Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2

 DS
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 5 out of 11
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  1. cub317
    Sep 16, 2013
    3
    Before I really begin my review of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, let me just say one thing: this game totally sucks! Everything about this game from beginning to end is just plain awful. Okay, admittedly not everything in this game is bad. It does have a pretty good story, which is taken from the Marvel comic book Civil War. This basically depicts a superhuman registration act (forcingBefore I really begin my review of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, let me just say one thing: this game totally sucks! Everything about this game from beginning to end is just plain awful. Okay, admittedly not everything in this game is bad. It does have a pretty good story, which is taken from the Marvel comic book Civil War. This basically depicts a superhuman registration act (forcing the heroes to tell the entire world their secret identities) that splits the superhero community right down the middle. Some heroes joined Iron Man's side, who have registered their identities with the government. Others joined the side of Captain America, believing that registration is wrong and unfair. This starts a civil war between the two sides. This is an excellent story, and I was looking forward to seeing it in a video game. However, this is only part of the story, and it only lasts for about a third of the game. This is unfortunate, as I was looking forward to more epic battles between heroes. There is one other good thing about this game however, as it does have a pretty good amount of Marvel characters to play as. You can play as fan favorites such as Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and even the Hulk. However, depending on who you side with in the Civil War, you will only have access to about two thirds of the characters during this segment of the game. Even after the war, some characters can still not be played as. While the story and characters are alright, everything else about this game just isn't. The game attempts to mimic the dungeon crawling style of Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo franchise, thus making the game an overhead RPG. This is executed very poorly however. For one, if you ask me, leveling seems to have little to no effect. Even after I leveled up a few of my favorite characters, the attacks still did about the same amount of damage as before. However, that's not even the worst part about the gameplay, not by a long shot. Another problem is that the only way for your character to access his special moves is through the Nintendo DS' touch screen. This gets annoying very quickly, because for a lot of characters, you will constantly have to move your character to aim by using the DS control pad, which makes special moves tedious and nigh unusable. The game also adds something that was not in the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance, or at the very least claims to. These are called fusions. They are basically what happens when two heroes come together to combine their powers, and create an attack that destroys everything in its path. However, the heroes don't really combine their powers, at least from the ones that I have seen. It's basically just the same as two heroes executing their super moves from the original Ultimate Alliance at the exact same time. The controls of this game are also hard enough, even with the special moves and fusions only being accessed through the touch screen. I have lost count of the amount of times that I have gotten the controls mixed up in this game. Moving on to the graphics of this game, all I can say is that they are terrible. Nothing in this game really looks right. They all look too pixalated, even by Nintendo DS standards. However, the absolute worst thing about this game is its replay value. After you finish the game, there is nothing else you can do but start again. This might be good if you want to see the other ending (there are two endings for both sides of the Civil War) if you have not already. However, if you want to unlock something by playing the game again, don't even bother. This game has literally zero unlockables. There are no extra missions, no extra costumes, there aren't even digital comic books. The closest thing you get to an unlockable in this game is random upgrades scattered for your character's stats. However, since I already stated leveling has little to no effect, there is pretty much no point to getting these. So that's my review of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. All I can say is do not even waste a dime on this game, especially when there are so many much better games out there. If you want to play a good RPG, go out and buy The Elder Scrolls Skyrim or Fallout 3 for your PC or Xbox. As for this game, it is just plain awful. It is not even worth a rent. Just stay as far away from this game as possible. Heck if you still want a Marvel RPG, there are even better ones of those two. You'd be much better off buying the first game on the Xbox 360, or X-Men Legends.… Expand
  2. BillS.
    Sep 15, 2009
    10
    Huge variety of characters and very fun.
