superheroes to stop him. The design closely follows nearly every overhead-view action title before it, as players pummel throngs of enemies, throw switches, solve crate-sliding puzzles, and engage in cinematic boss fights requiring timed button presses to exploit specific weak points.
While there are light role-playing elements, they take a back seat to smashing crates, advancing through linear, maze-like levels, and whacking the stuffing out of enemies. That the action remains fun from start to finish is due to the characters themselves, whose moves are diverse enough to make you forgive the game's repetitive nature. You can disarm enemies, grab them, throw them, use projectile attacks, perform air smashes, unleash different super powers, and much more. How you fight is dependent on the character's core abilities, which can be customized to a degree by picking up new costumes and purchasing enhancements with credits found throughout each stage.
The distinguishing aspect of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, other than the huge amount of cameos and assortment of playable characters, is its replay value. There are multiple difficulty settings and side objectives to complete that shape the storyline in surprising ways. In addition, the game features hidden characters, timed challenges, and character art to unlock, and there's always the added incentive to create new teams to improve their stats and gear. Genre enthusiasts won't find much new here in terms of structure and design, but those who appreciate a fast-paced, four-player brawler with plenty of moves, levels, and customization options will thank their stars and garters for the effort. ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide
