Ideas for Ultimate Alliance 3

Just a heads up, this article is a bit long and if you have no interest in the Ultimate Alliance games you probably will not want to bother reading it.

With the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, I came away disappointed on the development, and by that I mean how it advanced from the first game. And I was not the only one as many felt the game was merely a rehash, just with different settings. I do not own the game for lack of a next gen system, but my friends have also told me not to get it. There were two things I was very disappointed to hear about. First was that it played like the first Ultimate Alliance which left a lot of room for improvement, and frankly I felt was a downgrade over the X-Men Legends II style. Secondly were the characters and costumes.


Game Play
When it comes to game play, a few quick and easy things would help greatly. They did good in ridding the super attack and did the power combination, which was key because the super attacks in UA were weak and lame. What they need to do is make more powers available at once. Clicking one of the side triggers brings up an option to choose between three mutant powers and the combo attack. Use one of the other triggers to do the same, but different powers. The more a player has immediately available the better. Also on the subject of powers, make all powers accessible to start. Forget this getting to level ten to get a specific power; just start them off weak like the others.

Also like X-Men Legends II let the player upgrade the stats. There were four categories and for each new level the player could distribute four points over those categories however they wanted. Bring that back because some characters lacked way too much in some levels (Ms. Marvel dying too easy and Thor not having strong melee attacks, both quite off base from the characters). Being able to customize and control aspects of characters is something all players want. If you want to keep the character balanced, set a maximum limit for each level.

Another aspect of X-Men Legends II that is better than UA was the use of energy and life packs over the orbs. Frankly, I hated the orbs, being reliant on their presence with the life and energy meters unable to regenerate at a quick enough pace. If you were running low on health, you had to go out of your way to destroy something in the area. It was a pain and distracting. Give me ten packs to use at my discretion and let the characters regenerate quicker.

Some powers a character can charge up and fire, so why not have powers that a player can use in a constant stream? For example, you have characters like Iron Man, Cyclops and Sunfire who can keep firing their respective blasts until they are exhausted. Why not be able to do the same in the game by holding the button down and letting it fire until the energy bar is drained? It is simple and effective and adds another dimension. Make the energy drain faster of course to balance it out, because it’s no fun just holding down a single button and killing any enemy that comes near.



Characters
Next is the choice of playable characters and their costumes. Most of the obvious ones have been included already in the past two titles. These characters are featured in their own book, team books, and popular enough to have movies made or being made about them.

I question the addition of Penance, doubting he would have been even considered if not for the Civil War theme. I also never have understood system exclusive characters. Just add all the damn characters for all the systems huh? People are not going to buy the game on two separate systems just for a single character.

I am surprised many designers have never caught on that customization and options are a major sticking point for players. The more characters the better, and the more you can do with each character the better. You do not need every Marvel character but give more than there is. Here are some I think would be a good addition, or at least be considered for the next title.

Ares- yes, the god of war that has made a resurgence when the Mighty Avengers title started. Who does not like fighting with a god of war?

Black Widow- not sure you could do much with her that is not being done with other gone-toting characters already.

Blade and Dr. Strange- I lump them together because thought they were good additions for the first UA, and not sure why they were removed the sequel (though Blade is a character specific to the PS2). Put them back in I say.

Cable- a boss in UA2, Cable has always held a fair amount of fan interest. You could give him a variety of guns and make him somewhat of a brawler.

Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Colossus- three of the more popular X-Men characters that made it into previous games, just make them playable characters. If they were done before, they can be done again.

Darkhawk- a bit iffy on this one, but his return during War of Kings may be enough for consideration. I would hardly be heartbroken if he was not considered though.

Hawkeye- you can give him a bunch of different arrows, and things that are not just piercing or explosive. Be creative and give him ones that wrap around enemies, set a trap, stun a small area etc.

Hercules- kind of the same as Ares, but I would rather see Ares since he is cooler.

Moonknight- a special character in the first UA, he is original enough to be included with the cast

Punisher- like Cable you can have him carry different weapons, though I think he would be more akin to Nick Fury in the first UA. Give him pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades etc. to fill out his powers. Probably redundant because of Nick Fury but maybe use him in place of the latter.

