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jj4c's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (360)
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| [February 8, 2008 11:27:35 PM]
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[Gameplay]
For the second gaming session I played online co-op with three of my buddies. While the game was still the same old tired formula it was a much more enjoyable experience. When we all combined our attacks to unleash nifty special effects on enemy’s faces; I can honestly say those moments made up for some of the previous disappointment I had felt for the game.
We switched over from regular co-op to competitive multiplayer for the remainder of the session. The prospect of beating my friends served as a good motivational tool to continue playing this mediocre title. On a positive note, the unlockable alternative costumes for each hero/villain turned out to be really cool.
[Design]
There was very little innovation in terms of gameplay mechanics. The combat system was a rehash of old hack-n-slash games with a few alterations. The story was nothing new for the comic book world with a generic villainous attempt to conquer the universe. The only interesting element was the ability to combine special attacks to create even bigger and highly stylized attacks for dealing with a multitude of enemies on screen, but even that has been done before in variations.
The graphics were very subjective as Raven Software did away with the cell-shaded look of previous installations (X-Men Legends I and II). The collection of heroes and villains amassed for this title was impressive even if some of the roster slots felt wasteful (Elektra?). The constant collection of orbs and coins was more of a nuisance than a reward. Lastly, the RPG element of the game was also nothing new (allocating points to various skills/attacks), but it served the game well adding some replayability to the title.
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| [February 8, 2008 10:53:10 PM]
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[Summary]
Developed by Raven Software, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an action-RPG of the hack-n-slash variety whose main story revolves around the formation of an emergency hero squad assigned to prevent Dr. Doom from destroying the universe. Players can choose from a large collection of Marvel comic’s heroes and villains in the formation of their four man squads (whose members can be human/computer controlled). These squads will be used to battle through spawns of enemies and “epic” boss encounters with familiar faces from the Marvel universe. There is also the option for competitive multiplayer in addition to co-op.
[Gameplay]
I decided to play through the main story mode solo, and after forming my own superhero team (named Blue Velvet) I got underway. The novelty of cutting though hoards of enemies with superheroes lasted a good thirty minutes before it became tedious. As with most button-mashers this game required very little skill, instead opting for mindless violent entertainment.
My AI controlled teammates served as little more than decoration as they just ended up getting in my way. The boredom of button-mashing was then intensified by the mundane level and mission designs. Don’t superheroes have more urgent matters to attend to? Do they need to be flipping switches and pushing blocks to solve lame puzzles?
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jj4c's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (360)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 8 February, 2008
GameLog closed on: Saturday 9 February, 2008 |
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