Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is an action role-playing game developed for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox and Xbox 360 by Raven Software and published by Activision.

The game was initially released on October 24, 2006 in North America for most platforms, with PlayStation 3 and Wii ports following shortly thereafter, as well as international releases.

Why It's Ultimate

 * 1) Many Marvel superheroes can be used to form a four-member team.
 * 2) Multiple heroes can be recruited as the story advances, which can help you progress in case two to three of your characters die.
 * 3) In fact, there are some heroes that are hidden and require special conditions to be unlocked, you can also get them by getting the Golden Edition.
 * 4) The game features tons of heroes from the Marvel Universe such as Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, Nightcrawler, Sabertooth, the Moon Knight, Spider-Woman, Black Panther, and more.
 * 5) Over 50 classic supervillains, such as Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Skrulls, Loki, MODOK, The Wrecking Crew, Mysterio, Mandarian, Mephisto, and many others that are simply entertaining and going against them in their own challenging battles make them all the more fun.
 * 6) * We even get cutscenes that showcase Doctor Doom planning out his attacks and actions with Enchantress, Loki, Ultron, and Mandarian; making all of their motives and actions very engaging and enjoyable to watch.
 * 7) * Many of their interactions with the superheroes are often varied and still engaging to watch. When it comes to their personalities, these range from serious villains that are played seriously and treated as such that makes them menacing like Fin Fang Foom, Galactus, Gladiator, Titannus, and Doctor Doom themselves, to the more comedic and/or hammier ones like Mysterio and MODOK, for example, the latter being tyrannical yet sassy and humorous as seen when MODOK made the heroes answer 3 questions as a part of his trivia game he made before fighting the heroes: where if they make a wrong answer, they get electrocuted and will get another question to quiz you, otherwise they progress.
 * 8) Many other heroes appear as NPCs that aid the player's progress and provide helpful bits of info that tie into the game's story.
 * 9) The game is played via an episodic format.
 * 10) The cutscenes for the game, in-game or otherwise, are very entertaining to watch. The cinematic ones are very fitting & action-packed for a Marvel game and it very much predates the fight sequences for mh:greatestmovies:The Avengers (2012), which came out 6 years later after this game.
 * 11) Countless alternate endings depending on the player's actions, which can range from typical good/bad endings to much more story-driven ones that are pretty fascinating, depending on your view.
 * 12) Combining multiple superheroes can unlock special teams (for example, a team with only female superheroes) which grant special abilities, such as EXP and money bonuses.
 * 13) Many sidequests and secondary mission objectives are essential to the game's plot.
 * 14) Many collectibles, such as comic books and simulator discs, lie hidden on every stage; which are pretty neat, subtle, and cute nods to Marvel media in the past.
 * 15) Downright awesome, varied, and catchy soundtrack. The soundtrack for every stage always set an energetic and lively vibe to all of its abstract settings; from militaristic themes, to robotic themes, to scientific themes, to clown themes, to ancient themes, to atlantic themes, to the often ominous themes, and many more that are all simply great to listen to.
 * 16) * When the game has hub worlds before going to a stage with enemies, they all have a peaceful tone that makes it diverse from the action-packed soundtrack you'd hear in all of the stages you explore.
 * 17) * The soundtrack for the boss fights is either completely diverse or they share similar notes to the music from the first boss fight with notable changes to make it different from each other. For example, MODOK's boss theme, Kraken's boss theme, Arcade's boss theme, Mephisto's boss theme, Enchantress & Executioner's boss theme, and Titannus' boss theme share some very similar notes to the Fin Fang Foom's boss theme at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, there are some subtle differences in the themes that attempt to make the songs a little different despite the strong similarities.
 * 18) ** A better example of this is the Grey Gargoyle boss theme, which sounds mostly different from the other boss themes.
 * 19) ** Part 2 of Ymir's Battle and Titannus's Battle at Skrull Throneworld are both good examples of how Fin Fang Doom's theme song is extremely identical, yet there are some minor changes like having different song notes that make the theme a little less repetitive.
 * 20) * Doctor Doom's boss theme is easily one of the most intense boss themes ever composed. It also really fits for what is, quite literally, a boss battle against a powerful overlord whose a threat to be reckoned upon against the heroes.
 * 21) Great voice acting, every single voice actor placed a lot of effort into making their characters sound diverse and expressive, giving each other an edge to their personality.
 * 22) Some ports include exclusive heroes and villains that other ports lack.
 * 23) Detailed graphics and environments that are very imaginative.
 * 24) Every time you load a level for any location in the game, you get a series of creative, imaginative, and awesome-looking artwork that relates to the superheroes or the supervillains in many cinematic settings and situations. From poses to intense action scenes.
 * 25) Explore many classic locations, such as Atlantis, Mephisto's Realm, Asgard, The Skrull Homeworld, etc.
 * 26) Challenging but fair and rewarding difficulty.
 * 27) Each single superhero possesses their own unique abilities and can be combined with another hero to unleash powerful attacks, sometimes the game makes you press buttons at the right time without needing to be ruthless in its difficulty. Making the combat very fun and enjoyable.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The GBA and Steam PC ports are really bad.
 * 2) There's no point in unlocking costumes for Silver Surfer as they are all the same thing, just with different names.
 * 3) While the graphics are great and still age very well, some of the in-game models don't look right. The best example is MODOK, especially since his face is quite blurry.
 * 4) Some gamers may not like how its lengthy gameplay is presented.

Videos
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Reception
Reviews for Raven and Vicarious Visions' version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance received generally favorable reviews from critics. The PS3 and 360 and PC versions received 82% 78% and 82% at GameRankings and 78% and 82% at Metacritic, respectively.

GameRankings' scores for the PS2, PSP, Wii and Xbox versions were 81%, 82%, 74%, and 83%, while Metacritic scored those same consoles 81%, 81%, 73% and 83% respectively.