Three years ago Raven Software gave us Marvel Ultimate Alliance, an action RPG game that featured many of our favourite super heroes. Now its the developers Vicarious Visions turn to deliver another solid action game. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (MUA 2) takes on a slightly more realistic story this time round as it involves politics which manages to split the super heroes, dedicated followers of the Marvel comics who are familiar with the Civil War storyline will recognise many of the events that occur. Those who experienced the first game will instantly be at home with MUA 2 as it the set up and controls are largely unchanged.

Gameplay:

The combat feels almost exactly the same as before, which means a lot of button bashing, pulling off three button combos and special attacks. Newcomers to the game will be eased in with a tutorial, although even veterans will want to pay attention to a new ability – Fusion powers. The deadliness of such attacks are made clear in the introduction video as Iron Man fires a blast shot at Wolverine which gets deflected in all angles, hitting and knocking out multiple enemies. At first these seem like a great new addition to the game, useful and they look awesome, but they are the only addition combat wise. Fusion Powers can be gained and a maximum of two stored, any time the super heroes land a hit on an enemy, the Fusion bar will increase slightly and when it's full a glowing star will indicate it's ready to unleash. The type of attack will vary depending on which character the player is using and which hero the player decides to pair up with. There are also 3 categories of attacks, one which can deal massive amounts of damage to a small radius (usually for bosses), another which hits many enemies at once and a guided one where the player runs around and anything that is unfortunate enough to get in their path will be punished and usually disposed of depending on the toughness of the enemy (standard soldiers and robots will stand no chance of course). Successful Fusion attacks will be rewarded with a health bonus, so using them is encouraged and necessary at points on the harder difficulties, but they must be used wisely.

No doubt most players will use combos or the right trigger special attacks, but like before there is also the ability to grapple enemies and either punch them in the face or throw them from a height to their death, as well as jump attacks which offer a damage radius. The combat looks great, the super heroes look natural as they throw punch after punch and finish it off with a nice uppercut or kick round the side of the head. There is no blood, but the sound of metal weapons or claws slicing into enemies armour is satisfying enough. Experience points can be restored from destroying crates or from fallen foes, the same with health. The experience gained level up the characters and give points which can be used to upgrade attacks and attributes like more damage or increasing maximum hit points. The game gives the option to add or remove available points at will, so if you spend a bunch of points upgrading one attack, they can be removed and spent elsewhere at any time and with no penalty. Playing the game on the lower difficulty wont offer much of a challenge to most average gamers, and in order to unlock the hardest setting the game must first be completed on the medium or hard equivalents. Some of the challenges in game offer achievements, but another incentive are unlocks, such as new costumes.

Given that the story splits the alliance, which puts Iron Man against Captain America, the game makes the player choose a side which means about a third of the game is not available on one play through. Those looking forward to fighting their favourite villains might be left a bit disappointed here thanks to the whole Civil War thing. My Marvel universe knowledge is no where near as good as hardcore fans, I was expecting the usual villains but was left scratching my head at who some of the people throwing insults at me were in the boss battles. There are some interesting boss fights which break up the levels, although most are just a straightforward land as many punches and fusion attacks as possible. The normal enemies to fight during the levels are perhaps even more disappointing at times and combat can get a little messy and confusing which was one gripe from the first game. There's a clear lack of variety, its pretty much a robot or a soldier using hand-to-hand or someone shooting you from a small distance away, they don't seem up for much of a fight either. Sometimes the screen will be packed full of people to take down, this may sound like fun but with the 4 super heroes plus a distant camera view means you can be looking at your screen just guessing which character is yours for a few seconds or more as you get swamped. It's a great time to use a clearing fusion attack, but this isn't an option every time. Although most of the levels are designed in a way that it's clear where to go, if you find yourself lost or looking for the objective clicking the right stick will highlight the way forward. Simply following the track though will mean missing out on pick ups and bonus content, so exploring is encouraged. As well as swapping heroes on your team at almost any time during the game from the start menu, a simple press of the d-pad allows you to choose one of the characters on the screen. During single player, the enemy AI will choose whichever super hero the player is controlling to pick on, this means that if you get overwhelmed unfairly, just quickly selecting another character is almost like giving yourself a health boost as the friendly AI rarely gets knocked out.

Graphics:

The visuals are a bit more detailed and look a little sharper this time round. There's also noticeable improvement on the character models, although most of the time the camera is too far away to notice such details. The environments feel more varied this time round as levels take place in labs, the streets of Washington and the jungle. Compared to the last game there seem to be fewer cut scenes and they also lag behind in quality, the opening movie in MUA 2 pales in comparison to the action packed intro in the first game. The quality of cut scenes may have been reduced, but the awkward camera issues remain. Sometimes the screen will zoom out to an angle where all that can be seen is a wall or some piece of equipment which completely blocks the view, which can be rather frustrating at times.

Sound:

The music in the game is up to scratch, although none of the characters themes are involved the game does a good job of fitting in with the super hero scenario. The action sections will be accompanied by some rock music which is acceptable and almost expected for this type of game. In true comic book fashion the heroes are also eager to spill out their one liners and they even change with the game depending on the progress of the story. Anyone who groans at cheesy Hollywood pro-American type dialogue might be put off by some speeches though.

Longevity:

Thanks to the option to choose from two paths in the main story, the game should be given at least two playthroughs to get the different content. Unlocking the Legendary difficulty will retain the characters stats and offer a more rewarding challenge as well as those achievement points that so many strive for. The single player should take perhaps around 7 hours to complete depending on the players skill. The game also offers a co-operative mode with up to 3 other players both off-line and over Xbox Live. Given the number of heroes available and the different upgrade options, the re-playability is definitely one of the game's strong points.

Overall:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is fun to play and has some commendable features, however it feels like it's not quite hit the mark when compared to the first game. The visuals look a little more polished and the fusion attacks might be cool to watch, but the same gameplay formula remains which coupled with the lack of variety in regards to enemies can sometimes make the game dull. I was personally disappointed at the storyline, the whole political situation and the serious mission briefings felt more like something from a Tom Clancy game than a Marvel comic. There's a large roster of playable characters but don't be surprised if you fight the same boss twice, and a not very high profile one at that. It's unlikely gamers who disliked the first game will find anything here that will be enjoyable. I'm confident fans of the first game however will find a lot here that they will happily get involved with, but will soon realise that overall quality has degraded in parts, helped in part by the fact that there has been no change at all for some areas.