Sunfire- the Japanese superhero who houses the power of the sun. May be a bit redundant because of the Human Torch, but I have always found him to be a much more interesting and far less annoying character. He was in X-Men Legends II so he was good enough for one game already.

Vision- his powers of density manipulation could make for some interesting moves, but I’d be a bit iffy on him. Not sure there is enough fan interest to put him here.


Costumes
Again, I mention customization. X-Men Legends II had nearly every costume the playable characters ever wore available. It was great because you could find a least one costume you liked. UA had four costumes for each character, which in most cases covered enough, but still lacked with some. UA2 has one alternate costume. One. I can only imagine laziness was the reason for this because logically there is no reasonable response. Why they would make only one alternate costume available when they have given so many more in the past is absurd. So, with my UA roster finalized, here is a costume list for each character.

Note:
AoA= Age of Apocalypse costume
HoM= House of M costume

Ares- current costume, mini-series costume
Black Widow- modern, classic, original (fishnet)
Blade- same costumes as the first UA, classic, day walker, ultimate and night stalker
Cable- modern, classic, HoM, Stryfe, AoA (Nate Grey X Man)
Captain America- modern, ultimate, WWII, US Agent, Bucky Cap, armored Cap
Colossus- modern, modern 2 (pre-death), classic, AoA, Acolyte, HoM
Cyclops- classic, modern, ultimate, 90’s, AoA, X-Factor, HoM
Daredevil- modern, original, AoA, armored, marvel knights
Darkhawk- modern, War of Kings, Evil Hawk
Deadpool- classic, modern, ultimate, AoA, Heroes Reborn (swordsman)
Dr. Strange- same as UA, classic, blue mage, ultimate, seer
Gambit- modern, AoA, horseman, ultimate
Ghost Rider- same as UA, original, classic, phantom rider, Zarathos
Green Goblin- Hobgoblin, demogoblin, ultimate
Hawkeye- classic, modern, ultimate 1, ultimate 2, 90’s
Hercules- classic, 90’s
Hulk- modern, Mr. Fixit, the Professor, green scar, Red Hulk
Human Torch- classic, modern, new marvel, uiltimate, heroes reborn
Iceman- classic, 90’s, AoA, modern, HoM, Bobby Drake, Ultimate
Iron Man- modern, Classic, Silver Centurion, neo-classic, War Machine, modular, heroes reborn, heroes return, tin man
Invisible Woman- modern, classic, new marvel, Ultimate, Malice, heroes reborn
Luke Cage- same as UA, new avenger, street, classic, power man
Mr. Fantastic- classic, modern, new marvel, ultimate, heroes reborn
Ms. Marvel- same as UA, ventura, classic, binary, warbird,
Nick Fury- same as UA, classic, stealth, ultimate, general
Nightcrawler- modern, classic, ultimate, AoA, HoM
Phoenix- classic (green costume), dark phoenix, white phoenix, Jean Grey classic, Jean Grey 90’s, Jean Grey AoA, Jean Grey HoM
Punisher- modern, classic, trench coat,
Spiderman- modern, Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider, black costume, unlimited, Stark armor
Storm- classic, modern, AoA, extreme X-Men, Ultimate, 90’s, Morlock leader, queen of Wakanda, HoM
Sunfire- classic, modern, horseman, HoM
Thing- classic, modern, new marvel, ultimate, heroes reborn
Thor- classic, modern, Odin power, Ultimate, 90’s, Heroes Reborn, Thunderstrike, Beta Ray Bill
Venom- classic (original), lethal enforcer, modern, ultimate, Anti-venom
Vision- modern, classic (white), Iron Lad
Wolverine- classic, modern, ultimate, AoA, 90’s, horseman, X-Force, Weapon X, HoM

So there are my simple ideas for improvement in game play or elements that I think would make a third Ultimate Alliance game much better. UA2 received a lot of criticism, and designers need to learn from that mistake and listen to fans to see what needs improved.