Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Marvel Ultimate Alliance is one of, if not the last, great entries in Activision, Raven Software’s Marvel video game series. I recall playing X-Men Legends and being drawn into this gameplay and encompassing story that these games offer. X-Men Legends 2 Rise of Apocalypse was also a good sequel to X-Men Legends. Then Marvel Ultimate Alliance came out. Where the X-Men Legends games focused on the X-Men (as the title suggests), but Marvel Ultimate Alliance focuses on a larger roster and larger scale: the Marvel Universe. The story centers on Nick Fury forming a team of heroes from all corners of the Marvel Universe to face Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil. The heroes (and some villains) journey from one side of the Marvel universe to the other to stop Doctor Doom and his pursuit of power. The team mechanic (consisting of four members like X-Men Legends) is always enjoyable and like in X-Men Legends 2, the teams are awarded bonuses if the teams resemble certain groups (the Avengers, X-men, Defenders, Fantastic Four, etc.). Usual upgrade options are available with SHIELD tokens as the source of currency. No more health potions and energy potions all of that is converted into orbs that serve the same purpose albeit instantaneous. The voice acting is good, although there are some supporting characters who are voiced by some pretty bad talents…or maybe they were just hamming it up. The ability to impact the future of the Marvel universe is in your hands as the game has alternate endings should you make or refuse to make specific choices in the game. The game also set up a very interesting premise for a sequel….but instead the developers decided to adapt the Civil War storyline from the comics for the sequel……to incredibly mixed results.

Rating- 5/5