Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

There’s no doubt that last month’s exemplary Batman game, Arkham Asylum has forever raised expectations when it comes to superhero-themed videogames. In a sense, this works against Marvel’s latest entry to the genre. Its Saturday morning kid’s TV script, firework-display superpowers and bright colours jar against with Arkham’s dark, brooding tone and weighty design. This is the kind of comic book-to-videogame adaptation gamers are more used to, all button-mashing fury, cardboard cut-out villains and intermittent technical failures. Yet, despite our mild disappointments, there’s still fun to be had in any world in which you take control of a team consisting of Spiderman, Wolverine and Ironman.

Players familiar with the first Ultimate Alliance will be well prepared. This sequel does little to upset the steady rhythms established by the first game, which had you traipsing through many of Marvel’s well-known locations, banging enemy heads together before facing off against classic villains. Once again, you have a staggering selection of Marvel heroes to choose between when selecting your team for a mission including favourites such as Storm, Venom, Deadpool and even the Invisible Woman. Once in game, you can switch freely between each in the field, the AI (or friends if you’re playing the game’s excellent co-op mode) taking care of your teammates.

Most of the characters control in similar ways, each with two types of melee attack that can be strung into long combos and interspersed with throws and super attacks. Characters have access to up to four superpowers, whose usage is limited by a fast-recharging power bar and can join up for devastating all-new two-hero ‘fusion power’ moves, which invariably have bad guys cart-wheeling around the screen like puppets with their strings cut. Sadly, there’s very little of Arkham Asylum’s more thoughtful combat here and, much of the time hammering away at the attack buttons will see you through with nary a need for a block, parry or counter.

Technically, the game is a mixed bag. While better looking than its forebear, AI characters will sometimes get snagged on scenery or caught in awkward, flitting animation loops and the game’s often plagued by slowdown. Likewise the story, which takes more than a few liberties with the Marvel mythology, is a slight letdown. The dialogue, while interactive in that you’ll often be asked to select answers to character questions, is vanilla and uninspired.

A final mark against the game comes from the neutering of the RPG element that worked so well in the first game. While you do level up your characters as you progress, you no longer find and equip new gear as you progress, and the performance-enhancing medals are limited to team-wide effects.

Nevertheless, this is still a generous package, with a sizeable campaign to play through and an enough diverging points in the story to warrant a repeat playthrough for the inquisitive. A bonus Marvel trivia quiz will test the fanboys while a host of well-structured standalone missions bulk out the game yet further. It’s not the most nuanced, polished or interesting of games, but as a one-dimensional celebration of comic book brashness, it’s worth your time.

3 out of 5