Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Quick Impressions

I picked up Marvel Ultimate Alliance for the XBox 360 yesterday, based on a number of very good ratings from IGN, Team XBox, and GameInformer (see this Metacritic link for a summary). I like this game a lot, it's good, cheesy fun for Marvel Comics fans. The opening cinematic featuring the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier under attack by the Masters of Evil is excellent--if they could stretch this into 90 minutes, they would have a fantastic movie. Your first mission is to save the Helicarrier from blowing up with a team consisting of Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. You will see Nick Fury quite a bit in this game, because he's directing your attacks against the Masters of Evil, and he's got some secrets of his own that he doesn't want revealed. Besides that level, I've also played through a S.H.I.E.L.D. roving laboratory (under attack by AIM) and the Atlantis level where you have to rescue the Sub-Mariner. As soon as you're done saving his bacon, Namor rewards you by telling your team to beat it! Another level has a throwdown against MODOK, where he asks you trivia questions--if you miss them, your team gets a little electrical shock.

Soon after you start playing, you can choose different team members. When I selected Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Ms. Marvel, I got a special Avengers notice, with extra bonus points for damage. There's also a special bonus (resistance to damage) when you select the Fantastic Four. I really get a kick of playing Captain America, because you can throw his shield around and use it as a ranged weapon to take out numerous enemies. Thor and the Thing are both pretty cool because they can take out really strong enemies. It's even fun to play around with Sue Storm--just make her invisible and she's a great stealth attack player. I'm disappointed I can't have my Defenders dream team with Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, and the Hulk. Namor is an NPC and ol' greenskin is not listed anywhere.

Not everything is great. Some of the reviews are talking about how fantastic the graphics are, and I don't see much difference between this and X-Men Legends (although I just have a 480p TV). There's some graphical glitches, like Captain America floating and flickering above the ground when I was walking in a certain area. In some of the big boss battles (against creatures like Fin Fang Foom and the Kraken) the camera pans away so far that you can't really see your characters that well. Certain things don't make sense, like the Human Torch using fire powers in Atlantis! But I think if you're a Marvel Comics fan and you like video games, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is great fun. If you get it for XBox 360, you will rack up achievement points in no time. Nuff said.