Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Developer(s)	Raven Software Vicarious Visions Beenox Studios Barking Lizards Technologies
Publisher(s)	Activision, Interchannel (Japan)
Engine	Vicarious Visions Alchemy
Platform(s)	PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, Wii
Release	Xbox October 24, 2006 October 27, 2006 November 1, 2006 PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 & GBA October 24, 2006 November 1, 2006 November 3, 2006 PSP October 24, 2006 December 1, 2006 December 6, 2006 Wii November 14, 2006 December 20, 2006 December 22, 2006 May 17, 2007 PS3 November 17, 2006 March 23, 2007 March 23, 2007
Genre(s)	Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an action role-playing game, previously referred to as Marvel Legends, the game is set within the Marvel Comics superhero universe and features appearances from many of the superheroes, supervillains and supporting characters that feature within the comic books published by Marvel, with 140 character appearances in total.

Story

The game starts with Dr. Doom having recently formed a new Masters of Evil. The new evil alliance launches an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha and Nick Fury sends out a distress call to all available metahumans, or super heroes. Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man and Wolverine are seen responding to the call. After saving the helicarrier, Nick Fury is given permission to start a task force to fight this new threat and Iron Man gives them permission to use Stark Tower as their headquarters since the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier U.N.N. Alpha was badly damaged by the Masters of Evil.

The first mission of the newly formed group of heroes is to investigate an odd message received from Dum Dum Dugan on the Omega Base, a S.H.I.E.L.D. mobile research facility. The player must fight through awakened Super Soldiers, AIM troopers and the supervillains M.O.D.O.K., Crimson Dynamo, and Mysterio so that they can prevent the Omega Base from crashing in to a dam and the Masters of Evil from launching several gamma bombs.

The next mission for the heroes takes them to Atlantis, where the inhabitants are being mind controlled by Attuma who has usurped Namor the Sub-Mariner from his throne. With the help of nano-technology that enables them to breath and move freely underwater, the heroes are able to save Namor and defeat the evil usurper. After defeating Attuma, the heroes meet with Mandarin deep in the catacombs. He escapes with the "Tome of Asarius", but unleashes the Kraken, which the player must defeat in order to complete the mission. The player is then sent to The Valley of Spirits to confront Mandarin, where they encounter and recruit Dr. Strange. After finding and defeating Mandarin, it is revealed that he had attempted to take command of the Masters of Evil and, upon failing, left the group. He suggests that the Mandarin they saw in the catacombs was Loki, God of Mischief.

Due to Loki's involvement and Nightcrawler and Jean Grey's kidnappings the heroes move their headquarters to Dr. Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum. The team learns that Professor Xavier has tracked Nightcrawler to Castle Doom, but upon trying to transport the heroes are sent to Murderworld by a spell of Baron Mordo. After defeating a mind-controlled Jean Grey the heroes confron Arcade, the master of Murderworld. Upon defeating the game fanatic the heroes learn from him that Dr. Doom has used Nightcrawler to gain access to Mephisto's Realm. The team is then sent to Mephisto's Realm. Upon arriving, minions of Mephisto kidnap Jean Grey and Nightcrawler. Blackheart, one of Mephisto's minions, puts them in separate cages above the Infinity Vortex. The player is faced with the choice of whether to save Nightcrawler or Jean Grey. One of them must be saved and another sacrificed, before the team can defeat Mephisto.

Using the Super Soldier Serum, stolen from the Omega Base, a massive army of Super Soldiers attacks Asgard and imprisons the Asgardian Gods. You travel to Valhalla to liberate it from its invading force and defeat the Wrecking Crew so that Bifrost Bridge can be opened. Later, The Twilight Sword is found to be shattered, having been used to take Odin's powers. So the player is sent to free the Destroyer Armor, to use against Dr.Doom. It is revealed that you were tricked in to freeing the armor for Loki. The heroes defeat Loki and the armor, but Dr. Doom appears, and reveals that he has stolen Odin's power. He uses it to try and kill the heroes, but before they can be killed Uatu the Watcher, saves them and transports them to the base of the Inhumans on the Moon. Uatu reveals the only way to beat Doom is to find the M'Kraan Crystal and steal the Muonic Inducer from Galactus, who is currently attacking the Skrull homeworld.

