Does the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance match up to it's spiritual predecessor "X-Men: Legends"?
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Although the story is probably pretty good from a normal stand point, from the one of a comic book geek, it's not that great. The main issue is that they attempt to throw every single villain into one story, which doesn't work too well. How can Dr. Doom be affiliated with every villain on the face of the planet, and still take on Odin by himself? Still, it manages to present a messy story in a very organized way, which takes most of the negative aspects out of context.
CHARACTERS: 10
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Spider-Man? Check. Fantastic Four? Check. A huge variety of awesome, yet lesser known heroes? Big check. MUA brings you a nerdgasm of characters to play, each with different powers and personas that translate from the comic books perfectly. Their affiliation with the story is a little random, but that doesn't deter from the overall greatness that is Deadpool.
GAMEPLAY: 8
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The gameplay is a nice blend of beat 'em up action and dungeon crawling levels, which paces the game greatly. The birds eye camera view can sometime be a bother, and you will occasionally experience problems with viewing your character, but they never frustrate and they never take away from the experience. The powers are also a great aspect of the game, and a wide variety will mentally force you (in a good way) to try every single character.
GRAPHICS: 7
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During the cutscenes, breathtaking. During gameplay, understandably mediocre. Even though that all the character models are good looking, and only contain smooth outlines, a lot of detail seems to be missing from certain parts of the game, and it is hard to put your finger exactly on what it is. But as I briefly mentioned before, it is understandable since the camera is always at a birds eye view of your characters and levels.
MULTIPLAYER: 7
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Multiplayer is absolutely necessary in a game like this, but it isn't the greatest. It is still fun to fight the forces of evil with a friend, but it seems that a lot more could have been added to it, instead of just putting a second player. Still a great co-operative game, though.
SETTING: 7
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Like the multiplayer, the levels are good, but there is a lot they could have improved on. All the levels are extremely varied from one another, but the actual level itself can prove to be quite repetitive, which can cause some boring periods. There are a few levels which use the allotted environment perfectly, and some levels are actually amazing, but the repetitiveness of most brings the overall score down.
AUDIO: 7
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Sometimes you will hear some great voice acting and hilarious conversations between characters. Most of the time, you will pick a line of text to say to the bad guy. The whole idea of having "special conversation" (yes, they call them that in the game) seems quite lazy, and you have to choose specific people to join your party just to hear little "special conversations" between people, which is kind of a nuisance. But, when you do get those conversations, they are pretty freakin' awesome.
TECHNICAL: 7
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Camera issues, freezing, characters getting stuck, things not getting activated. These are a few of the things that you will probably experience when playing this game. Unfortunately, they are not minor problems, and will hinder your experience with the game.
RE-PLAYABILITY VALUE: 9
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Finding all the collectables, unlocking all the characters, using all the characters, and just wanting to re-play the game. These are the many great reasons you will want to come back for more super powered action.
FUN FACTOR: 8
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I can criticize the graphics. I can criticize the technical issues. But only one aspect really matters, and that is how fun it is. It's pretty damn fun. Beating up people with a different array of powers never gets old, does it?
SCORE: 7.6 (B)
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Amidst a technically and creatively messy game lies a fun and memorable adventure, where I guarantee you will play as your favourite heroes for at least 50 hours. Whether it's replaying the same level over and over again, or experiencing the game with a friend, you will have a blast playing this game, despite the multiple issues. Oh, and if your still wondering, it does more than match up to "X-Men: Legends", it exceeds it.