f13.net

Over 140 Marvel characters come together in Activision, Inc’s. (Nasdaq: ATVI) Marvel™: Ultimate Alliance, an all-new action/RPG that features the largest roster of comic book characters ever seen in a video game. Players assume the roles of more than 20 Marvel Super Heroes including Spider-Man, Wolverine, Blade and Captain America, and through their actions determine the fate of both planet Earth and the Marvel universe – revealed in one of multiple epilogues.

“Marvel: Ultimate Alliance delivers a new twist on action/RPGs where players’ actions and choices ultimately determine what happens to the Marvel universe,” states Will Kassoy, Vice President of Global Brand Management for Activision. “This coupled with the game’s enormous character roster will deliver an action-packed experience that comic book fans have been waiting for.”

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance features a deep, rich gameplay experience by offering total team customization, where players create their own team name, icon and vehicle, as well as establish their team reputation as they play throughout the story. Gamers also have the option to level up each character individually to their liking, or all team members at the same time to keep their heroes balanced. With the game’s new combat system, players battle against the world’s most notorious Marvel Super Villains in the air, underwater, and on the ground, using grappling, blocking and dodging moves, by charging up their Super Hero powers before unleashing them, and using environmental objects as one and two-handed weapons.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance features a unique storyline where the missions players accept, the objectives they complete, and their interactions with other characters throughout the game directly impact how the story plays out. The game also features a robust multiplayer component where fans can band together with friends as their favorite Marvel Super Heroes, and fight evil in both on and offline cooperative story modes. There’s also a Competitive Mode where the game tracks various in-game stats so players can see how well they stack up against one another – affecting the amount of experience points earned and how equipment is distributed.

Created by Raven Software and C.B. Cebulski, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will be the first Super Hero game out for all next-gen gaming systems, and will also be available on current-gen, handheld and PC platforms. The game is currently rated RP (Rating Pending) by the ESRB and is planned to ship this fall.

Someone really needs to make a comic-book based SRPG game like Super Robot Wars, Fire Emblem, Capcom vs. SNK and stuff like that.

You could level up your guys, maybe give them some different equipment and such, unlock secret characters. Have one campaign where you play as the good guys and another as the bad guys or something. Choose guys for each level based on the objectives, terrain, etc.


Any brand that has a large diverse cast of characters would make a great SRPG game. Transformers is another one that springs to mind. It seems weird to me that someone hasn't already made a game like that because it is a perfect fit.

Anyway, my point is, they'll need to do better than X-Men Legends if they want to capture my interest. Whoever wrote this press release obviously knows what people look for in an RPG, but at the same time they seem to be promising too much. 140 characters? All playable? All well-defined characters? Doubtful.

I just saved about 25 bucks

new readers who don't want to deal with 40+ years of continuity but I don't think that's who is buying it.

That is who is downloading it at least....  :wink:


Anyways, I guess Spider-Man's snarkiness is a little more up to date...I think he's called the Green Goblin a "tool" a dozen times now (I'd put a "rolling eyes" emote here, but I'm getting tired of seeing the damn thing. Plus, I just used a "wink" above. One emote is enough).

Some of the origin stories are a little more plausible though. Relatively, I mean. At least not everyone is a victim of "gamma rays" this time around.

Getting married WAS a huge mistake. The stories became saddled with Mary Jane bullshit. Oh no, Mary Jane has a stalker. Oh no, Mary Jane has been kidnapped. Oh no, there are problems on the home front! It just became a drag. It's painful to read Amazing Spider-Man in the 300s, every time Mary Jane appears you just want to shoot yourself.

As far as Ultimates go, it's an interesting problem. One of the things they do in Ultimates is change stuff around for old readers to notice the difference - but of course that has no effect whatsoever on new readers. Comic continuity is a bear to deal with, after a while characters develop so much backstory it just becomes very inconsistent and way too self-referential.

A lot of that backstory is really good though. And Ultimates are just going to run into the same problem. I wonder if anyone has considered the idea of remakes - just tell the exact same stories that were told before with some updated artwork, some continuity fixes, ditch some of the stupid stories, etc.

What are they going to do when Ultimates have been around for 15 years? Ultimate Ultimates?

The whole Nick Fury as Sam Jackson thing rubs me all kinds of wrong ways.