HeadWillCollapse

Ouch, iron bar.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance on the X-box 360

Disclaimer: This ‘review’ was written after one session of M:UA and is therefore constructed from little more than initial impressions. There may also have been a beer-associated-increased-enjoyment factor so please adjust you reading of it accordingly (or simply play the game drunk). Thank you.

When CL! and I sat down to play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the first time it was, for me at least, a step into the unknown having never read or heard anything about the game before seeing it on the retailer’s shelf. Half expecting some sort of trite Tekken Clone, with the likes of Cyclops destroying all comers with some sort of cheap “blast you endlessly from the other side of the screen with my overpowered eye-laser” move, I took the controller in hand. However, what I found and what took with complete surprise, was the simplistic joy that the multiplayer game offers.

For those like me (perhaps with Retrogamer subscriptions keeping them abreast of all the gaming news that was hitting headlines two decades ago), who are not in the know, I’ll elaborate. The multiplayer game has you cooperating with the other players, choosing up to four characters from a large pool of Marvel superheroes (including the rubbish ones) and deploying them to fight off what seems like the entire Marvel universe of supervillans (including the rubbish ones). At its core it’s really a superhero themed, 3-d version of Final Fight. Lots of potential for smashing heads, lots of minion heads to smash. However, when played it’s more than just that, the effort that’s gone into it makes it just that little bit special.
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Sunday evening saw the most triumphant return of “VideoGaiden” to BBC Scotchland. Needless to say it’s far and away the best video-game show to date and has finally stopped us lonely, obese, Firefly-loving gamers pining for the days of GamesMaster.

Sure it lacks the sophistication and class of “Bits” (though they do have have the budget and the breasts) and the diction of the pair from “Gamezville”, but the show has more passion for the subject in a single review than most of its counterparts were able to muster in their entire run.

So go watch it, tell your friends about it, and collectively point and laugh at the large areas of Britain who aren’t party to it.