The first thing you notice about the Wii version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is the quality of the cutscenes. These cinematics are truly impressive – even with the Wii’s outdated 480p resolution, everything looks great, from the high-detail characters to the stunning environments to the special effects. Indeed, these are the very same cutscenes that Xbox 360 and PS3 owners see, albeit with fewer pixels. Initially, it seems like Activision delivered a terrific follow-up to the well-regarded Wii version of the original Ultimate Alliance.
Even once the action starts, it takes a little while for this first impression to wear off. For a Wii title, the in-game graphics are decent; the characters look like they were torn from the pages of their respective comic books, the environments are presented with a nice blend of cartoonishness and realism, and the special effects really light up the screen. The music and sound effects capture the heroic, action-packed vibe of the game. The basic controls are simple and effective, with attacks, special moves, and character switching mapped to buttons rather than motions. The beat-’em-up/RPG hybrid system, in which you punch out enemy after enemy in order to level up your characters and abilities, is intact. Those who want a straightforward action experience can have their abilities automatically improve, rather than of assigning points to their favorite techniques. There’s one- to four-player local co-op.
Also, the story will have comic-book fans (and fans of good storytelling in general) salivating. The tale draws on the Secret War and Civil War stories, widely recognized as some of the best in the series, and features tons of famous Marvel characters (26 are playable, though you have to unlock many). At the outset, you control a team of superheroes as they invade Latveria, a country apparently hostile to America, without the American government’s permission. They defeat the country’s leader, Lucia von Bardas, but she comes back to life as a cyborg and plants a bomb in Manhattan’s Times Square to retaliate.
They manage to defuse the bomb, but naturally the government is not pleased about the fact that renegade superheroes almost got the Big Apple blown to pieces. That, coupled with a superhero-caused explosion in Stamford, Ct., provokes Congress to pass a law mandating that superheroes register with the state, dividing the superhero population into those who register and follow orders (including Iron Man), and those who refuse (including Captain America, which is probably some kind of political statement). You choose sides at this point, taking one of two different paths. This adds some replay value (to get through once, the game takes close to two work days), as do the various side quests.
Unfortunately, the longer you spend with this title, the less all this will impress you, because the gameplay simply does not live up to expectations. A variety of small problems add up to an overall experience that feels clunky and unwieldy.
Take, for example, the game’s big new feature, Fusion Attacks. The concept is brilliant: when you build up four Fusion Stars and activate a Fusion Attack, your character teams up with another to unleash some serious damage (not to mention some impressive graphics). Each combination of the characters creates a different attack, meaning that there are almost countless ways (250-plus) to smack bad guys around. The controls for this move, unfortunately, are remarkably sloppy. You initiate a Fusion Attack by holding Z and shaking the Nunchuk, which rarely works on the first try. Then you select the second character by pointing the Wii-mote at the screen, which is a pain. Some of the attacks even require you to keep pointing in order to direct the attack, which can take you by surprise.
Another very noticeable problem is that the computer-controlled characters, both friendly and hostile, are stupid. Your allies like to bunch up around you as you travel, making you rudely push them out of the way. Sometimes they help you fight enemies or break objects, but other times they stand around helplessly. The same goes for the enemies, who often stare blankly until you whack them a few times.
Also, the action doesn’t feel as frantic as it should in a good beat-’em-up, and there’s little sense of momentum. The reason for this seems to be that the animations are very slow; a single button press locks your character up for some time, putting the brakes on the fighting. This also means that it’s hard to time your attacks and blocks, and as a result you’ll find enemies hitting you while your animations play out. This doesn’t make the game impossible, but it makes the too-frequent difficulty spikes even tougher – at the outset, to be fair, you can choose between three difficulties.
Speaking of tough parts, this game makes a mistake that’s a little too common in games today: it lets you revive downed allies (at the cost of a Fusion Star). This is fine in a game like Gears of War or Rainbow Six Vegas, where you only have one or two friends to worry about. When you have three or more allies, however, it interrupts the game too often. The hard sections become not merely difficult, and not even frustrating, but simply irritating, because whenever you get yourself in a pinch you end up spending all your time reviving instead of fighting. It’s tempting to die on purpose just to start over. Here, the characters have long enough lives that this doesn’t ruin the game on its own, but on top of everything else, it adds to the overall mediocrity of the title. It doesn’t help that you have to go through the whole Fusion process (hold Z, shake the Nunchuk, and select your unconscious allies with the Wii-mote pointer) to perform a revive, either.
There are a few minor issues as well. For one, you can’t play with friends online. Also, the breakable items take too long to give in to your punches. A few of the cutscenes seem to be exclusive to the Wii version, and are replete with aliasing and poor texture work.
Lots of Wii owners were excited about this title, and for good reason: its predecessor was a great example of what Wii versions of next-gen games can be. Unfortunately, they’ll be sorely disappointed with what the developers churned out this time around. Despite the acceptable graphics and high-quality story, this one’s not worth your while.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.8 Graphics
Most of the cutscenes are the same as those in the next-gen versions of the game, and the in-game graphics are decent for the Wii. 3.2 Control
The basic controls are great, but the Fusion Attacks, a major part of the game, are a major pain to execute. 4.7 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music and sound effects capture the heroic, action-packed vibe of the game. 2.8
Play Value
The bottom-line is that it’s not very fun, for a variety of small reasons that all add up.
3.3 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: