MUA 2

[JKCarrier]

but what it comes down to is playability.

Yes and no. The whole appeal of these games is the chance to play your favorite characters. Otherwise, there'd be no reason to license the Marvel heroes at all. I don't really care how uber Wolverine is, I'd rather play Beast, because I like him better. As far as I'm concerned, they can take out the X-Men and replace them with NextWave and Power Pack. 

[UnkoMan]

Well... I like to play Deadpool both because I like Deadpool and because he is uber. I mean... when I played UA, me and Wolverine kept the team around, with another guy as Iron Man to just blast the crud outta everybody. Then one of the guy's girlfriends was Storm since that was the only female character she knew. But she managed to do some damage.

But yeah, a big fight basically started with me taunting all the bad guys and letting them pummel me while it didn't even hurt me. I quite enjoyed it.

[Midnite]

Iron Fist

[detourne_me]

[BentonGrey]

As far as exclusive characters go, I'd say either hold out in case they maybe(stupid VV! not make a profit my butt.) sell it for the PC (which will inevitably have everyone, fans being as awesome as they are) or get the X-Box 360 version, which will have all of them on X-Box live soon enough anyway.

And as far as the X-men thing... Grah. I got this game originally on the PS2, and they didn't even have a full X-men lineup (3 characters), so how can you say there were too many? Even the Xbox 360, with it's 8 bonus characters (is that right? I'm not sure) and next-gen staples, bringing it up to 31 characters in all, only had 6 X-men. They added 6 characters just in the Xbox live bonuses, for goodness sake!

I'm sorry, but I don't understand this mentality... we keep talking about slots they take up, but what it comes down to is playability. Cyclops is a great ranged guy. Wolverine is awesome at melee. Nightcrawler is a teleporting swords guy. Iceman can freeze everything. All of them serve a purpose, as does Songbird (whose powers I'm looking forward to using.) Wasp doesn't. Beast, despite my love of the character, didn't in XML1 (I'm sorry, but he was pretty useless).

If you wish to talk slots, talk about what the character can actually do, that is unique compared to the rest of Marvel, and that can add to the game. In that case, there isn't a competition between Wasp and Songbird, they're completely different in terms of abilities. The only slots Wasp is competing for are with the Ant-man/Goliath crowd, not with X-men or Songbird.

Nope Tomato, I wholeheartedly disagree.  There is no role that the X-Men fulfill that other characters couldn't do as well, if not much better.  Black Knight or Hercules could be just as much melee machines as Wolverine, Vision would be a really interesting utility player, Hawkeye is every bit the ranged fighter that Cyclops is, only more versatile, and in the game Deadpool can even teleport (sorry Nightcrawler).  So, you aren't missing ANYTHING by not having those characters, but keep in mind, I didn't complain solely about the X-Men.  I think there were several characters included that should have been replaced. 

If you want to talk about powers and creating characters that are interesting to play with, well Wasp and Giant/Ant Man are at the very top of my list.  There is tons you could do with Wasp, with her playing a support, scout role.  She could be incredibly hard to hit (like Nightcrawler in XML II), and do a myriad of things with her Wasp stings (as illustrated by Tommy in his Avengers mod).  What would be REALLY cool would be Hank Pym.  You could basically have two sets of powers for him, and one of his first powers would be the ability to grow or shrink.  As Giantman he is strong, tough, and able to be a brick.  As Antman, he is hard to hit and a great way to tie up enemies with his insects.  That would be a really cool combination. 

Still, as JK pointed out, a big point of the game is being able to play with your favorite characters.  I like MUA a lot better than, say, Gauntlet, because I care about the characters involved.  I would just really like to see other characters to get a chance at 3D life, heaven knows the X-Men have had their share.

[Previsionary]

Yes, the X-men had their share, but the X-men didn't make up the majority of MUA, and from some posts in this thread, you'd think they did. The truth of the matter is, the avengers made up more of the cast list than any other team. Let's count them out:

Avengers:

Ms. Marvel
Wolverine
Spider-man
Dr. Strange
Black Panther
Thor
Captain America
Spider-woman
Ironman
Luke Cage
Hawkeye (exclusive)
Ronin (exclusive)
Marvel (exclusive)
Hulk (exclusive)
Namor (exclusive)
Vision (exclusive)
Black Widow (exclusive)

X-men:

Wolverine
Ms. Marvel
Storm
Iceman
Nightcrawler (xc)
Cyclops (xc)
Colossus (xc)
Magneto (xc)
Sabretooth (xc)
Jean Grey (xc)

Fantastic Four:

Torch
Susan
Reed
Thing
Storm
Black Panther

Solo:

Deadpool
DD
Elektra
Moonknight (xc)
Venom (xc)
S. Surfer
Blade
G. Rider
Nick Fury

