Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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56 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lives up to its title!, October 28, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I am having an absolute blast with this game. It combines old-school arcade beat-em-up madness with RPGish character advancement, a fantastic story, and let us not forget a roster of some 140 classic Marvel comics characters, 24 or so playable. Then, of course, there is the much-hyped option of creating and naming your own superhero dream team. You start out with four heroes of your choice and the more you team these characters up on missions, the more experience and prestige your team gains. This leads you to upgrade your mighty force with great stat bonuses and an expanded roster. Cool, cool stuff if you're a fan of comics or superheroes in general. If you're a wise gamer, you can send any of several Avengers line-ups, the X-men, or the Fantastic Four along with a few other "secret" combos into battle together and receive special team bonuses as a reward. There are also some awesome sequences where your team all use their "extreme" powers at once. Picture this: Blade throws several vials of his serum into the air, shooting them so they explode into a deadly mist that damages the enemies, Spiderman then swings across the screen blasting every foe with webbing and ensnaring them as they are still recoiling from Blade's assault, Deadpool leaps into the air, flipping sideways in slow motion as he sprays the villains (now ensnared in webbing) with twin SMG's just as the Human Torch starts raining fire and Brimstone over the whole screen. That, my friends, is some hardcore superhero a**-kicking.
The story will take you throughout the Marvel Universe to other galaxies, under the sea, to the realm of the gods fo Asgard, and even to the depths of Mephisto's hellish underworld as you battle the Masters of Evil, an ambitious coalition of supervillains headed by Dr. Doom himself. The extra missions you complete (or don't) during the course of your journeys will all affect the game's ending; so though you may have saved the universe, depending on what side missions you did or didn't complete you are shown the future that has been created by your actions or lack thereof. My first time through, for example, I did much good and brought peace between some former enemies of humanity and helped defeat many future threats, but the combination of events that came about because of some details I neglected during gameplay doomed some of my favorite heroes of all in the end. I've never seen a story mode handled quite like this and it's very rewarding and really adds to the replay value of the game. All right, on to the characters. It would have been nice to play as the Namor, the Vision, or [insert your favorite obscure Marvel hero here], but the playable roster is an impressive combination of legendary mainstays like Spiderman, Wolverine, and Iron Man and hardcore fan-pleasers like Dr. Strange, Moon Knight, and the aforementioned merc with the mouth, Deadpool. Heck, even the cosmic power of the Silver Surfer is yours to command so who's to complain? Furthermore, you now have the option of downloading even more characters from xbox live including Venom, Magneto, and the Hulk as well as 5 others. There are tons of legendary Marvel villains and heroes that are MIA (no Punisher? Doh!), and some minor fanboy complaints about the upgradeable uniforms (why is Spidey's symbiote costume less powerful than his original cloth one?), but that just means that there is still room for this awesome franchise to get even better next time around.
Fans of the "X-men Legends" games will find the gameplay more than a little familiar (see: nearly identical) and will find some favorite characters from those games playable as well, but with some new tricks. You gotta love Colossus picking up enemies and using them to club their comrades; that's just good times all around. There are also interactive segments, mini-games if you will, that are pretty fun and look cool as hell. Running over psychotic clowns in a bumper car springs immediately to mind; and several of the larger boss battles and other situations have button sequences that need to be pushed as they appear to perform context-sensitive moves that look cool as hell. Then there's those games of old-school "Pitfall", and "Arkanoid" you play in Murderworld... Plenty to do in this game. You'll also earn several unlockable (and upgradeable!) alternate costumes for each hero and solo (or "comic") training missions for the playable heroes in the game if you can hunt down their discs. These missions are a godsend and allow you to learn each individual hero's abilities outside of the chaotic team battles and engage in some memorable duels with classic villains (Elektra vs Bullseye: round 2? You know you want it!). I only wish that each character's missions were a little more customized; they all consist of one of the same four or five levels with different bosses at the end.
Some of the cutscenes in the game look unbelievable (there is a Nightcrawler sequence that rivals the one in the 2nd X-Men film) while others are rather unpolished. The voice acting is spotty at best, but several of the character's voices closely resemble their animated counterparts and it's fun to hear your heroes banter during battle (Deadpool, unsuprisingly, even has wisecracking as one of his special powers) and the graphics during gameplay are a massive improvement over "X-Men Legends", so there's really very little to complain about.
Online multiplayer also looks to be a big draw this time out. I haven't tried it out yet, but from what I've heard there is 4-player cooperative where everyone shares and shares alike, and competitive where your baddie-stomping statistics are tracked for bragging rights and to the winners go the spoils. You can even play the comic missions with one player as the fearless hero and the rest of the players controlling the hordes of enemies. The fun just keeps on coming.
This is one of those games where, even after you've beaten it, you simply can't wait to start it over and play through it in a different way. Personally, I'm relishing every action-packed second and whether you're an average gamer who loves to mash buttons and kick tail, a hardcore comic geek looking for an epic adventure featuring your favorite heroes, an RPG fan who enjoys lots of customization, or just a person looking for a game you pick up and play with your friends at home or online this is that game. Buy it, own it, love it.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Game, October 29, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, an adventure game for the 360 that allows CO-OP play with your buddies or family and lasts longer than 3 hours. It is nice to play these games with my son versus on-line with strangers. The game is very content rich with a lot to do. I have actually been playing since I got it and I am still not done. Yes, we like to do everything there is and this game has a lot. It really is nice being able to play with so many characters from the Marvel Universe. Seeing Ghost Rider was a plus for me.
As another said, the controls are exactly like the X-Men games. Sort of nice not needing to learn anything new. Load times are actually pretty good and overall graphics during gameplay are good as well.
If I had any complaints they would be the ease of play at times. Many boss fights are too easy. Just stay off screen at the doorway to the room, and they just stay back and do nothing. Just stand there and shoot until dead. Not all are like this, but many are. Also, the cut scenes always have the original four heros in them and they talk like they are in the adventure. Even when you pick four others. Spidey gets on my nerves!
For the overall lack of great games for the 360, this is a must have.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The comic fan's dream come true, December 2, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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!
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