Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is one of those games I should have played years ago. Back in 2006, I played the original Marvel: Ultimate Alliance on my Xbox 360 to death. Literally. My original console fell victim to the dreaded Red Ring of Death and needed to be repaired. Unwilling to wait umpteen weeks while Microsoft applied Scotch tape to my console’s innards, I simply bought another one. That’s how committed I was to beating that game.
Years later, I don’t have the same zeal – or the same amount of disposable income. If my PlayStation 3 dies while I go for completion in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2…well, maybe I won’t eat for a couple of days. But I WILL complete it!
Yes, I did say PS3. Although Activision recently released remastered versions of both games as a bundle for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, I’m sticking to my original version for two reasons. First reason, I own both games. Second reason, I refuse to buy remastered versions of last-gen games; they ain’t gonna look so much better that I need to pay $60 for the privilege. SO I fired up my venerable PS3, popped in the disc, bitched for about ten minutes because the update wouldn’t apply, and then got to playing.
The premise of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 takes elements from the Secret War and Civil War comic book storylines. That’s a departure from the original game, whose story was largely original. It didn’t detract from the game, however. There are few changes past that, but some of them are interesting.
I liked that that game does the Civil War bit of making you choose to be either for or against registration. Making a choice limits the heroes you can add to your group. So if you like playing as Captain America, you choose anti-registration and lose the ability to invite Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic to your band. There are also new Fusion Attacks which let you combine two heroes’ abilities for a stronger attack. You can have Spider-Man, web up Wolverine, spin him around, and launch him at any enemies like a modified Fastball Special. And you can have Iron Man fire his blasters at Cap’s shield for a stronger blast. They’re cool to use but get dull after some time.
One addition that I can live without is the new way the game handles conversations. When conversing with an NPC at Stark Tower, you can choose to answer them in one of three ways: Aggressively, Diplomatically, or Defensively. The choices, however, are useless. They don’t affect gameplay and seem to be put in just to offer a Mass Effect-style choice. It’s crap and adds to the dullness of the game.
Truthfully, everything in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 gets a bit dull during a playthrough. This is a fun beat-em-up, but a beat-em-up nonetheless. After an hour of pounding enemies into the dirt (or blasting them, as it were), the same act of mashing buttons tends to get a bit long in the tooth. The game does mix up the gameplay, throwing in puzzles and requiring more strategy when taking on bosses. Past that, it’s just mashing through dozens of warm bodies.
I’m not built for those long grinds anymore. I will keep playing Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, but I’m restricting myself to short play sessions. It’ll be a nice change of pace from endlessly grinding world quests in Legion or getting my face blown off (and laughing) in Overwatch.