The player is sent to the Shi'ar Empire where they help restore Lilandra Neramani to the throne so that they can get a portion of the M'Kraan Crystal and thwart Deathbird. After retrieving the crystal, the heroes travel to the Skrull homeworld to destroy Galactus' shield generators, and with the help of the Silver Surfer disable him to obtain the Muonic Inducer. While the heroes are away, Dr. Doom conquers Earth and corrupts many heroes after defeating them. Upon arriving back at Stark Tower, the team finds that Doom has converted it into "Doomstark" tower. The player must fend off an army of Iron Man-based robots so that they can reactivate the tower for their use.

The final level is set in Latveria, home of Doctor Doom, and whilst there they defeat the corrupted evil heroes, evil clones of the Fantastic Four, and confront Dr. Doom. The heroes use the two devices obtained earlier to weaken Doom and upon being struck down by the heroes Doom is blasted by a bolt of lightning sent by a rejuvenated Odin, leaving nothing but his mask behind.

Nick Fury tells the heroes that the team must disband and asks the heroes if S.H.I.E.L.D. can count on them when another threat happens. Captain America replies by saying that the world can count on them. Meanwhile, Galactus vows revenge on the heroes who stole from him and plans to destroy Earth.

Subplot

During the game a subplot takes place where Weasel attempts to find proof that the Black Widow is a double agent, and the player needs to obtain various pieces of information to aid his efforts. Ultimately the players call Nick Fury with information of Black Widow's apparent betrayal, it is revealed that Black Widow is innocent and her suspicious activities were part of an operation to try and retrieve plans that Dr. Doom had stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D.

Features

Players can select teams of four from a range of more than twenty playable characters, allowing them to create their own superhero teams or recreate famous teams from within the comics, as well as have online and co-operative play, for up to 4 players. Players are able to fight in mid air, underwater and on the ground, with destructible and interactive environments. It spans several places on Earth, different dimensions, and the depths of space. The game has alternative endings, affected by the decisions the player(s) make throughout the game. These endings are based on whether or not the player chooses to complete optional missions.

In arcade mode players will have to fight for the most kills in order to get the experience points at the end of the level. Characters may have up to four costumes, which can alter the stats of the character. The game also features trivia games, artwork and many more references to the Marvel Universe.

Throughout the game, the team of heroes will have the opportunity to locate "Simulator Discs". These discs are playable from any S.H.I.E.L.D. training simulator. These are special comic book missions, where you play as one of the heroes and revisit a moment in their past where they faced a classic arch rival. Each disc uses one hero and when you play the simulator for that hero, it is the only hero you may use. The missions on the discs are different, but all have the same general guidelines. You must defeat a certain boss and complete the Simulator within 20 minutes. In some character's discs, you must also defend a certain character or object. Once you complete the mission and defeat the boss, you are scored based on how many enemies you killed and on how quickly you completed it. There are also what are called "Vs" discs, in which you may play as your whole team against a famous villain.

Xbox Live now offers downloadable extra content called "Hero pack" and "Villan pack". In the "Hero pack" you are able to play as Hawkeye,Cyclops, Nightcrawler, And the Hulk. In the Villan pack, you can play as Venom, Dr.Doom, Sabertooth, And Magneto.

Versions

File:Ultimate alliance gold.jpg

The Gold Edition Cover.

The game is available through several gaming systems, with a graphical engine that looks different on it's various platforms.

Game Boy Advance

"Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" has been altered for the Game Boy Advance port and has become a side-scrolling fighting game with minor RPG elements, such as the ability to alter your characters stats. The graphics are simplified for this system and the selection of characters has also been reduced. Some additional gameplay modes were added into this version of the game including a S.H.I.E.L.D. Simulator, Time Challenges, Scavenger Hunts, and a Survival mode. Teams for this port consist of three characters and a striker, a non-playable fourth character who can be summoned to perform a powerful attack directed toward on-screen enemies.

Playable characters include Spiderman, Wolverine, Iceman, Blade, Captain America, Deadpool, Elektra, Ms. Marvel, Thor, The Thing, and Ghost Rider. The Special Strikers included in the game are Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Dark Phoenix, Namor the Submariner, and Vision. Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America are the game's starter team but as the game progresses, characters become unlocked as more missions are completed.

PC

The PC version, like most PC games, is customizable, and many characters and their skins can be obtained from modding sites for play within the game. Also, the PC version's graphics vary depending on the customization of a user's settings, at maximum settings and shaders with premium hardware, the PC graphics will be similar to or better than the 7th generation versions. The PC version also features "intuitive mouse controls" and works with a gamepad.

