The "greatest Super Hero action/RPG of all time" is back with the world’s largest army of heroes and villains in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. Incorporating elements of the acclaimed Marvel Civil War storyline, the game allows players to choose their side and team up with revered heroes and villains, including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Deadpool, Venom, Green Goblin and Captain America. Players can combine characters’ powers and unleash astonishing new attacks.

Gameplay

The original Marvel Ultimate Alliance game had some of the tightest and most extreme beat ‘em up gameplay action of any action RPG. So it would not be a big leap to expect the same level of gameplay in its highly anticipated sequel. Sadly the gameplay is lighter on the role playing aspects and just not as tight on the action side of things but it is still fun to play if you can look past the shortcomings which is not that hard to do but I honestly should not have played the original before the first because it felt like I was missing something.

A big Comic Book Hero video game cannot have just a few characters on the roster and as far as comic book rosters go, Marvel Comics has the best roster of heroes around. A cast of twenty four (more coming soon I am sure) that includes Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Daredevil, Spiderman, Nick Fury and more all show up in this new Marvel game. Each using their specific powers, skills and abilities to battle the enemy forces that are coming up against them in the various levels set around the world in some massive battles.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has one wild new action command which you can pull off in battle and it can easily turn the tide of the fight from certain defeat to a crushing victory and that is the use of Fusion Powers. Fusion Powers is when two super heroes combine their powers and unleash a massive attack against a specific enemy or group of enemies to cause an insane amount of damage. Such as the most shown and certainly one of the better attacks when Wolverine and Iron Man hook up and blast all of the enemies around Wolverine by reflecting Iron Man’s Repulsor beam. This is a great maneuver to use when you are outnumbered 5 to 1 and you need to beat down the enemy quickly. Not all of the Fusion Powers are as fun or work as well as Iron Man’s and Wolverine’s but that is where picking the best group of Heroes for your group comes in. Know your strengths and use them is key to winning the hard fights in MUA2.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance was and still is one of the best four player Co-op games on the Xbox 360 and to be honest that is saying a lot. The four player Co-op here is just as fun and with experienced player knowing their character’s strengths and weaknesses, plus when to use their Fusion powers is important and adds to the games staying power as a long term game.

Graphics

Graphically Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a good looking game with some nice effects, animation and level design. There are a few minor issues in the game such as some of the generic NPC’s you will deal with just look horrible compared to the great looking Marvel Hero Alumni. I was shocked at some of the great level design and effects that the game had then to have it followed by some really bad level design for the odd level following it. The good parts of the game graphics do outweigh Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2’s poor graphic issues.

Audio

For the most part Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has some very good audio work. Most of the voice work is great and all of the sound effects and the great music is simply perfect for this type of game and is action hero beat ‘em up sounding perfecta. But I do have to say that some of the voice work just does not seem to suit the characters. Nick Fury sounds great like he smoked 5 cigars and drank a 5th of Bourbon before recording his lines, but Spiderman sounds like a 10 year old boy and Wolverine just went through puberty and is trying to sound grown up. This is certainly not a bad thing because the rest of the game is fun, but expect some annoying voice work.

Value

If you owned the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance you will certainly know the value of the series. We probably put in two hundred hours of gaming in the original and I have to say we will probably get the same or more from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 in the long run. The value of this super hero game is super high.

Bottom Line

While Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is not as good as the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance in many ways it is still a game that action gamers, RPG fans and those comic book fans will love if they can look past its flaws. I have to admit I did expect more from this game, but it was a riot to play through from start to finish. This is a must buy.