A little story first if you don’t mind: one of my favorite E3 memories goes back to 2005 when me and my friend Nathan were taken behind doors to witness a sneak peek of Activision and Raven’s Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (MUA) on the upcoming PlayStation 3 system. I remember how impressed I was with the sounds, the graphics, and the hulking PS3 devkit that was literally housed in a racked 3U server chassis. I had an epiphany during that session that I simply had to get a PS3 and this game at launch. The experience is what E3 is all about when it’s at its best, and sure enough when the game released the following November, I happily picked it up with my system. It was a great PS3 launch title, especially in local co-op. Other than the few SIXAXIS parts that were a paint to control, it was a solid game all around. I still have that original copy on my shelf, but I have no idea if my original review still exists anywhere (or if I even did one come to think of it).
Anyway, three years later, Steve Schardein reviewed the sequel that was made by Vicarious Visions and introduced Fusion attacks and yet more characters and locations from the expansive Marvel universe. MUA2 was not as ground-breaking and fresh of an action RPG as the original, but it was still hella fun, especially when played with some buddies in co-op, because let’s face it, playing co-op makes almost any game better.
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Now here we are about ten years later from the first game’s release and we have what to me was a under-the-radar release of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 for the PS4, Xbox One, and the PC. Note that this new digital-only release for the current-gen systems is not referred to as a Remaster or Definitive Edition or anything like that, and for damn good reason. The fact of the matter is, it’s neither. This is literally the original game, without the DLC (no Magneto, Venom, or Sabretooth), zero graphics or sound upgrades that I can discern, and also the second game (which does actually have its DLC). Now I’ve heard the PC port is a huge mess rife with bugs that make it downright difficult to play, but I have not played that version so I can’t speak to it. There has also been a patch or two for the Xbox One version to address some of it’s launch day shortcomings. I was provided a review code for the PS4 version and I have not had any major technical issues, but I have had a potent dose of letdown.
And it’s not that either game is bad — they’ve aged well enough in terms of their gameplay and they’re still fun. You can fire this up with a friend or two and it’s still enjoyable. What’s so disappointing about this release is that it’s a tremendous missed opportunity. The MUA games were two of the best co-op games from last-gen, two of the best superhero games of all time, and it’s reasonable to think that a lot of current gamers missed at least the first game if not both of them given how early on in last gen’s life cycle they were. So to bring them back seems like a fine idea, and it wouldn’t surprise me if a third game in the series is due for announcement in the coming months. But this port was handled so poorly it’s hard not to be bitter and letdown by it.
I won’t spend a great deal of time on the game’s themselves, because their content is completely unchanged (and, incomplete in the case of MUA lacking the DLC). Suffice it say that they are four player ARPGs with an emphasis on superhero action, lots of destructibles, and plenty of power-ups and goodies to loot. There is a ton of artwork and cinemas and things like that to unlock, a typical but nonetheless enjoyable story with branching dialog sequences, and straight-forward yet fun corridor-by-corridor level design. Some 140+ Marvel universe characters are on display, with twenty-two of them unlockable/playable, and the ability to switch between them so easily is great. The Fusion attacks in MUA2 have great variety and are fun to execute to help clear large rooms of enemies. Both games are also pretty long with some good reasons for replaying them. All in all, they’re two great games that deserved a better re-release.
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So getting back to the release, and specifically on the PS4, what hit me first was of course the graphics quality. Expect a very last-gen blandness to the visuals that I believe are locked at 30fps and still have a pretty high amount of clipping issues. Both MUA games have ample reason to be visually engaging and awesome — just as they were some ten years ago. Thus, it’s a real shame some effort was not put in because the artwork and Marvel universe in general (especially with four superheroes on screen visiting a variety of cool locations) give a tremendous opportunity to wow players with quality graphics. As far as controls, load times, and general playability, all of that was fine except for finding online matches. In my limited testing, finding anyone online to play was difficult, but when I did connect up, it played smooth.
In closing, the Marvel Ultimate Alliance Bundle is a textbook example of a missed opportunity. It’s a re-release that stumbles out of the gates in a variety of key ways from missing content (that is apparently going to be available as free DLC someday), zero discernable presentation improvements, and I would argue it’s over-priced ($40 per game or $60 for the Bundle), too. It’s altogether too bad because the core of this release is two great games that I’m sure quite a few current PS4/X1 owners never experienced before. To offer up this half-baked re-release is unfortunate.
