Marvel Ultimate Alliance
It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a video game. Heck, It’s been a while since I’ve played a video game. But as the school year thankfully and sadly (seeing as I’m a senior) came to an end, I found some time (and took some liberties) and decided to get and start a new game. That new game is Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
Admittedly, I did not think the game would be this fun. I knew my brother had it and enjoyed it, but I had no strong urges to play it. It was picked up kind of on a whim, which is why I have it so late after it came out. However, the game is incredibly fun. You pick and choose your team of four Marvel heroes, switching them out whenever you have the opportunity. You start off with Wolverine, Spiderman, Thor and Captain America. Unless they were incapacitated, I’ve kept Wolverine and Spidey in the whole time. My other two favorites so far are Human Torch and Thing. Deathpool and Storm are also very good choices. The first thing I really like about the game is the team management. If you keep a set of characters together a lot, they learn to work together. It’s also up to you to give them upgrades and spend the money you pick up wisely to get the best team you can. (Also, I was able to unlock the symbiotic suit for Spidey. I cannot wait to upgrade that baby!)
As far as game play goes, it’s pretty good. The controls are easy to use and intuitive, but not so simple you can’t do really cool stuff. I personally like the combos you can do with other heroes on your team. Movement, jumping, swimming (there is an Atlantis level) and fighting are easy to do. I love flying with Human Torch and swinging with Spidey. The graphics are amazing. The people at Raven/Activision stepped up the graphics for the 360, which is excellent because the game looks great. Multiplayer is awesome. Me and a couple of friends played together yesterday and it’s well done. They just join in and are now part of your team. The only complaint of have about that is you can only advance so far apart from each other. It’s tough sometimes when you are in a big battle and you can’t move in a certain direction due to the fact that Player 2 is in the other corner.
Finally, there is the camera view. I think the developers made the best choice here with how the camera moves and how you can control it. With a team of four, there isn’t much other choice, and while sometimes the over-top view can get a little annoying at times, it’s the best option and usually works well. All in all, I really love the game and have been playing it pretty obsessively. I haven’t really played this much since around November, when I got Gears of War.
