‘Marvel: Ultimate Alliance’ 1 And 2 Is Here: Action-RPG Hits Current Generation Of Consoles


Marvel: Ultimate Alliance has been brought to PS4, Xbox One, & PC. The original and the sequel both landed on virtual store shelves yesterday, July 26, just one day after Marvel confirmed rumors at Comic-Con last weekend.

Requests from fans for a remake of the games span all the way back to April, 2014.

Then, in mid-June, rumors started circulating that the games may be coming to current-generation consoles. According to GameSpot, sleuths at Gematsu discovered the names of the action-RPGs on the Taiwan Game Software Rating Information board. Also listed on the board was Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. Twitter lit up with anxious fans.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance on current-gen hardware had fans excited, but information on the games was scarce. Several older titles have been rebooted this year and gamers had their hopes set for a similar treatment of MUA. As it turns out, the games are ports that are fully faithful to the originals. According to Marvel, the games have not seen a significant amount of tweaking, and no new content has been added to the renewed titles. They are mostly straight ports of MUA 1 and 2 as they appeared in 2006 and 2009, respectively. There is bound to be some negative reviews for that reason alone.

Game producer Mike Jones spoke with Marvel.com about why they did not go for a full remake.

“We wanted these re-releases to be as faithful to the original Ultimate Alliance games as possible—the definitive versions. However, the team did work really hard on improving performance, some UI and graphic enhancements as well as making the games compatible with modern platform features on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. They play really smooth.”

The graphics do look sharper and cleaner than the originals, and they play in full 1080p HD.

Original MUA on PS3 in 720p. [Image via Activision]
The new MUA can play in full 1080p HD and is slightly improved graphically. [Image via Activision]
“We’re constantly being asked about Ultimate Alliance,” Jones stated as the influencing factor behind re-releasing the franchise. “It was actually kind of surprising how often it happens.”

With the tenth anniversary of the original Marvel: Ultimate Alliance coming up in October, Marvel felt that it was the right time for a renewal.

Having to settle for ports of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is no reason to be disappointed. Both games were fairly well received. MUA received a score of 82 and MUA 2 got a 74 on Metacritic, a site that aggregates review scores. MUA also won four awards (via Wikipedia).

  • Best Use of a Creative License in 2006 (GameSpot)
  • Video Game of the Year (Wizard Magazine)
  • Best Story on PlayStation 3 in 2006 (IGN)
  • “52 Games We’ll Still Be Playing From 2006” selection (Gaming Target)

For fans, revisiting these games on their current boxes will be a pleasure. For those who have never played either game, this is a chance to see what they missed.

However, there may be more good news coming other than the re-release of the original titles. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3 may be in the works.

When asked if the re-releases could be interpreted as a revival of the franchise Jones said, “Following the footsteps of a proud Marvel tradition, I’ll say: Anything is possible, True Believers!”

Although his answer is rather cryptic and far from a confirmation, if the re-released titles do well, a sequel is almost guaranteed. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 3 is even more incentive for fans to revisit these old favorites. The more copies that sell, the higher the chances of seeing a full revival of the franchise.

The downside is that for 10-year-old games that have hardly been retouched, the set price point seems rather high. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 each sells for about $40, which is rather steep for older games. The bundle being offered for both games goes for $60, bringing the price per game to $30, which is a bit more reasonable. However, with so many must-have games soon to be released, even the bundled price may be too high for some. Both games are out now for PC and PlayStation 4. Xbox One owners will have to wait until tomorrow when they will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace.

[Image via Activision]

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