Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Wii) Review
When playing Ultimate Alliance, Marvel fans are strongly recommended to carry an extra set of underpants
Its the ultimate! Sorry readers but I just had to say that; in fact it took a lot of effort not to thwart the laws of grammar and type in caps. Theres something about a game with ultimate in its name that pumps you up and gets the adrenalin running, if only until you pop in the disc and find out the game is a turd. For those of you who have had the exclusive pleasure of playing games under such a banner, youll realize that Ultimate Lawn Bowls is in fact anything but. On to Ultimate Alliance though, and we have a game that is truly deserving of that prestigious and godly word. The best way to describe it is A comic fans wet dream. Mario and Luigi? Ratchet and Clank? They can all go to hell. Give me Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America and Thor any day. This is the Ultimate Alliance!
Gesture based gameplay; whack the baddies when you wave to your mum
So, with an ultimate alliance you should be able to flatten any bad guy right? Well maybe not when theres an ultimate alliance of them too. Sorry to disappoint you kids, but Im sure you wanted a challenge anyway. Obviously the story to the game is straight out of a comic book, and thats the way we like it. The game is very true to its comic roots, which is a very enticing aspect for the fans. Although, we know how the greatest heritage and background doesnt make a game great, or even good for that matter. Hell, anyone who has taken the risk of buying a movie licensed game and come off second best will know what Im talking about. Fear not. The developers have taken their hats off to Marvel and made a game that certainly does its universe justice. Oh, and its damn fun to boot.
The game comes under the flag of an action RPG. Under your control at any one time is a group of four heroes from the Marvel Comic Universe. You can switch between them at any time, presuming theyre not dead of course. As you fight enemies, you gain experience and other collectibles that increase the power of your characters and lead to new unique abilities specific to each hero. Of course, youll find all that in the other console ports of Ultimate Alliance as well, so lets focus on the unique aspects of the Wii version, namely the control scheme.
The game uses a control system known as a gesture based interface, by which specific movements of the Wii remote correspond to set on screen actions. Your attacks in Ultimate Alliance are performed using this system. The type of motion has some connection to the attack it is mapped to. For example, an uppercut type attack is performed with a swift raise of the remote, while a trip can be performed with a slide to the left or right. There is also your generic flurry of attacks that can be pulled off by rapidly shaking the controller. By varying the combat strategy and motions a player can effectively and efficiently take on the hordes of enemies. Some attacks even have extra effects such as stunning or knocking back your opponent. The second advantage of variation is that it allows you to build up special attack power more quickly to unleash your most lethal moves.
A superhero game just wouldnt be cool without special attacks.
In ultimate alliance, your special attack trigger is the B button, and while holding it down and performing a specific gesture you can unleash the superpower of your choosing, which is anything from Spidermans web bullets to the fire of the human torch. A lot of these attacks you have to gain as you progress throughout the game and level up and each one inflicts massive damage to your opponents. Apart from the gestures, the C button on the nunchuck is use to jump and fly, while grabbing and blocking is either a shack of the nunchuck or a click of the Z button. The camera is controlled in an interesting manner with the nunchuck. Tilting it sideways causes your top down view to rotate in that direction. Occasionally this does lead to unwanted movements of the camera, but once youve settled into the controls it works a charm.
At first the controls feel somewhat alien and even a little gimmicky, but after a short amount of time with the game many Wii owners will soon adapt to the new control method. The controls are not always 100% accurate and sometimes deviating slightly from the preset gestures will cause your movements to fail to register, something that can be annoying in the heat of battle. When there is a large volume of enemies to clear out waving the controller wildly is often the best way to dispatch them which is not particularly immersing when it happens. The learning curve can be a bit of a handful to begin with, especially for those not yet used to the Wiis control style. However, it goes a mile and a half in making you feel more involved in the game. If youre like me, youll enjoy slashing the controller to get wolverine to claw a robot to pieces. The gameplay does become a little repetitive at times, but ultimately most times youll be immersed and enjoying yourself, and thats what Wii games are all about. The flaws in the motions do tend to ruin this on several occasions however, which is a shame since the game is a shining star at its best.
Wolverine is too manly to care about his looks
Ultimate Alliance is in no way a graphical show pony, however the visuals it has are somewhat suitable for the style of game. Then environments you visit are fairly generic, and since youll be fighting from a top down view, fairly non-detailed as well. The character models of the heroes look alright, as do the enemy villains, although some of the more generic enemies are a little on the simple side. This seems to retain a bit of a comic feel more in line with the original comics, but to be honest it could have been a hell of a lot better.
Just like the super soldier serum!
One of the top points for Ultimate Alliance has to be that all the conversations throughout the game are backed up with voice acting. Your characters will only speak in cutscenes and yell their catch phrases in battle, but every person you talk to will be fully voiced. The voiceovers do well to capture the spirit of the comics and youll instantly recognize and applaud the superhero catchphrases a member of your team will occasionally use after dispatching a particularly troublesome foe. The accompanying level themes have also been suitably selected. In a sense, Vicarious Visions have done a seamless job in representing the nature of the Marvel World from a video game perspective. Basic, but no major complaints here.
Heroes just dont die
Ultimate Alliance is a pretty big game. Not to mention its enjoyable enough to play through on higher unlocked difficulty levels and with different combinations of characters. Marvel fans will want to unlock every costume and cinematic available to catch a glimpse of some nostalgic renditions of their favourite characters. There are even some comics to unlock. Perhaps the best thing about the game in regards to replay value is the option for up to four players co-operatively. When getting together with a group of mates, taking the game for a spin with all your favourite characters is always a good way to spend some time. Either way there is plenty of value in this game, especially since it has a lower retail value than most Wii games. At $79.95, its a bargain and perhaps the best value for money on the Wii right now.
Buy it or the bad guys win
In essence, this has quickly become one of my favourite Wii titles of the initial launch batch. I would most certainly rank this as one of the more recommended titles to get with your Wii purchase. It doesnt matter if youre not into the comic characters, (but its a must buy if you are) the game has the content to back up its official licensing. Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a great Action RPG that takes full advantage of the Wiimote. The game is certainly not perfect, in either control scheme or presentation, but what we have here is a title that proves to be ultimately plain good old fun. This is a port after all, and the perception of the Wii controls being tacked on isnt completely at fault. Only the imagination can tell us what this game would have been like had it been exclusive to the Wii.
