Giant Bomb Review
33 CommentsMarvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review
4- X360
- PS3
by Ryan Davis on
It trades its predecessor's goofy fan-service enthusiasm for something approaching relevance and seriousness, but MUA2 still packs a superhero punch.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 borrows much of its story and tone from the Civil War event that took place in the Marvel comic books a few years back. The central premise here is that, after a careless superhero-related disaster that cost hundreds of civilian lives, the US government decides there's been enough collateral damage and clamps down on all the unsanctioned superheroics with the passing of the Superhero Registration Act. While the pro-registration heroes see it as a necessary means of establishing accountability and regaining the public's trust, the anti-registration heroes see it as nothing short of a fascist attack on civil liberties. It's a security-versus-freedom parable that, at least in the Marvel comics, really resonated in a post-9/11 world.
I'll admit that I'm personally disappointed that MUA2 chooses not to pursue the cosmic cliffhanger left by the first game, but the Civil War concept is a strong one, and a terrific justification for pitting your favorite Marvel heroes against each other. The problem with its implementation in MUA2 is the way it pulls its punches with the story. While it's true to the Civil War's brother-on-brother turmoil and unlikely alliances, MUA2 ultimately uses the Civil War as setup for a more far-fetched and less satisfying crisis. The sole respite from all of MUA2's seriousness comes with the presence of Deadpool, the Merc with the Mouth, as a playable character. His fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans and free-floating psychosis bring some color to the proceedings, and ultimately made me wish there was more silliness of this nature in MUA2.
The nature of the Civil War story means that you'll be squaring off against other heroes more often than you will proper villains, and the locations you'll visit are comparatively less fantastical than those found in MUA. You'll still take a trip to recognizable hotspots like Latveria, Wakanda, and the Negative Zone, but much of your time is spent in less colorful military and industrial locales. The Civil War story also necessitates that, after the game's first act, you choose whether to follow a pro- or anti-registration act path. For a time, this limits which heroes you can use, and the story splinters in kind, though you'll visit the same locales either way, just from different perspectives.
Experience is earned through combat and spent on upgrading your heroes' stats and abilities, though heroes that aren't in use still earn experience. You can jump between any of the four currently equipped heroes on the fly when playing solo, and there's support for up to four players both online and off. Additionally, you can swap out any heroes you're currently using on the fly at any time, rather than having to wait until you hit specific checkpoints. These features encourage you to experiment with different combinations of heroes often, rather than just sticking with the same quartet throughout.
While MUA played almost exclusively from a bird's-eye, three-quarters perspective, MUA2 is much looser with the camera, allow you to get closer to the action, and locking the perspective when it needs to. Like the environments, the heroes have a grittier overall look, and there's no shortage of over-the-top visual effects. The heroes are plenty chatty, with lots of one-liners during combat and simple dialogue options in between missions, though the voices aren't always spot-on, and the one-liners repeat more often than they ought to.
It's hard not to let the experience of the first MUA color the expectations for MUA2. By those standards, MUA2 isn't as exciting a game, largely due to the choices it makes with the fiction. On its own, though, this is still an enjoyable action RPG romp that makes good use of the Marvel Universe in its own way.
