Monday, June 11, 2007

Whaddya mean there’s no She-Hulk?

Thanks to a close friend, I managed to play through some of the Xbox 360 version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. We had fun—some of the best parts were smashing our way through and listening to the throaty calls of the Hulk: “Hulk always wins!”

I was petty happy with the variety of characters—the most comical team that we put together consisted of Venom, The Thing, Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. But I do have some nitpicks:

--First of all, why were the starter characters specifically chosen? I understand the need to keep the pool small in the beginning as there is a slight learning curve, but I still think they could have given some leeway. I really wasn’t feeling it with the Thor, Spidey, Captain America and Wolverine team up.

--I’ve said this before with X-Men Legends II and I’m saying it again. I think there could be more female characters. I don’t see why there can’t be some gender parity. Moon Knight is in there, but no She-Hulk? Raven, you break my heart. (We have history.) With characters such as the ones I mentioned above, it’s not like they’re hurting for some character recognition. And I say this because it’s often argued that women characters are not used because they’re not as well known by the general public.

--That said, I think it would be fun to have some more B-List and obscure characters. Perhaps as unlockables?

--The storyline, though specifically different from X-Men Legends II, felt exactly like X-Men Legends II. I enjoyed the first X-Men Legends because it focused on a specific character; it didn’t feel too large or generic.

--The character animations are still awkward, and this same problem has plagued this franchise since the beginning. Though small, and not integral to the overall enjoyment factor of the game, I thought it’d be addressed, seeing that I was playing this on a 360.

--Last but not least, for whatever reason, I had trouble distinguishing between friend and foe while fighting. I might need to sit closer to the TV screen.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed. Who's idea was it to include Spiderwoman and not She-Hulk? It would've been awesome to have Hulk and She-Hulk side by side, they're green fists flying in synch to the faces of foes. But no; we have to deal with a very under-developed (in terms of powers) Storm and the unnecessary Spiderwoman. And we were we even playing the Gold Edition, which has more characters, but, still no She-Hulk.

Still, it was fun smashing as the Hulk and Venom and hearing they're amusing comments, even Thor with his over-the-top, godly voice.

And I, too, had trouble at times deciphering who was who and found myself swinging at the air in front of me. I agree that sitting closer to the TV will help that aspect of the game.

Next time we play, Hulk has to be in the lineup because with him, we'll never lose.

Amy Reads said...

Hi 100,
I agree with you about the start-up team, about the lack of She-Hulk (I mean, come on! She would be Fabulous!), and, in particular, the overall male-ness of it. In particular, the opening sequence in which Wolverine calls them "girls" or "ladies" rubbed me the Wrong Way.
Justice League Heroes, on the other hand, made me giddy, despite my overall DCness. The women on the team kick serious, major villain @#!.
Ciao,
Amy

Anonymous said...

Just bought the Wii and the first thing I did was buy and start playing Ultimate Alliance.

I, also, am "not feeling it" with the core team.

And the WORST part, by far, is that all the bad guys (grunts) in the Helicarrier are dressed with white shirts like Civilian-clothed Wolverine.

I can't tell who I'm fighting.
Not that it isn't funny to accidentally bash Logan in the noggin.

My primary complaint overall is that I want to be able to play as some of the "non-playable" characters.

Doctor Strange is my favorite.
But I need to be able to assemble the old school DEFENDERS.
Sadly, HULK & NAMOR aren't playable, and SILVER SURFER can only be unlocked with a special code (that I don't have).

GAH!

Oh!

AS for female characters, is SCARLET WITCH in this thing?
I don't think so.

One last thing, while it's not SHE-HULK (who would have been cool), my wish for another green character will never be realized.

Sadly, MAN-THING won't ever be an @$$-kicker.

;-(

haha

~P~
P-TOR