Technology

Activision's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is the sequel to the successfully and critically acclaimed Marvel: Ultimate Alliance from a few years ago. It is available for $59.99 for pretty much every gaming platform. How does it compare to the original?

Follow up:

I was a huge fan of the original. At the time it was my absolute favorite game and I couldn't wait for the sequel. If you liked the first one, then there is no reason you won't like this one - because it is essentially the same game, with a new story and improved graphics (well, except for the cinematics, surprisingly, which aren't as beautiful as they were in the first game). The cinematics appear a little inconsistent. The first is reminiscent of the ones from the first game, but subsequent scenes seem to have been purposely rendered to be more in line with the in-play game graphics. It's still great to see these great characters come to life, though.

The voice acting is less successful. Some voices fit just right, like Captain America, but others are slightly off (i.e. Deadpool) and some are just plain awful (i.e. Thor).

The key story that the game is being marketed by is that it is built around the Marvel event from a couple of years ago, called Civil War. That was a story in which after a few disastrous events involving superheroes, the government passes the Superhero Registration Act. This splits the heroes into two factions. Iron Man leads the heroes that believe they are obligated to obey the legislation and Captain America leads the heroes that believe the act is wrong.

The Civil War is actually only the middle act of the game. The first Act is adapted from an earlier Marvel comic story called Secret War and the third Act is a new story. For the second Act, the player has to choose a side and that limits the heroes available to them and alters the objectives they need to accomplish (during Act 2). This was one disappointment I had - the gameplay doesn't affect who wins the Civil War. If you successfully complete Act 3, your side wins, even though Act 3 is unrelated - a little odd.

It is a surprisingly short game, to get through. My playtime was around 8 hours. I'm going through a second time on the other side, and the differences there plus the ability to play different characters reduce the repetition.

As I mentioned, I absolutely loved the first game, and I think this one receives less enthusiasm from me because of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Arkham Asylum let me pretend I was Batman - this game is too arcade-y to allow you to pretend you are one of the heroes. Not only are you playing four characters, from a distant camera angle, but in order to get XP and health points, the player has to destroy objects in your path (i.e. crates, soda machines, windows, etc.) It doesn't feel very heroic to be running through Washington DC smashing up soda machines.

Another unappealing aspect is that much of the game has the player running through various complexes fighting endless waves of nameless, faceless robots - and when I say waves, I mean WAVES - sometimes 20-30 on screen at once. That makes the combat a little mindless. Just a constant mashing of the 'X' or 'O' button. Strategy and technique only really come into play with the bosses. None of the bosses had the personality shown by the bosses in Arkham Asylum. In Arkham I was creeped out by the Scarecrow and actually frightened into an adrenaline rush by Killer Croc. None of that was true, here. The atmosphere of the game is more like a classic arcade style game than the immersive experience of a game like Arkham.

One of the few places where personality does shine through is with the character of Deadpool. Although the voice wasn't quite right - he does provide a lot of comic relief to the game. Spider-man was surprisingly quiet, this time. I remember him having a lot to say in the original game, but it seemed like the only times he spoke up, in this game, was to say "My spider-sense says I'm going to die!"

Maybe it's unfair to compare this game to Arkham. I'm sure if this game had come out first I would have been more excited by it. It is a fun game and lets the player interact with a lot of great Marvel Comics characters. It's also a sequel, which means it loses the perks of originality.

The Best Buy version includes a code to unlock the Incredible Hulk, for play.