People all over the internet keep bitching about this game because it supposedly has "less everything" when compared with the prior game. I ranted about it on another forum, and figured most of this would be relevant to copy/paste. Considering we don't seem to have a MUA2 topic here, I guess this is a good way to start one.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance was a glitchy PS2 game that was ported to the X box 360 with half assed "bonus content" tacked on to justify an over inflated price tag. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was built for the next gen consoles from the ground up. Lots of unnessecary extra baggage was removed content wise so that the designers could concentrate more on making a game what it should be: a complete and enjoyable experience. It would be nice if people who aren't taking classes in game design could see that.

Lets tackle the issues individually:

-MUA1 had more costumes-
Yeah, and most of them were awful. Blade's costumes immediately come to mind. Hell, Silver Surfer's were all the same with different buffs. The character models in MUA2 are leaps and bounds over MUA1. If *I* was one of the game's designers, I would have said "to hell with alternate outfits altogether. This is what the heroes look like, this is good enough." People should be happy that they said "ok well maybe we could at least toss in one alternate one each in an attempt to please everyone."It really boils down to this: Do you want more low quality stuff, or less high quality stuff? Would you rather the artists take more time to throw in extra character skins, or work on making the models that they have the best that they can be. As far as outfit choices go, the designers obviously tried to pick ones that were more relevant to the timeline, with a few exceptions. Personally I think it would have been incredibly odd to see some people in their classic outfits running around in this realistic environment, with the music and the presentation and everything. Penance is still a new character, and considering all of the alt outfits are based in actual designs, they really couldn't do anything for him short of having speedball be his secondary. Wolverine and Luke cage have fine secondaries, as they actually tie into the storyline. Real comic fans would be aware of this. I'm also glad that passive buffs aren't linked to outfits anymore. I really hated running around as "night elf" blade to get the best boosts.

-character lineup-
Sure, we lost some characters, but in return we got some new ones that are more fun to play as. I'll gladly take songbird and iron fist alone over ANY of the characters from MUA1 that were excluded. Sure, we could argue that the old characters are cooler than the new ones, but I'd have to fire back with the fact that those characters are old news, and this game is about current events in comics. I know *I* was excited to learn that I could play as the thunderbolts, for one. This argument goes for the alternate outfits that were different characters. When was the last time Beta Ray Bill or Ben Reilley did anything relevant? How much sense would it make for a dead spiderman clone to be running around during a time when everyone knew peter parker was spidey? War Machine is already confirmed DLC BTW.

As far as the total character count being lower, we got more unique characters. A lot of people in MUA1, ESPECIALLY the exclusive guys (colossus, moon knight, and the 8 DLC guys) shared moves and animations, as well as a few of them playing almost completely similar to other characters in the game. Don't believe me? put luke cage, colossus, thing, and hulk on a team together. compare. Everyone in MUA2 not only has different animations, but has to be played with a different strategy. This goes back to the "Do you want more with less polish, or less that's more refined?" question. I feel that they've trimmed the roster to concentrate more on making the characters more unique.

-the story-
MUA1 was great for longtime fans, but honestly some of those story elements were borrowed from arcs that happened ten or more years ago. The civil war is not only more current, but more close to home. Much how culture and times have changed in real life, so have things changed in the comic world. For example if you were a casual buyer and you went into a comic shop and saw this:

a few years ago it would be acceptable, but with modern culture the way it is nowadays, you'd roll your eyes and write it off as silly. The current comic fan wants real heroes with close to home problems. not giant purple men from space that eat planets and have tin foil surfers as bodyguards. Now THIS:



look at the camera angle, listen to Titanium Man's speech, the music, the way he dies on the steps of the monument. It all touches close to home. At least for me, It has an impact. It's hardly marvel failing, so much as someone forming a closed minded opinion on a company's decisions with no prior knowledge of market trends or financial history. Basically what I'm saying is that while the first game was a neat tribute, the second game has moved on like it should have.

-the camera-
I haven't really noticed any difference in the camera between the two games, to be perfectly honest, so I can neither agree or disagree on this one.

