While Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 doesn't exactly break the mold as far as game play goes, it doesn't have to.
The latest action RPG from Marvel and Activision relives the Civil War storyline from the comic books a couple years ago. In it, the government forces masked heroes to register their secret identity with the government.
Those who don't — including Captain America — become fugitives on the run from the law fighting for what they think is right.
In the game, you have the chance to choose a side, the pro-registration side lead by Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic or the anti-registration side, fronted by Cap and his ragtag group of heroes.
The premise is a great one. Who wouldn't want to run around beating up goons before getting your hands on Marvel's most venerable characters? However, it took about an hour's worth of gaming (without deaths) to get to the actual meat of the storyline. The beginning, essentially, was a giant tutorial providing some back story.
Once you finally get going with the game, it's pretty simplistic. Fight armies of similar-looking and acting thugs before fighting a villain or hero, depending on which storyline you chose.
The game is exactly the same as the last one, but adds "Fusion Powers." They allow you to team up with another hero on your four-person team to pull off moves that attack multiple foes and really dish out the damage. (For instance, with the Thing and Wolvering, the Thing swings Wolverine around launching him into enemies)
If you played the first game, or either of the two X-Men incarnations and didn't think highly of them, avoid this game. If you're really into comics, though, this game is about as good as you can get. It's packed with characters and a comic book-true story.
The graphics are pretty decent. It's nothing to blow you away, but they're smooth and true to the comics. The voice work is average, at best. Use the same character throughout the game and you get pretty sick of hearing the same lines over and over.
Overall, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 might just be worth a rental, unless you're a hardcore comic book fan. Fortunately for me, I am.
