Rent Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 for Xbox 360
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Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

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GF Rating
7.1

10157 ratings

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GF Rating
6

Above Average

The first one was more fun, and here's why...

posted by KyonKreist (PITTSBURGH, PA) Sep 20, 2009

Member since Apr 2008

62 out of 76 gamers (82%) found this review helpful

The new Ultimate Alliance sequel is good. The visuals are much improved. However, it is significantly less fun than the first. The reasons for this, in my view, are as follows:

- Generally, it is a much more linear game; the camera angles lead you to where you're supposed to go. The environments are laid out in a more A-to-B style. There are places where you simply cannot go back to where you just were. Throw in the fact that individual character customization has been totally stripped (4 moves each, no accessories; far less strategy) and it's just a beat-em-up game. I felt confined.

- Contrary to what I was led to believe before this game was released, there are no divergent plot lines other than the basic pro- or anti- stance on registration. You make dialogue decisions, but not ACTUAL decisions. Your roster is set as soon as you pick your side, so there's no need whatsoever to recruit or even get along with other characters.

- The roster is not quite as varied or exciting; we get the Fantastic Four, five X-Men, four Thunderbolts, a handful of top-tier Avengers and of course, Spider-Man. Throw in the Hulk and Daredevil because they're popular and there you have it. As an unabashed comic nerd, the combinations to be made here did not excite me nearly as much as in the first game.

- The basic enemies you face through the course of the game are all minor variations on A) a soldier or B) a robot. However, do you remember all the different types of enemies that you fought during the first game? Androids, Vikings, Atlantians, Shi'ar, Skrulls, FROST GIANTS and so on... This change is symptomatic of this game's focus on the STORY - not an original plot, but one taken from a dramatic superhero character study like Civil War - and so the devs didn't leave themselves much wiggle room here for, y'know, the cool junk that you play video games for. Even most the boss battles felt very similar.

Like I said, this is a good game, but it's a step down from MUA1.

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GF Rating
7

Good

Not So Ultimate After All

posted by Fantomex (SAN JOSE, CA) Oct 15, 2009

Member since Oct 2009

26 out of 35 gamers (74%) found this review helpful

Have been a comic book nerd since before I could actually read the word bubbles and grasp the story lines, I was very excited to see that Activision was releasing a sequel to "Marvel Ultimate Alliance". I enjoyed the first one for what it was: a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler with Super Hero character models.

"Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" doesn't change much as far as game-play is concerned from it's predecessor. You have your basic light attack, heavy attack, grab and throw, and jump. Throw in four special abilities per character and you're on your way. The combat isn't flashy and fancy, but it works.

I think the two things that set this game above the original MUA is the graphics and the story. The original looked like something that should be on the X-Box or Playstation 2. Not next-gen material. The sequel, on the other hands, looks fantastic. The character models are smooth and polished, and the levels are detailed and varied. "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" LOOKS amazing. And thats about as far as the "amazing" goes.

The second point that sets this game apart from the original is the story. MUA2 is based on the 2006 Marvel cross-over story "Civil War" in which the super-human community of the Marvel universe are split down the center and forced to either register with the government or go underground. The story, in my opinion, was sub-par when it was a comic book, let alone in a video game version. They didn't even seem to want to hold true to the original source material at all. The story of MUA2 is an upgrade from MUA1 in the only aspect that it actually DID happen in the Marvel universe, where the story from MUA1 was just made-up and irrelevant.

If you like Marvel super-heroes and you like dungeon crawlers play the 5+ hours of game-play this game has to offer. Playing it with friends makes it better... but really, once you beat "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" that'll be pretty much it for the game.

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GF Rating
8

Very Good

You a fan of Marvel?

posted by KayotixTX (CANYON LAKE, TX) Sep 16, 2009

Member since Nov 2008

30 out of 45 gamers (67%) found this review helpful

If you played and loved Marvel Ultmate Alliance then you will like this one as well.

Story is well done, voice acting is decent but could of used a little more enthusiasim in parts, its still not horrible but not great either.
Graphics are a little sharper and more colorful this go round, not going to win any awards though.

Its a button masher yes but played with some friends it is alot of fun, only thing i hate is the Civil War story mode basically takes half of the roster away from you and that is a shame....so if those 2 things dont really bother you than you should get some fun out of this game.

Give it a rent if your a fan of the first Marvel game, it should last you a little while if you like to collect and unlock things, there is alot of that in this aswell.

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