Marvel Ultimate Alliance

by ACTIVISION

Product Features

• Experience the full scale of the Marvel universe with a combined cast of more than 140 popular comic book characters -- choose from 20 playable Marvel Super Heroes, unlocking more as you progress
• Universal team Upgrade system - Balance your heroes' powers, or customize each member to maximize their effectiveness
• Outfit your heroes with a vast selection of power-boosting equipment, create a team name, team icon and team vehicle, and establish your team's reputation as the story progresses
• Change the course of the game - The missions you accept, the objectives completed, and how you interact with other characters throughout the game will have a direct impact on the storyline
• No-holds-barred combat - Fight while you're airborne, submerged underwater, even out in space! Multiple combat tactics and accessories available - grappling, charge attacks and a destructible environment, where lampposts and chairs become dangerous weapons

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000G7YX4G
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 24, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,182 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #13 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Role-Playing
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation 2

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance lets you create a four-member strike force of Marvel Super Heroes. If you had to assemble a team of the best heroes, who would you pick? Choose wisely, because this is an alliance for the ages -- the team you create will face incredible evils, from the most exotic locations on Earth to the neighboring solar systems. Partner, battle and interact with more than 140 characters from the entire Marvel Universe, in a multi-mission quest with an innovative combat system. Command the largest roster of Super Heroes ever, as you determine the fate of a universe. Compete or cooperate online - coverge in battle against legendary villains, and Switch between cooperative and competitive mode to partner or challenge 3 other players

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ad on a gaming magazine caught my eye and i never looked back, October 25, 2006

By 

Shann Yu "Go Rice Owls!!!" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Video Game)

First off, I'm no hardcore gamer. Like the title says, I just happened to be browsing some gaming magazine when the ad got me. Being a big fan of the comics, I decided to give it a try. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want to be able to pair up Spidey with Iceman and The Human Torch and whoever catches your fancy? And the game delivers a lot of punch in many ways.

GAMEPLAY: Campaign mode is pretty straightforward. You can walk through the entire thing and it makes for a lot of gametime. It is kind of reminiscient of the Ninja Turtle series from back in the 90's where you pretty much follow a straight map (except in this case, there are some side rooms that you can explore in each level), kill some enemies, get to a minor boss, kill more enemies, then get to the final boss. Obviously, you have to expect the occasional roadblock - 'What am I going to do to get past this flaming doorblock?' situations where simple puzzles can come in play, but overall, getting through levels is a sort of linear kind of thing. The whole game probably takes about 15-20hrs to beat on normal. But then you won't necessarily unlock all the superheroes, so I guess that's what keeps you going. You unlock hard mode after beating normal once. GRADE: A

THE RPG ELEMENT: Activision markets this as an action/rpg game, and while there is lots of action (as I mentioned, the Ninja Turtle game flashback it brought me), there are elements of RPG. Whenever you pick up 'money' on the map and level up, you can spend points leveling up character skills and abilities. The items you equip your characters with will also matter in the same way. The system is rather straightforward and being my first game from the 'series' (apparently this is the successor to some XMen Legends game?), it did not take me long to learn about where this element kicks in. GRADE: A

THE CO-OP ELEMENT: Co-op is awesome and I definitely prefer that to playing alone. You can team up with 1-3 of your friends for some 2-4 player co-op. While camera views can be annoying at times, you can easily tell that the programmers put a lot of time into making co-op gameplay here really smooth. One weird thing about this though, at some points you unlock the game's idea of secret levels (by picking up random comic books that appear on levels), which involve one main character (which one player plays) and enemies which are, surprise surprise, not controlled by the AI if you've been playing co-op. Kind of eliminates that whole challenge feel to it if you look at it in one way. GRADE: A+

GRAPHICS: Almost comical. Not as in funny comical, but as in like the comic books. Obviously, this being a PS2, I shouldn't expect next-gen graphics. And I didn't. Heck, the cinematics looked awesome. But for the most part, gameplay graphics were pretty tight. Not realistic nor stellar like in Shadow of the Colossus, but smooth enough such that any gamer won't complain too much about the game not taking advantage of the PS2's potential as far as graphics go. I found some of the animations rather sorry, like the lime green-ness, almost-to-the-state-of-previous-gen-ness of the Fin Fang Foom, but other than that, I really don't have much complaints. GRADE: B+

