Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Hey all,

Wanted to start this thread for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the PC.



This game seems to be pretty fun, however I feel like its more of a console game since using a keyboard and mouse is difficult compared to using a gamepad. It took me a good hour to get used to the keybooard/mouse, and only 5 minutes when I plugged in the PS2 controller (with analog on) using USB adapter.

With 140 Marvel characters in the game and 20 playable, it is a RPG and beat-em up arcade game combined.... with customized powers and abilities. Definitely going to be more fun playing with people. Supposedly will take about 20 hours to run through the game, but will be replayed to get more unlocks. The Online Play is cool for the reason that there is no CD-Key or Serial Numbers (install it in a friend's computer), so you can Host or Join LAN/WAN games to fill in the 4 slots to go Co-op.

In any case, I am starting to play this game with my girlfriend in Cooperative Mode (where you can have up to 4 players... the AI will fill in for those that arent there). My GF chose all female characters (go figure), but it gave us a cool team bonus called... Femme Fatale (+5 damage).

Here are a couple of pics from my Clevo D900K notebook with nVidia 7800 Go GTX and settings on full WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution and all high settings... except for the Advanced Lighting (which I set to Low for performance).


Character Select (a lot of locked content that I want to unlock)
With 20 characters that are playable, with a lot of team combination bonuses (Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic 4, etc.)

UPDATE: All characters unlocked

(Characters from left to right)
- Moon Knight*
- Ms. Marvel
- Dr. Strange
- Ghost Rider
- Silver Surfer
- Daredevil
- Mr. Fantastic
- Thor
- Storm
- Invisible Woman
- Luke Cage
- Captain America
- Spider-Man
- Thing
- Wolverine
- Iron Man
- Human Torch
- Blade
- Elektra
- Colossus*
- Iceman
- Black Panther
- Nick Fury
- Deadpool
- Spider-Woman

* Note: Moon Knight and Colossus are NOT unlocked for the PC version, they need a small patch to unlock them. The console versions have these guys already unlocked... so you can see that this game is pretty much a ported version for the PC since the programming for these 2 characters were still there.. but just need a small mod to unlock them.


Team of 4 characters (this is my girlfriend's choice, Femme Fatale)
Teams Bonuses: Certain character combinations unlock special boosts.
Agents of SHIELD:
- Captain America, Nick Fury, Spider-Woman, Wolverine
Agile Warriors : 10% Reduced Energy Cost
- Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Elektra, Deadpool
Air Force
- Human Torch, Ms. Marvel, Storm, Thor
Alternate Identities
- Ironman (War Machine), Ghost Rider (Western), Spider-Woman (Secret Wars), Ms. Marvel (Ventura), Thor (Beta Ray Bill)
Assassins
- Blade, Deadpool, Elektra, Wolverine
Avengers : +5% damage
- Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel
Bad to the Bone
- Blade, Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, Wolverine
Bruisers : +15 Striking
- Thing, Captain America, Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel
Classic Avengers
- Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor
Dark Past
- Blade, Elektra, Ghost Rider, Spider-Woman
Defenders
- Dr. Strange, Iceman, Luke Cage, Silver Surfer
Double Date
- Black Panther, Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Storm
Fantastic Four : 20 Health per KO
- Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Women, Human Torch, Thing
Femme Fatale : +5% Damage
- Ms. Marvel, Storm, Invisible Woman, Elektra, Spider-Woman
Flashback
- Iceman (Snowy Form), Captain America (WW2), Daredevil (Orig), Ghost Rider (Orig), Iron Man (Classics), Ms. Marvel (Orig.), Wolverine (Classic)
Martial Artists
- Black Panther, Captain America, Daredevil, Moon Knight, Nick Fury
Marvel Knights
- Black Panther, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Moon Knight
Marvel Royalty
- Black Panther, Dr. Strange, Thor, Storm
Natural Forces : 5% Dmg inflicted as Health Gain
- Thor, Strom, Human Torch, Ice Man
Natural Leaders
- Captain America, Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Nick Fury, Storm
New Avengers : +5% All Resistances
- Captain America, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman
New Fantastic Four
- Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine
Power Platoon: 20 Energy per KO
- Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Thor
Scorchers
- Ghost Rider, Human Torch, Storm, Thor
Supernaturals
- Blade, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Thor
Weapons Specialists
- Blade, Captain America, Deadpool, Elektra, Nick Fury
X-Men
- Colossus, Iceman, Storm, Wolverine





Note: The number the you see in my screenshots (top left of screen) are the OSD (on-screen display) monitoring temps of my GPU from RivaTuner.

Hope you guys will give your impressions of this game too.

