The Review: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Game Specs:
Genre: Action/Beat’em up/RPG
Available: 9/15/2009
Video: 16:9/480p
Audio: Dolby Pro Logic II
Players: 1-4
Online Play: No
ESRB: Teen
The Verdict: Not Worth It
With most developers and publishers playing it safe and looking for the “sure money” nowadays, we are presented with M.U.A.’s follow up: M.U.A.2. This game takes place within the Civil War era of the Marvel Comics Universe in which super heroes stand divided against each other in the face of the Superhuman Registration Act, a law which requires anyone with superhuman abilities to register with the federal government, revealing his or her true identities (think “the mutant registration act” from the first X-Men movie). With such a great premise and the success of the comics which this title is based upon, how can it possibly go wrong?
Likes
Up to 4 player local campaign mode
Based upon Secret War/Civil War Comic series
New playable Marvel Characters
Stan Lee video game cameo (About time!)
Smooth and responsive controls (Combos and character control are pulled off with ease)
New Fusion attack implementation (2 heroes combine powers to annihilate large groups of enemies and inflict massive amounts of damage)
Online Leader boards/Score posting (Do you measure up?)
Dislikes
Blindingly horrible graphics (How does a sequel look worse than it’s predecessor? Broken textures and lines stick out like sore thumbs in the environments. Super low res. textures/graphics in some parts of the game ie: the sky near the end of the first level. These make for a near if not complete game breaking experience.)
Recycled battle system (Remember all your favorite attacks, combo moves and upgrades from the first game? Well they’re back…. and that’s it.)
Recycled voice overs (“Bub, you’re a mess”, “I’m the best at what I do” and all your other favorite lines and classic voice work from the first game reused. On top of that, out of the new voice overs that are used, many just don’t make the cut, ie: Spiderman’s new voice over.)
Recycled enemies (More doom bots anyone?)
Recycled sound effects (All Biff, Bang, Booms courtesy of the first title)
Lackluster Score (Some of the score also sounds very familiar….hmmmm.)
Glitchy (Game locks up and music loops constantly as I try to post my score on the leader boards for the first time at the end of level 1, because “Wiiconnect24″ wasn’t enabled.)
Horrible script (Why didn’t they just have one of the writers of the comic series pen this?)
Developers Notes:
Do not have “n-space” port your game to the Wii. If their website was any indication or representation of the quality of their work then we should’ve seen this coming. With that said this will hopefully be their last game. Sad since we saw so much potential in their unfinished and unpublished survival horror game “Winter” which many people rallied around in order to find it a publisher. An online petition was started for the game in January of 2009 but nothing has come of its near 19,000 signatures since, pity.
The Verdict: Not Worth it (Avoid like a plague)
Seeing this titles cover art work along side that of its predecessor one will quickly realize that it is the perfect analogy for what Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 really is, an expansion pack for the first title if nothing else. Outside of the fusion attacks and a few new characters the game offers nothing new to fans of the original title including a reason to play it.
When I popped this game in to review it I was psyched initially but quickly floored as I heard the same exact voice work, sound effects and saw the same exact attacks, combos, upgrade system, animations and enemies from the first game unscrupulously reused for the “sequel”. After finishing the first level and experiencing a game ending lockup/crash on top of everything else I felt robbed, literally ripped off. This came as such a crushing blow as I had been looking forward to this game for months only to realize that even at a bargain bin price let alone it’s $50.00 price tag, I couldn’t recommend this game to anyone, even if it was free.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 stands out as a great example of why quality standards should be set within the gaming industry.
09/15/2009 at 11:40 am |
It IS a Wii version though; which would explain a lot of why it’s utter crap. The 360/PS3 versions on the other hand are down right great.
09/15/2009 at 1:27 pm |
That would be true perhaps in the case of the visuals, yes. But what about the fact that 90% of this game is recycled from the last one, that is something that isn’t Wii specific and it’s the biggest thing pulling this title down, so with that said how can it possibly be great even on the 360 or other? Also, the Wii version of the last game was fantastic, so I think that renders your point null and void.
09/15/2009 at 9:41 pm |
Cessate, the only difference between the Wii and 360 PS3 versions is the graphics. ALL the rest of the content is the same. Same story, same characters, same unlockables, same voices, same combos, same enemies, etc….. Maybe it LOOKS better on 360/PS3, but its the SAME game.