  3. Marsonra
    Jul 4, 2014
    3
    Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Back in the day, I used to play a lot of Nintendo DS. This was before I got into Steam, and suddenly regarded the PC as my favorite gaming devise. This was kind of a slap in the face for Nintendo, as it suddenly meant I wouldn't be playing their games, or even games made by other developers such as this on their consoles anymore. Not long after, I got anMarvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Back in the day, I used to play a lot of Nintendo DS. This was before I got into Steam, and suddenly regarded the PC as my favorite gaming devise. This was kind of a slap in the face for Nintendo, as it suddenly meant I wouldn't be playing their games, or even games made by other developers such as this on their consoles anymore. Not long after, I got an Xbox 360, and all of a sudden, I totally forgot about the Wii and Nintendo DS. In any case, this is a bit of a retro review for me. Anyways, I got this game for my birthday in 2010, being the Marvel Comics fanboy that I am. So, is this game worth having for any comic book fan, or will it make you feel like you would rather have just read the comics instead? Let's find out. For starters, this game is an action RPG featuring everyone's favorite Marvel Comics characters, including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, and Iron Man. Each character has their own powers, abilities, and super moves. On paper, this sounds like an excellent idea. However, does this idea work? Unfortunately no. I'm sure it works alright on the console versions of the game, but I wouldn't know as this is the only version I have. As for the Nintendo DS version, it might work if the controls were only better. However, the controls for this version are so terrible, that playing this game makes me feel like I'm hamstrung. Probably the biggest problem with the DS version is that you have to use the touch screen to access the special movies. This wouldn't be a problem, but most of the special moves require more than just touching the touch screen. Often times, for example, you have to tap the A button repeatedly to do certain special moves as well as keep holding the special move icon on the touch screen, which gets annoying really fast. Because this is an RPG, of course leveling up is a key aspect to the game. However, the leveling system is so confusing in this game, that I honestly had no idea where I was even supposed to begin with leveling up my characters. It isn't impossible to level up your characters, it's just really hard to understand how. However, it doesn't even matter. As far as I'm aware of, leveling has little to no effect on your characters. I went through the entire game without even leveling up my characters once. Believe it or not however, there are even worse parts about the gameplay than this: it is boring as heck, and it is way too easy. It is not redundant like Call of Duty, but often times, I found myself fighting the same enemies over and over. This not only made the game too easy, but it was also too boring. It was so boring that I didn't even care for the story at all. However, the worst part about the gameplay is that there is absolutely nothing to do after completing the game, but to start again. There are no collectibles, no special comics, no trophies, nothing. The closest thing you get to a collectible is a gizmo that helps level up your character. However, I have already mentioned that leveling has no effect, so there is literally no point to these gizmos. They may as well not be in this game at all. In the end, the gameplay will be terrible no matter what. As for the graphics, they are okay for the DS, however, they generally lean more towards bad graphics. The characters all look like how they should, however, they all look so pixelated and ugly at the same time. None of the characters in this game look appealing to the eye, even if they look similar to how they do in the comics. On top of that, there are also characters that are hard to tell who they are unless you go up and talk to them. The environments look every bit as ugly as the characters, with bad fire and explosion effects, and other issues. In the end, while the graphics are okay, they generally lean more towards bad graphics. As for the story, it is the best part of this game, however, even it is still terrible. It is taken from the Marvel Comic's Civil War storyline. At first I was happy as it would finally be brought into a video game. However, the way they present it is terrible. The characters aren't developed at all, the partially animated cutscenes don't totally show what is happening, and it just made me want to read the comic instead. In fact, that's what everyone should be doing instead of looking up if this game is any good. Overall, this game is terrible. Take my advice, and don't waste your money on it, especially when there are so many much better superhero games out there.
    Gameplay: 2/10
    Graphics: 4/10
    Story: 4/10
    Overall: 3/10    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

84
#84 Best DS Game of 2009
67
#67 Most Discussed DS Game of 2009
32
#32 Most Shared DS Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. RPG Fan
    75
    When all is said and done, your satisfaction with the DS version of MUA 2 will rely in large measure on what you expect going in. The game is relatively short, but you're supposed to play it more than once.
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  2. GameZone
    70
    While adding more than enough super powered friends and foes to keep Marvel fans happy, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the DS is a surprisingly entertaining handheld action game.
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  3. Cheat Code Central
    74
    That rant out of the way, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Nintendo DS is a fun game that has the most to offer when played cooperatively. The biggest flaw, beyond the minor aforementioned annoyances and distractions, is when you boil it all down this is a game intended for the consoles and that is where it excels.
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