When Dr Doom threatens humanity can Marvels favourite superheros
Over the years many superhero games hit the market. As they come and go they seem to just be another attempt to advertise there latest movie. With not much ambition actually coming forth in the games; this time it’s different though, there back, with the ultimate alliance.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a hard hitting superhero RPG. You assemble your team of up to four superheros from a series of Marvel franchises. Then take the action to the extreme. You can switch between your selected four heroes at any time in the game, just by hitting a direction on the D-pad. Certain battles call for different heroes to put there best foot forward. So don’t think you will be keeping the same formation for the entire game. The game begins as your onboard the S.H.I.E.L.D hellicarrier as it begins to get attacked by Dr Doom and his minions. But before you have much time to do anything the game throws you straight into the action. You begin to fight of the waves of minion as you reach the control room to see Nick Fury and find out what is happening on board. Before long the plot unveils and you make you way through the world uncovering secrets, traps, boss battles, unlock new heroes and find the true meaning behind Dr Doom’s evil plan.
Activision really hit a long awaited homerun with this title. You begin with the team of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Thor. As you progress through the opening battle you reach an S.H.I.E.L.D Access Point. These allow you to change you team, save game and Extract yourself to base. There are several of these throughout each level. So no needs to worry about what team you pick at the beginning of each segment; you have plenty of opportunities to change your team as you progress.
You will have a fair selection of heroes to choose for your team, so you shouldn’t have any trouble forming the team that mostly suits your style of play. There are 20 heroes to choose from. Heroes such as Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Cyclops, Venom, Storm, Thing, Iron-man, Dr Doom, Spiderwoman and much more. When your team consists of certain heroes it triggers a team bonus. For instance if you have all members of the X-Men in your team you will get a bonus, these bonus’s can be anything from 10% extra damage to “coin multiplier”. Coins are another way to power up your hero. You can exchange your coins to power up attacks etc.
At first glimpse this game wouldn’t come across as a RPG game. But as you play you realise your characters level up as you gain Experience points (XP). You can gain XP from enemies you have defeated or answering Trivia questions at your head quarters. The higher your level the easier and less shots it will take to kill a enemy or defeat a boss. So levelling up is key to success. But as you alter your team you may change you’re levelled up hero for a hero which hasn’t been levelled up at all. Thus making level progression harder; so remember to plan ahead.
Once the story mode ends in this game, it is by no means the end of the game. You go back to main headquarters and then have access to go to any mission again and play through it again. Or play through some training simulators to unlock some more outfits, scavenge for coins and find unlockables such as action figures which can unlock more heroes to use at your desire. This game is also a very online friendly game. This allows you and 1-3 other players to team up online and go through and tackle story mode together. You can also help each other level up and go through the training missions together to unlock more outfits for your characters.
Overall this is a very enjoyable game and should not be underestimated by any Xbox360 owner. It has so much potential for a sequel and has superb graphical limits. The replay value is also the very attractive/compelling thing about Marvel it is great value for money. Which modern day games seem to lack.