Playstation Portable

The PSP version features simplified graphics, different characters, and extra features including the four exclusive playable Marvel characters Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Hawkeye and Ronin. Other things unique to this version are 6 exclusive comic book missions including one which contained Swordsman, an exclusive prequel mission, and three exclusive single-player gameplay modes. For the PSP's online play, microphone support (voice chat) is available as well as online-recordable player statistics.

Wii

File:Marvel 7th.jpg

Spider-Man, Wolverine and Thing attacking an enemy.

The Wii version has a few features unique to its version including specific motion-sensitive controls for normal moves, Motion-sensitive controlled Special attacks, unique for each character, and access to any special move at any time. For this version there is no online play, but there is a normal multiplayer mode in which up to four players may play at once. It also contains Moon Knight and Colossus, which were included in all the Next Generation versions.

Xbox 360 and PS3

The Xbox 360 version and the Playstation 3 version look exactly the same. They also contain Moon Knight and Colossus, which were included in all the Next Generation versions.

Activision released 8 additional downloadable characters on the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Marketplace on April 26, 2007- Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Magneto, Sabretooth, Venom, Doctor Doom, Hawkeye and Hulk

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance: Gold Edition was released for the Xbox 360 on May 22, 2007. It has all eight downloadable heroes and villians that were originally available only on Xbox 360 through download on Xbox Live.

Playstation 2

At first, the version released for the PS2 was just the game, with the 23 playable characters available for all the systems. Later though, an Enhanced Greatest Hits was announced for the PS2. It is still unknown what will be different about this version. So far, the game's release has been delayed twice. Missing a release date on both August 7 2007and August 14 2007. It is now slated to be released on August 17 2007.

Characters

While Ultimate Alliance follows in the footsteps of Raven Software's X-Men Legends games, it has a broader scope of inclusion, adding playable heroes from Marvel Comics' other popular comics, including Spider-Man, many different members of the Avengers, and the entire Fantastic Four. In addition, each character has four different costumes, except for Moon Knight, who has three. Most of these extra costumes are different costumes characters have had in their comics appearances; for example, Spider-Man has his black symbiote costume and his red and gold "Iron Spider" costume, as well as his classic red and blue costume. Some of the costumes are alternate versions of the same character or even entirely separate characters with similar powers or appearance: for example, many characters appear in their Ultimate versions, and both versions of the character Spider-Woman as well as the MC2 character Spider-Girl are available via the costume change feature. Some costume changes are also renditions of the character in other media. For example, Blade's "Daywalker" costume is the take on the Blade character during his short lived live action series.

Putting together teams of characters who have a shared history together, for example, may give team bonuses (ex. using Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Ms. Marvel on the same team would yield you the Avengers, giving the player a boost in attack damage for all team members). Most teams are not taken from the comics but involve choosing characters with something in common. For instance, Thor, Storm, Human Torch and Iceman form Natural Forces, and any all-female team creates Femme Fatale. Using particular characters to interact with other NPCs can also yield additional dialogue, and villains will also react accordingly when met with their nemeses (for example, Bullseye will talk directly to Elektra or Daredevil upon seeing those characters in the first chapter).

While many characters in the game by default are rendered with the appearance they have in the Ultimate Marvel line of comics, the world of the game is predominantly based upon that of the original Marvel Universe, with many villains, character designs and references to events that exist only in that continuity (for example, Galactus is the original Marvel Universe's version, not Ultimate Marvel's hive-minded robotic version), and both designs of Shocker and Nick Fury are of their classic ones, rather than their Ultimate ones.

One major fact to note is that the version of Nick Fury used for Alliance is not the same as previously appeared in the X-Men Legends game, instead being the classic original Nick Fury. However, the General Nick Fury model that was previously used is still available as an alternate costume for Fury, with both Nick Fury versions having two costumes each.

The Hulk was going to be the final playable character, but as the rights to use the character are held by Sierra Entertainment, this was not possible. However, the player meets Bruce Banner in the Omega Base & sees a defeated Hulk in a cinematic prior to the final mission.

File:MarvelUltimateAllianceScreen.jpg

Thing, Thor, Black Widow, Spider-Man and Captain America.

Characters that appear as alternate costumes are listed under the original character.