Final count: Avengers= 17, X-men= 10, Fan4= 6, Solo= 9  (including exclusives/dual teams)
Exclud. XC: Avengers= 10, X-men= 4, Fan4= 6, Solo= 7  (including dual teams)
------------

So, looking at the list, it's pretty clear that the avengers pretty much dominated the list. It may not have been the avengers you wanted (or on the console you owned), but the developers drastically cut down on the X-list, and I can tell you that back when the game first came out, many people wanted to play around with more X-men such as NC (DP and NC have different teleporting styles if you never noticed, so DP couldn't exactly replace NC). I think more of the universe needs to be explored in general OUTSIDE of the big three teams of Fan4, Avengers, and X-men which is why I welcome the addition of Songbird. I'd be even happier if Gravity showed up.

Speaking of Herc, I saw some unconfirmed reports that he's in the game as a mini-boss, which sucks. I'd rather play as Hercules over Luke Cage, as he really didn't add much to the gameplay in mua when you already had Thing basically covering all the big guy bases. *sigh*

[BentonGrey]

Yeah....I don't really consider Luke Cage, Spider Woman, Spider-man, Ronin, OR Wolverine as Avengers...as far as I'm concerned, it never happened.   Take them out and the list is quite a bit smaller (in those available to everyone)

[BWPS]

If only video games existed when BG's favorite teams were around. 

[BentonGrey]

Haha!  I didn't exist when they were around.

[Tomato]

Meh... I guess the way I see it, we've sort of passed the point where throwing in 7 X-men in the lineup doesn't really hamper the totality of the lineup significantly, especially with the lineup increasing the way it does. For example:

XML- 15 PC, 0 EX, 15 total
XMLII- 18 PC, 7 EX, 25 total
MUA- 23 PC, 13 EX, 36 total

PC-Playable characters on all console/PC systems
Ex- Exclusive to specific consoles

Now, given that the roster seems to (overall) increase by 10 characters per game, with about 5 of those being for ALL consoles, I suspect we'll hit most of the major highlights of the 616 Universe by MUA 3 anyway.

[Podmark]

If Thor, Ares, Cloak and Dagger, Cable, and any Young Avengers appear in this game I'm in.

Cable is in the game, not sure if he's playable though. I saw him in one of the trailers.

I'm a modern fan (as well as classic) and I think it's pretty cool that they're adapting the Civil War storyline and adding lesser known characters like Songbird. You need to get b/c list characters into games and other media to make them larger profile. However I actually think Secret Invasion would have made a better story to play. Armies of skrulls and super skrulls - how awesome would that be!
Or Annihilation, sure you'd probably need to add the A-listers to the story but that would make an epic game - and you know you want to play as Nova.

[electro]

Or Annihilation, sure you'd probably need to add the A-listers to the story but that would make an epic game - and you know you want to play as Nova.

I would love to see the Annihilation story brought to the video game arena but, that seems very doubtfull seeing how there are no good guys in the story besides Nova & Quasar - Unless you consider Drax good - Just don't see a company sinking good money into a game that stars Nova & Quasar even thow I would be first in line to buy it but, i'm a mega geek - Anyway Iron Fist looks fun to play with & he will definetly be on my roster along with DD & Cage

[Previsionary]

http://marvelultimatealliance.marvel.com/#/Media/Images/c=12&i=49

Some pics from the official site. Shows off Spidey, Thor, Thing, Susan, Reed, Ironman, and Songbird in action. Benton should especially check out Songbird. .

Also of interest might be the 3d pic they have in their gallery.

[Midnite]

Deadpool trailer

[captmorgan72]

I absolutely hate Captain America's costume in this. Everyone so far looks really good but Cap looks terrible.

[Tomato]

I absolutely hate Captain America's costume in this. Everyone so far looks really good but Cap looks terrible.

No. I dislike the look of Cap's Chain Mail (they could at least TRY to make it look good in-game) but Wolverine's collar-of-death makes my eyes twitch every time I see screens of him. I know they're trying for a more realistic look... but they need to stop. The only one they're benefiting with it is Thor, and even then only barely.

Edit: Case in point



Seeing Hair stick out under a full-head mask? Fail.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

As long as they give us nice unlockable costumes I don't care how sucky the main ones are, I just won't use them. I am SO glad the costumes aren't tied to stats... I HATED that in the last game. Although I gotta say that Wolverine collar really is an eyesore... oh yeah and Capt. America's scalemail shawl is awful...

I also don't mind them adding B & C listers at all, I just won't use them if I don't like them. I don't know who Songbird is at all, I'd love to get a Giant Man that grows and all that goodness on a random note. Or if they must be obscure just give me Black Goliath or Atlas or any other number of the probably dozen heroes & villains with access to pym particles.

