TheChez.net

by Hydro033

The Marvel Universe makes it return to all gaming consoles with Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. The new title was based upon the recent comic story arc, Civil War, which pit Iron Man vs. Captain America in a political struggle to register superhumans (i.e. no more secret identities, they work for the government). Now, bear in mind this is the Wii version, which has become synonymous with “shittier than the PS3 or X-Box 360 versions,” but let’s keep an open mind and dive into this sequel.

My friends and I recently tore through Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (the first one, check out the review here). While the game had good depth, character customization, a stellar cast, tons of upgrades, and tons of equipment, the whole game just felt like a comic geek’s messy room filled with merchandise from all over the Marvel Universe. The game had a lot of content but it was sloppy, the story was a complete disaster, and the objectives were vague. We were frustrated more often than not, especially if someone died. I can safely say that the sequel did eliminate most of my frustrations, if not a lot of the depth that the original had as well.

Now, since I read comics, this Civil War story was familiar to me. Some young superheroes fucked up, tons of people died, and now the government wants them all to register. Iron Man sees it as a good idea and a natural progression for superhuman-human relations. Captain America views it as an assault on his Civil Liberties (he will have to unmask after all). It makes the game interesting to follow, much unlike the previous game. Sadly, this does limit your character selection (which is already not so great) because you’re forced to choose a side. Not that big of a deal since only a few characters get restricted and you can also go back and play the opposite force anyway. Sometimes, I found myself using a character that I knew was on the opposing force though, it was strange but I really didn’t care. The cast is pretty limited and not as exciting as in the last game. The Wii pretty much had a crappy port of the 360 and Ps3 version, which was also used on the PS2, figures, Wii owners get screwed again.

The story flowed a lot better this time around. Nick Fury is an important to the plot, but no one seemed to care about him too much. It was more about the conflict between former allies. The game was pretty linear and straight-forward, but I would have rathered it this way. The previous title was too damn confusing. There was great voice-acting, Nick Fury vocally briefed your mission, then you got dropped in and started kicking ass. That’s all I wanted, kicking ass with my friends as a bunch of superheroes. Fortunately, everyone leveled up at the same rate this time. The drops were equipable medals which I thought was an improvement over the confusing character specific equipment of the first title. The upgrade screen was also a lot better. Instead of the first player choosing the upgrades for everyone, a split-screen came up and everyone can upgrade their heroes as they please. It was much better than before, but for some reason I couldn’t use my analog stick nicely – I’m not sure if it was a game glitch or my controller, but it worked fine in other menus.

Thank the heavens that they got rid of the stupid motion controls. Wow, that was totally lame in the last title. I hated it so much. So often did we accidentally set-off our supermoves and use the incorrect power. This time around, button presses activated the basic attacks and the control pad performed the super powers. It worked great. To activate the fusion powers (more on them later) you have to hold a button and swing the nunchuk. I had it down, but my fellow superfriends did not like it as much since they could not perform it so well. We died a lot, but this game allowed revives without stupid time limits and we didn’t have to find those damn blue portal things either. It was an easier game, but much more enjoyable.

My Cheers: The game was straight-forward; it was more of a brawler with RPG elements rather than the reverse, which I preferred. The superhero moves were good, the story was good, and the voice-acting was much improved over the volumes of text of the last title. The cut scenes were pretty damn cool as well. I did like the hacking minigames and other things that were thrown in to mix-up the gameplay. No motion controls! Yay! The graphics were also pretty good. Cap didn’t die.

My Jeers: The fusion powers were a new, unwelcome addition to this game. They were absolutely useless. Every time we used them, we lost. Whenever we didn’t use them, but instead used the built-up stars to revive each other, we won. So, we never even used the stupid, unimpressive fusion powers. The character selection was limited, the game was short-lived, the presentation was a little off, and some things were unintentionally funny. Where are the costumes? And why didn’t the screen fit my tv properly? Was this only in 16:9? I couldn’t read some text, what gives?

Overall: I thought this game improved over the first title. Many critics did not believe so, but I did. My friends and I were frustrated much less this time around. Less menus, less text, more ass-kicking. The previous title may have been a better solo experience, but I don’t think that is what these games are about. We had much more fun this time around even though the characters were more limited. So, if you’re a fan of Marvel or even just of superheroes, this game will be a good experience for you and some friends, but I recommend waiting until the price drops.

1.5 Chezwicks