System Requirements:

I was a comic geek, so this game seems awesome to me.. and hoping the DC Comic's Justice League Heroes will come out to PC as well.

Game On People,
-Gophn

 

That game looks really nice, I may look into it. My friend would die for this game, he is really into the superheros and marvel. How much does it cost?

 

You can pick up this game for about $35-40,

well worth it in replay value. And no CD-Keys or Serials, so it can be installed at a friends house and you guys can WAN/LAN up to Co-op through the missions.

 

check out this pic:

Battling with Galactus... freaking awesome.

My girlfriend and I just passed this part. It was amazing to see the "devourer of worlds" in these graphics.



We are about 20+ hours into the game, and almost done I think... in Normal Mode. (Hard Mode is unlocked when you beat it in Normal or Easy)

Definitely going to play it again to use the unlocked characters.
And we are playing Cooperative Mode, I am on Keyboard/mouse and she is using PS2 controller (with PSX/PS2 to USB adapter)


-Gophn

P.S. I do not mean to do "thread necromancy"

 

this game's graphics, imo, look way outdated for it to be released in oct 2006...

what fps are you getting?

 

this game was not meant to be a next-gen game, it was meant to push the limits of the current gen, which I feel that it does, look at my temps, went up to 94 C degrees.

I get about 45 fps when a lot of stuff happening on screen, usually stays around 60+ fps throughout the game.

nVidia 7800 Go GTX (256mb DDR3)
1920x1200 resolution
all settings to Ultra High

Not bad for a GPU that people dont realize is still more powerful than the 7900 GS.

 

I've been looking into this game. I havent decided wether to go console or PC yet though. Screens look awesome though and make me want it a lot more (the Galactus screen is FRIGGIN SWEET!!)

If I get it for PC I'll be sure to let y'all know how it runs on a more middle of the road system. (IE: My lappy)

 

So sexist.

So sexy!

 

If you are going console, you should get the Xbox360 or PS3 versions, the other versions (Wii, PSP, PS2, GBA) dont even compare do to their hardware limitations.
The PC version is still good, definitely not too taxing of a game, unless if you crank all graphics settings to max.

I found the best deal on this game right now.

CD WOW!
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (DVD-ROM) for Windows - $28.95 (FREE SHIPPING)
Link here

If you dont trust (or have no preference for) CD WOW!, then here is the next best deal from
RadioShack.com
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (DVD-ROM) for Windows - $35.99 (FREE SHIPPING - pick up in store )
Link here

$30-35... cant beat that. Especially since it free online co-op mode and does not use serials or CD-keys. Lend it to a friend to install, then go co-op online or LAN together.

 

has anyone gotten this to run on a INTEL GMA 950 at minimum setting?

I can go in game and everything, but my characters don't show up (they just look black glitches of graphics)

 

Sorry, but I do not not the reason.

I think that the Intel GMA950 does not exactly meet the minimal requirements. It's specs seem fine, but i am not sure about the T&L (transform & lighting) support within that graphics chipset.... that can be why that you see black glitches.

UPDATE: my girlfriend and I beat the game and unlocked all the characters (look at the top post for pics) and Hard Mode.... took us about 40 hours for just that. We are starting to play it again in Hard Mode with new characters.

Silver Surfer is the hardest to unlock, since you have to complete all of the comic simulators. He is probably the strongest character in the game, but needs to level up seriously before you would notice.

 

I've been playing this game on the PSP, which doesn't have those console-exclusive/PC-patchable characters, Colossus and Moon Knight... so I'm wondering, are they any good? The PSP gets Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Ronin, but I haven't really found a compelling reason to keep any in my main team.

I'm bummed that I couldn't get a Team Bonus for making a West Coast Avengers team (tried Hawkeye, Iron Man as War Machine, Cap as USAgent, and Spider-Woman). Boo.

 

Colossus is fun since he turns enemies into a melee weapon... he literally carries them around like a doll to wail on other enemies until they die in his hands.

Moon Knight does not seem too great of a character, especially in the beginning, way too weak and not flashy.

I kinda wanted to try the PSP version because of their exclusive characters, I thought that Jean Grey and Nightcrawler was playable as well??? Have you gotten a chance to unlock them yet? Because that would be cool.

 

No Jean Grey or Nightcrawler, as far as I know.

Nightcrawler from XML2 was okay, but you can just play as Deadpool for the most part for a similar experience.

I haven't really tried Black Widow yet. Hawkeye always died on me quickly, Ronin and Capt. Marvel were sorta.... generic to me.

My usual team would be USAgent (cap costume), Spider-Woman, Wolverine, and Deadpool. Haven't played too much lately, I should definitely try out some of the characters I usually ignore, heh.