STORY: Any game that can capture the essence of every superhero's personality while at the same time painting this captivating story as it unravels gets my props. Although sometimes, in the middle of a mission, the small things that go wrong that you and your group must fix up, these things can make you lose sight of the big picture. GRADE: B+

COMPLAINTS:
- Dialogue is kind of key in this game for the most part. At times dialogue pops up in the worst time (immediately after a fight) such that I found me or one of my friends mistakenly hitting the 'continue' button (X) right through the dialogue as if the fight was still going on (X = the attack button).
- Reviving characters: So in battle, if one of your group gets KO'ed, there's a resting period. When the resting period is over, a message pops up saying that the character of interest is fully rested, but instead of letting him/her pop out just as if to rejoin the group, you always have to get to some save point to activate that character again.

---
Once again, being not that hardcore of a gamer, I can't really say much in the way of in-depth game reviews. But here's the bottom line:

- This game is definitely one to be played co-op. My brother and I grew up playing these types of games and having hours and hours of fun together with these (heh... Ninja Turtles).
- Don't get this if you're looking for straight RPG. True, there is an RPG element, but not as much in the way of world-exploration and stuff that have surrounded some of the world's best RPGs.
- This game is mission-based, with different levels separated into 5 acts that will load from your home base. Think Splinter Cell or soldier FPS games where you have one level, side missions that pop up when things screw up, and then an overall mission goal that must be beaten for you to return to home base.
- Nevertheless, it is loads of fun and I definitely think paying the $40 for it on release day was worth every cent.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The comic fan's dream come true, December 2, 2006

By 

Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Video Game)

Over the years, video games based on comic book heroes haven't fared well. Name one good Batman video game, I dare you. Spider-man has had the biggest success rate in recent years, and the Hulk had a pretty good entry last year, but beyond that you're stretching things a bit. When X-Men: Legends came out a few years back, it was the start of a positive trend. Now everything has been set perfect by Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Taking a roster of over 20 different playable heroes, MUA allows the comic book fan to create dream teams never considered before. A-List heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, the entire Fantastic Four, and Iron Man are joined by B-Listers like Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, and even Blade. Imagine a team with Wolverine, Blade, Ghost Rider, and Deadpool...who could stop you? There are even those mega-powerful heroes like Thor, Silver Surfer, and Captain Marvel you can throw in. Oddly missing from the line-up is the Hulk, but I'm sure they had to save someone for the sequel.

The storyline is simple: Doctor Doom has amassed an army of super-villains in an attempt to gain the power of Odin. Nick Fury of SHEILD gathers his own group of super folks to fight the threat. That's where you come in. Create your team from the roster available to you and go one the missions he sends you on. Along the way, you see cameos from characters you'd never have believed you'd ever see in a video game.

Imagine a video game with twenty "Non-Playable Characters" (characters showing up in cut scenes or computer-controlled). Now scratch that, and imagine a game with 120 of them! Heavy-hitters like Galactus even make an appearance! In one mission, you actually have to save a planet he's destroying. I can't even begin to list the villains and heroes you'll see. Suffice it to say, you probably won't recognize them all, but if you're into comic books your mouth will drop at some of them. The cut scenes in this game are good, but some are just plain amazing. One in particular with Nightcrawler in Doom's Castle actually proves he just might be the best fighter of all the X-Men. It's a scene you'll be watching again and again.

To top it all off, the heroes you control have different costumes to choose from. Choose wisely, because these aren't just cosmetic changes. Each costume changes the primary powers of that hero, so while Spider-man may look cool in his normal "red-and-blues", putting him in the black symbiote costume (the one showing up in all the trailers for the new movie) will change the way that character fights. The costume choices here are amazing too, as some of the most obscure costumes you could imagine show up center stage here. Remember Blade's very first green costume when he showed up in comics in the 70's? How about Storm's mohawk years? Captain America's World War 2 costume, Daredevil's red and yellow suit, and even the original "cowboy version" of Ghost Rider are playable here.