Also that Deadpool trailer... WOW... Deadpool May Cry is dead on. If everyone gets that kind of treatment and upgrade in combat I am supremely excited for this. At least then maybe I'll be able to tell the difference when I'm playing Thing/Hulk/Colossus/Luke Cage other than their semi-unique throws.

[lugaru]

I'm loving it, so far the graphics look a tiny bit dated but the light effects and excellent animation more than makes up for it. And kudos to them for getting rid of the stat bonuses from outfits, I often found myself wearing an outfit I really loved even thought it messed up my characters stats.

[daerdevil]

I'm with Grizzly.  Just include some classic costumes and I'll be a happy man.  That was the first thing I did on MUA, was play every character to unlock a better looking outfit.  That Wolverine suit is ugly and I don't even want to talk about Iron Fist.  I hope the cutscenes and character select scenes reflect the wardrobe changes.

[captmorgan72]

I soooo want to see Sentry in this.

[Courtnall6]

Dear god Wolverine looks horrible. I would actually prefer him in his boring old street clothes than that getup. Ironfist and his baseball catchers vest is hideous as well. I really hope they'll have classic costumes in this so I can use a cheat to unlock them right away.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

Dear god Wolverine looks horrible. I would actually prefer him in his boring old street clothes than that getup. Ironfist and his baseball catchers vest is hideous as well. I really hope they'll have classic costumes in this so I can use a cheat to unlock them right away.

I hope so too... I don't want to be stuck with most of these costumes for long at all.

Also they posted pics of the Juggernaut, other than the addition of shoulder pads I like his game costume better than his classic costume. I never really thought about it until the article mentioned it but... Juggernaut can't turn his head. Yes, yes forward forward unstoppable and all that... but seriously as much as he used to love leaving that helmet on, he should probably still be able to turn his head.

I also like Iron Fist's costume... the vest doesn't bother me as Danny Rand is very much... not bulletproof. Although the SHINY yellow headband screams shoot me in the face just as much as the SHINY yellow dragon on the vest. While I'm on the Heroes for Hire train... I don't like Luke Cage... how did he suddenly become fearsome? Did Brian Michael Bendis take the power of Shaft and just distill it into an elixir to empower Luke Cage?

[Courtnall6]

Juggernaut isn't too bad I guess....but, to me, his helmet is iconic to his character...I wouldn't have changed it.

the vest doesn't bother me as Danny Rand is very much... not bulletproof

He went decades without that being much of a problem. Ironfist's look doesn't work for me at all. Gimme back the green tights, high pointy collar, and yellow slippers any day.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

Juggernaut isn't too bad I guess....but, to me, his helmet is iconic to his character...I wouldn't have changed it.

the vest doesn't bother me as Danny Rand is very much... not bulletproof

He went decades without that being much of a problem. Ironfist's look doesn't work for me at all. Gimme back the green tights, high pointy collar, and yellow slippers any day.

Bah! Good point... curse you C6!

I still like Iron Fist's look... however Wolverine & Captain America... hoo boy those look bad.

Personally I think they kept enough elements of Jugg's helmet that I'm not that bothered by it. Especially after it donned on me after all these years with the old look, he seriously can't turn his head.

[BentonGrey]

Well, they aren't releasing it for PC, so there goes the last tiny shred (and it was honestly pretty small by this point, pretty much only kept alive by the possibility it might be modded) of a chance that I might buy it.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

Two new characters revealed Venom & Green Goblin.

Things that go bump in the night (part 1) This talks about designing Venom & Green Goblin, but part 1 is solely about venom.

You can see...
Green Goblin
Venom

Love these two costumes, they look really really good.

I had no idea Mac Gargan (Scorpion) was now Venom.

[Tomato]

I had no idea Mac Gargan (Scorpion) was now Venom.

He isn't. That's crazy talk, like Brand New Day.

As far as the designs... eh. I'm not exactly fond of them, but I'm not exactly fond of their "modern" designs anyway.

[MJB]

AFAIK Gargan has been Venom for a while Before BND.

*rains on parade*

[Tomato]

Did I say it was BND-related? no. I just said it was crazy talk  .

Edit: Added a smiley to make it more obvious I was joking.

[GrizzlyBearTalon]

Did I say it was BND-related? no. I just said it was crazy talk.

Um... he could have been trying to clarify it in case I was confused by your statement. I did make a thread on the topic in the comics forum.

Anyways back on track now you dirty distractions... dirty... so dirty... I'll clean you up... mmmm..... *cough*

Stan Lee Interview on MUA2
MUA2 Stage Demo (shows gameplay)
Green Goblin Trailer