All playable characters have four different costumes, except Moon Knight, who has three..

In the case of Nick Fury, Two of his four represent General Nick Fury.

In the case of Silver Surfer, all of his alternate costumes look the same.

All characters in italics are costume changes for other characters that are of different personas altogether. Daredevil, Black Panther, Nick Fury, Silver Surfer, Dr Strange, Ghost Rider and Blade are not available at the beginning of the game; some of them have to be unlocked by completing/collecting specific items whereas the rest are unlocked as you meet the characters in the game.

Initially Playable Characters
Captain America U.S. Agent Deadpool Elektra Human Torch	Iceman Invisible Woman Iron Man War Machine Luke Cage	Ms. Marvel Sharon Ventura (human form) Mr. Fantastic	Spider-Man Scarlet Spider Spider-Woman Arachne Spider-Girl	Storm Thing Thor Beta Ray Bill Wolverine
Unlockable Characters	PSP	PS3, Xbox 360 & Wii (* only confirmed for 360 as downloadable only)		GBA Only (Non-Playable Striker)
Black Panther Blade Daredevil Dr. Strange Ghost Rider Phantom Rider Vengeance Nick Fury General Nick Fury Silver Surfer	Black Widow Yelena Belova Captain Marvel Mar-Vell Hawkeye Ronin	Colossus Moon Knight Cyclops* Nightcrawler* Hawkeye*	Hulk* Magneto* Xorn Venom* Angelo Fortunato Mac Gargan Dr. Doom* Kristoff Vernard Sabretooth*	Jean Grey Namor Vision
Non Playable Characters
Ancient One Balder Black Bolt Corsair Clea Crystal	Dum Dum Dugan Edwin Jarvis Gorgon Hank Pym Heimdall Hermod	Jean Grey Karnak Lilandra Lockjaw Medusa Namor Namorita	Odin Professor X Senator Kelly Sif Triton Tyr	Uatu the Watcher Valkyrie Vision Volla Weasel Wong Wyatt Wingfoot
Villains
Arcade Attuma Baron Mordo Blackheart Bullseye Byrrah Crimson Dynamo Destroyer Deathbird	Dragon Man Dr. Doom Enchantress Executioner Fin Fang Foom Galactus Gladiator Grey Gargoyle Hussar	Kraken Krang Kurse Lizard Loki Mandarin Mephisto M.O.D.O.K. Mysterio Neutron	Radioactive Man Paibok Rhino Scorpion Shocker Skrulls Starbolt Super-Skrull Swordsman (PSP Only) Thunderball	Tiger Shark Titannus Ulik Ultimo Ultron Winter Soldier Warstar The Wrecking Crew Ymir

Locations

Locations (in order of appearance) S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier S.H.I.E.L.D. Omega Base Atlantis Mandarin's Palace Murderworld Mephisto's Realm Bifrost Bridge Asgard Niffleheim Shi'ar Warship Skrull Throneworld Castle Doom

Headquarters (in order of appearance) Stark Tower Sanctum Sanctorum Valhalla Attilan Doom-Stark Tower (After taking Odin's power, Doom warps the earth to fit his idealized vision.)

Reception

The reviews were generally positive for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox, PS2, and PSP versions of the game. Reaction to the Wii version was generally mixed, saying the motion controls felt "tacked on". The GBA version was poorly received for overall lesser quality.

Awards

• Received the GameSpot Award Best Use of a Creative License in 2006
• Received the Video Game of the Year award from Wizard Magazine issue 183.
• Received the IGN Award for Best Story on PlayStation 3 in 2006.
• Gaming Target - "52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006" selection.

Goofs

• If the player decides to sav Jean instead of Nightcrawler in Mephisto's Realm, a cutscene at the end of the game reveals that Mystique avenges her son's death by killing Xavier. However, Nightcrawler can be seen at Xavier's funeral.

See also

• X-Men Legends
• X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

External links

• Marvel Ultimate Alliance's official site
• MarvelDatabase:Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Superguide
• GameSpot review 8.3/10
• IGN: PS3
• 1up look into M:UA
• Gamespy information on M:UA
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance at Cheat Code Central
• Marvel: Ultimate Alliance at MobyGames
• MarvelMods.com Fan-created mods for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and X-Men Legends I & II
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance at IMDB.com includes the full list of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance's voice actors.