As a final bonus, you can create and name your own team, populating it with whatever heroes you'd like. As you fight with your group of four, you gain reputation points which eventually allow you to add more members to your team. And you can even play with four people at a time, so everyone on the team can be a real person and do some massive damage to the enemy armies.

So which cosole is the best to play this on? PS2 players get the short end of the stick with only 20 playable heroes. Next-gen consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions get two bonus heroes (Moon Knight and Colossus). In the handheld circuit, the PSP version gets four extra heroes (Hawkeye, Captain Marvel, Black Widow, and Ronin). The only downside to the PSP version is that there are times when so much is going on you can't really tell which hero you're controlling. The PS3 version wins as far as detail in display. You can actually see the threads in Spider-man's costume! I've played the game on all consoles, and have to rate the next-gen version the best.

The beauty of this game is its high replay value. Because you can swap team members up and each has such distinctive power sets, the game can be played in an almost infinite number of ways.

Easily my favorite video game of the year, MUA is a title no true comic fan should be without. With such an incredibly strong start, it's hard to imagine how they'll improve on it with the sequel, but I can't wait to find out!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ten stars all the way! A truly spectacular game...a breaking point for Marvel!, November 8, 2006

A Kid's Review

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Marvel Ultimate Alliance (Video Game)

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is everything I could hope for in a superhero game and more. It has great gameplay and an ONSLAUGHT of characters! It's just plain awesome.

You start out on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, with Nick Fury sending out a signal to all available meta-humans after Dr. Doom and the new Masters of Evil attack. Spider-man, Captain America, Thor, and Wolverine respond, and become your first team. At the beginning, you have the aformentioned four, plus Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, the Thing, Elektra, Deadpool, Luke Cage, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Storm, and Iceman. As you proceed, you can unlock Black Panther, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Blade, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, and Nick Fury. It's all the characters a comic-book fan could love and more. Then there's the range and scope of the game. The graphics are far improved from the X-Men Legends games, even though it's not as good as the new 360 (personally, there's not much difference between this and that.) There's a horde of NPC's and villains, from the obvious, like Dr. Doom and Loki, to the shady, like Shocker. The game gives you choices along the way, and each choice affects the future of Marvel universe, as revealed after the ending cinematic in a series of videos presented by Uatu the Watcher. The gameplay is highly similar to the X-Men Legends games, with maybe a few enchanments here and there.

The thing I really love is the powers. X-Men Legends felt like too little, Legends II was WAY too much, but this is just right. Every power feels unique. And watching all your favorite characters come to life rocks to. I would have appreciated more focus on the X-Men, particularly those whom we briefly glimpsed in a cinematic (Emma Frost, Shadowcat, Gambit, and Beast fit the bill nicely.) but I like how Colossus, Psylocke, and Cyclops were turned evil and you had to fight them. Some really huge characters are missing, like Magneto, the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom. Those would have made good comic book missions. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are also noticeably absent, as well as mainly the entire Avengers battiliton (they're mentioned plenty, of course) and the Hulk cousins. Okay, Hulk appeared unconcious in the same scene as those X-Men. Sue me.

The use of environment was stunning. Standing on the floating rocks in Asgard, looking at the stars in the sky and the abyss below you, was simply amazing. It's even better if you fly one of your characters over it. Also, FLYING DOESNT CONSUME ENERGY!!!!!! ITS GREAT!!! Such an improvement over the Legends games. Spider-man can even web swing.

I mentioned before how I thought the X-Men were poorly represented in character. Definately not in locale. The X-Mansion is gone, and in it's place are the Shi'ar empire and Murderworld. Now that's classic X-Men. I would comment on the Avengers and FF bits, but as I don't read those regularly, I don't know much about them.

That's the final thing that makes this game great. You could have never touched a comic book and you could jump in here and be hooked. In fact, it might even seem funner because it would be so original to you.

TEN STARS ALL THE WAY, BABY!!!

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