by: Dakota Grabowski

June 26, 2007

After the X-Men Legends series, I lost a little faith in Raven Software’s. Originally, I liked their work on the two Star Wars titles – Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy were decent games that warranted a full play through. Maybe it was because of my high hopes for an X-Men related RPG, but Raven didn’t deliver the RPG I had imagined with my favorite comic series. When it was announced that Raven would be attached to the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance title, my enthusiasm waned.

What could Raven offer with their third go around with the same formula? Immediately after inserting the game, it became apparent that Raven decided to take a serious tone with the graphics and ante up the roster of superheroes. Is this enough to guarantee happy comic book and RPG fans? No, but it’s a step in the right direction.

How do the controls carry over? They are tighter then what they were with the Legends series, yet a few problems still occur. The problem lies with the camera. It will automatically spin around on players, a few boss battles zoom in and the top-down view is eliminated, and characters still get lost off the screen.

The characters themselves all mimic what their comic book counterparts would do in a video game, but they all don’t feel authentic. The Hulk, a downloadable character, feels incredibly weak and useless when he ought to be full of rage and strength. Storm, once a beast of a character in X-Men Legends, doesn’t transition well into Marvel Ultimate Alliance with being toned down. A few characters are utterly inadequate until late in the game such as Elektra, Blade and Colossus. Elektra, pathetic in every stat category, should be off-limits due to how ineffective she is on the battlefield. Blade is slow and is not the badass he should be. Colossus suffers from duplicity with similar characters such as the Hulk, Luke Cage and The Thing being better with the same abilities.

There are few things Marvel Ultimate Alliance does right – specifically the storyline. The storyline is cohesive and intelligent; it is comprehensible on top of that. Besides a few mishaps, such as minor villains being misused, Raven Software put together an interesting storyline that should hold the player’s attention.

Outside of that, the graphics are much better than the cartoon approach found in X-Men Legends. They don’t leap out from the television and grab everyone’s eyes in the room, but they get the job done. The audio is better than what I expected, but the voice-acting is spotty with characters being voiced by the same actor a few times. At the end of the game, it will be hard to tell the difference between a few villains by the voices alone

This has to be the biggest conglomeration of superheroes in an action title to date. If quantity is what gamers are looking for, then Raven Software surely delivered. The quality of the product is above average and has a lot of high moments to experience. Overall though, the game becomes repetitive and monotonous. If there is one thing to be remembered about Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, it has to be the ability to play as Daredevil, Hawkeye, Deadpool, and Silver Surfer. The fine collection of characters helped encourage me to finish the game and all the achievements.

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I recommend a weekend rental; a rental that goes along with three friends to complete the game with. With all the characters included, it no doubt deserves the attention it has earned. Though, beware of the misuse of villains and characters in the game. I am deeply disappointed with how Blade and The Hulk have been represented.

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