Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion - Playstation 3 (PS3), Wii, Xbox 360 (360) Previews


	Platform Playstation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 (and probably others) Genre Action Role-Playing Publisher Activision Developer Vicarious Visions ETA 2009
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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion

A sequel to the original action role-playing game Marvel Ultimate Alliance was inevitable, since it sold oodles of copies across all platforms and was even part of an Xbox 360 bundle last year. Back in February 2008 it was announced that the sequel, was indeed, in the works and it received an official subtitle a couple of weeks ago: Fusion.

The "Fusion" subtitle relates to the unique way the superheroes will be able to combine their powers. This kind of thing has been done previously to a more

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limited extent, like Colossus' and Hulk's ability to throw Wolverine like a projectile. For Fusion it appears this kind of combination will be the norm. The examples that have been given so far are pairings with the Invisible Woman. Combining her force field ability and Iron Man's repulsors creates a disco ball of death, which bathes the area in destruction. In the other pairing, Hulk runs

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around in the force field ball, running over enemies with ease. There are also clips of Johnny Storm and Thing creating an asteroid out of pavement and Spiderman webbing a group of enemies so they can be blasted by Iron Man. Using the original game as a baseline experience, with these kinds of moves multiplayer should be a lot of fun.

Reportedly there are approximately 24 playable characters - among the confirmed heroes are Captain America, Thing, Daredevil, Wolverine, Thor, Venom, Luke Cage, and the aforementioned, Invisible Woman, Hulk, Johnny Storm, Spiderman and Thing. But like the original, Fusion looks like it will be packed with peripheral characters and a bag or two full of villains to beat down. (If there's a petition out there for a playable She-Hulk, I'll happily sign it.)

The story that brings all these characters together is loosely based on the events found in Secret War (not to be confused with Secret Wars), in which Nick Fury goes a bit rouge by convincing a cadre of superheroes to take care of something brewing in Latveria. After the event the heroes have their memories of the event erased and Fury goes underground. The game will follow that story arc up to the Civil War. For those that have followed the happenings in the Marvel Universe, I'd say it's a strong possibility that events from Secret Invasion - involving Skrull doppelgangers of Earth's mightiest heroes - might be worked into the game as well. But if you're a casual player the story is secondary to the action anyway, so if it doesn't hang together very well, you'll still enjoy beating up minions and taking on super villains.

However Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion turns out, it's really good to see that a sequel wasn't rushed to market. The original arrived in October 2006 and Fusion isn't expected until sometime in 2009. A 2 ½ - 3-year spacing between the two games means (presumably) that the development team and publisher is taking time to get things right and not just churn out a sequel to meet quarterly financial results. Yay for that!

- Omni

(August 2, 2008)


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