Editor’s note: This review is written by Kyle West, a stay-at-home dad and full-time student at Full Sail University. He is married with three boys who take up most of his time. In a couple years, Kyle hopes to be working in the videogame industry, and later in life, he hopes to have his own studio.

To anyone who has played Marvel: Ultimate Alliance or Marvel Legends, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 will be familiar. I think the story in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is good through the second chapter, but the rest of the game falls somewhat flat.

For those of you who haven’t played the first two games, gameplay in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is simple. There are the basic attack, strong attack, grab and throw, and jump and double jump. Each character also has four character-specific attacks plus a higher-powered special attack that can be used once it is fully charged.

To play, you select a team of four characters from across the Marvel universe and set forth to defeat evil. The only difference in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 from the previous games is the addition of moves called fusions. The fusion uses two characters’ higher-powered special attacks combined to create an even more powerful move. The gameplay is a standard button-masher; go into one area, clear out the bad guys, then move on to the next area. There isn’t anything about the gameplay that would make this game stand out on its own, and at times, it’s a chore to get through the levels.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is good visually. When the characters are viewed in the menu, they are extremely accurate. However, during gameplay, the camera angle is directly overhead, and the characters are small, causing details to get lost in all of the fighting and explosions. The cutscenes are well-done with sharp graphics and smooth movements, and the voice-acting fits the characters. Each character has his or her unique sayings for getting hit, defeating an enemy or when almost out of health. However, hearing the same lame jokes or “help-I’m-dying-over-here” phrases repeatedly can get tiresome.

The story is why someone should play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. The game continues a few years after the ending of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The beginning of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 starts during the “Secret War,” a Marvel Comics miniseries that leads into the Marvel Comics miniseries “Civil War.” During the Civil War, the government introduces the Superhuman Registration Act, requiring all people with superpowers to register with the government. This causes a rift within the superheroes; Captain America doesn’t think the government should be doing it, whereas Iron Man doesn’t think there is anything wrong with it.

This is what sets off the Civil War: both sides thinking they are right. It divides the heroes in half, turning them against each other. In the middle of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, you can choose one of two paths: go with Captain America and become a fugitive of the law, or side with Iron Man and hunt down all those that go against the government. Each side has its cast of characters that you can choose to play as, but once the characters are unlocked, they can be used during either story.

I personally was hoping that the game would follow the Civil War story to its completion, with the death of Captain America. I think they should have focused more on the Civil War miniseries than they did, because the game just scratched the surface. So many epic things happened during the Civil War storyline, and the game creators decided to leave most of them out. Without getting into too much detail about the ending, the story was lacking. Trying to end on a feel-good note sometimes just doesn’t work. Once I got to the third chapter in the game and found out where the story was going, I lost interest in everything else Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 had to offer and finished it as quickly as I could.

Players can choose from more than 20 characters to play as, including Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Deadpool and others, some more well-known. It is great that there are so many characters to choose from, and I love the fact that all characters level up, even if you are not using them. However, this hinders the need for experimenting with all of the characters the developers made playable. Sure, they have team bonuses for playing as a team made of only people from the X-Men or the Fantastic Four, but I found a team I liked in the beginning and felt no need to change it.

Overall, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 has fallen somewhat short of being really great. The cutscenes are entertaining to watch, and the voice-acting is suitable. As for the game itself, it is a button-masher and not much else. There isn’t much reason to play through it more than once unless you are interested in seeing both sides of the story. The achievements are used to extend gameplay and experience everything the game has to offer, but they aren’t necessary. I recommend this game based on the story up to the end of the second chapter, of which there are three. For anyone who is a Marvel fan or enjoyed the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, you may want to buy this for your collection. For everyone else, rent it first.