-customization-
Yeah, I agree that I would have liked the leveling to be less watered down, and I miss being able to customize how my characters play (thor being a crowd clearing physical powerhouse or a hammer throwing, lightning striking projectile maniac, for example) but the fact that you can swap out heroes at any time doubled with the knowledge that every hero plays differently kinda nulls that problem. It seems that in this game they really worked hard at making it so people would have a reason to try everyone out instead of just making a favorite team ans keeping it for the entire game. I don't mind the lack of being able to remove slots from your team, as a game about an alliance shouldn't really be played with a single character, and with the new setup for the healing, revival, and fusions replacing X-Tremes, you kind of NEED a team.

-price-
when MUA1 first came out, you better believe it was a sixty dollar title! In fact it still was until MUA2 dropped. If you're really concerned about the bang for your buck, wait till the price drops a tad, but don't compare the price of a greatest hits budget title that's been out since almost the launch of the 360 to a game that came out last month. that's not fair.

-fusion-
Even with a smaller roster, how long do you think it would take to create, model, animate, and map out unique fusion attacks for all of the combinations of characters that are possible? Aside from time restraints, it would break the gameplay. with a certain set of abilities that you know you always have at your disposal, you always know what moves to use for what situations. Would you really want to have to pause the game and swap out one of your characters everytime you wanted to do a certain fusion? They gave you enough detail on the little flourishes that accompany the attacks to make them unique (cap breaks the ice off his shield after doing a fusion with iceman, wolverine growls in pain after doing a fusion with iron man, thing holds his arm out like a football player while doing a fusion with sue). Here's another way to think about it: If you were a superhero, and your super power was super strength, and you ahd a guy that shoots ice, a guy that shoots fire, and a gut that shoots electricity on your team, what would you do differently with the three of them as a team up move? I know I would probably keep doing the ole "load the rock up with ice or fire or electricity and throw it at everyone" trick that worked so well the first time.

so in closing, I don't feel that they've moved backwards with MUA2. I feel that they moved in the exact direction that they had to, and I am very happy with my purchase. I just think it's too easy for people to complain about what was taken out and not see what was added. The game has a whole new physics engine, for example. you can pretty much interact with everything in the environment. you can break open a crate full of grenades, throw all the grenades and the box that they were in. you can break a car apart and throw all the individual pieces, you can throw a van into a crowd full of enemies and then blow it up.

It's still a giant purple guy with ridiculous head gear.

hahaha. I don't hate on Galactus honestly, I just like him better as a cloud of nanomachines like he is in the ultimate universe. I've also come to terms with the fact that I am the only person on the planet that feels this way.

Galactus just happened to be the easiest example for my argument. What I was really getting at I suppose is that people nowadays are more inclined to buy a comic that has a cover like this:

username wrote:

Quote: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Getting Carnage Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has been out just over a month, which in modern gaming terms means it's time for the roll-out of downloadable content. Activision announced today that its upcoming DLC pack will include fan-favorite villain Carnage. The official MUA2 site quotes designer Justin Heisler on the concept and play style behind the character. "Carnage is out to hurt people, and he doesn't care about collateral damage along the way." Lead animator Adam Olshan added, "It was really important that we make Carnage as unique as possible, especially in the way that he moved and the way that he attacked." For those uninitiated, Carnage is one of the symbiote characters in the Spider-Man universe, the result of Venom's "offspring" taking hold of serial killer Cletus Kasady. That combination makes Carnage particularly violent, even by symbiote standards, and adds an extra layer of crazy to the character as well. Activision didn't give word on when to expect the pack, but says it should be coming "soon." http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3176424

wow, the DLC that I heard about was waaayyy off.

Ba'al wrote:

I liked the DBZ: Tenkiachi games, but that's probably because I'm a fan of the show. So what rating would you give MUA2, FNJ? I was thinking of bringing to the top of my GameFly list as soon as it's more available there.

i dont really give numbers to games because its more of an opinion that I have than a final judgement, but I'd highly recommend it.