Have any of you ever ventured into Bizarro World? Anyone who knows what I am referring to is a fan of the comics. Whether it be DC or Marvel, comics hold a special place for a lot of people because it is an escape from the reality you’re in to a place where you can be whoever you want. Apparently, comics are the in-thing now, hence the Bizarro World reference. Major blockbusters flanked by just as many games make it a comic fanboy’s wet dream. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is a sequel to one of the best comic button mashers I have ever played. Now, with an updated roster, game play mechanics, graphics, and great backstory, MUA2 promises to deliver a great view into the Marvel Civil War. Pick a side, things are going to get real.
After playing hours of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, we caught up with Jennifer O’Neal, an Executive Producer on MUA2 to talk about the new features in the game and how they went about deciding what to add. Make sure to go back and read our hands on preview of the game and check out the interview.
Growing up I was a huge comic book fan, but mostly on the DC side of things. I didn’t really get into the Marvel world until later in high school and college, but at that point, the height of my comic book infatuation had long since passed. When the Marvel movies started coming out, I found myself drawn to those characters much like my younger days with my favorite DC heroes like Batman and Superman. Enter Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which I played through completely on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. I enjoyed the hell out of the game, but it wasn’t without some major flaws. Development of the sequel transferred over to Vicarious Visions who dropped in an updated engine, Havok physics, Fusion powers, and all types of goodness that makes me want this game on my desk right now. We got a chance to play through quite a bit of campaign this past Monday at the Vicarious Visions studios and had a blast.
Well, this was a fun day. You know what’s better than visiting the Vicarious Visions studio? Nothing, that’s what. Six and a half hours flew by as we ate, played games, ate, toured, ate, interviewed the staff, ate and played more games. And at the end of the day, Matt had to drag me away – because I could have done another day or three-hundred and sixty-five very easily (that and I ate twice my body weight and couldn’t move – but we’ll get to that later). And seeing as my good time at VV borders on unhealthy obsession, Matt has seen it fit that I give you a verbal taste of the day in my own A.D.D. riddled fashion.
When I first saw Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 back at GDC, I was floored at how much better it looked than the first game in the series. That feeling was only reaffirmed at E3 with another demo from Activision. A new trailer at San Diego Comic Con does what? You guessed it, make me want the game even faster. Maybe I need to make a trip down to Vicarious Visions to play this thing. Time to get cracking on that.
One of my favorite titles around the launch of the Xbox 360 and PS3 was Marvel Ultimate Alliance. As a big comic book fan and a fan of co-op, it was a good fit. The game was fun, but had its fair share of issues. Activision is stepping it up with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, slated for release this Fall.
In a demo shown at GDC, we got to see the Latveria level where Dr. Doom’s life force is still causing havoc. Lead by Nick Fury (unplayable in this level), your team must go through and fight off everything in sight.
The storyline is much more modern this time around, focusing squarely on the Marvel Civil War. Some additions and changes were made to work best for the game (such as including The Hulk, even though he wasn’t part of the Civil War story in the comics). There will be 24 playable characters to make up your squad, with the ability to switch them out at almost any point this time around. No more waiting to get to a location where you can make changes. This also allows for bringing your allies back to life at various points. This was done to make the game more accessible and to give it a nice pick-up-and-play feel.
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