Jaime | 
September 17, 2009 | 
“Which version of Ultimate Alliance 2 will reign supreme over the Marvel Universe?”
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| Vicarious Visions |
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| Release: 09/15/09 | n/a | n/a | Release: 09/15/09 | |||||||||
| ESRB: T |
Med | Low | ESRB: T |
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Head2Head – Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 Length: 00:04:08 Which version will reign supreme over the Marvel Universe? Watch the video to find out! |
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This exclusive Head2Head is brought to you by Play N Trade, Lake Mary. This week the Lens of Truth got an early copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Xbox 360 and Ps3, and while it was really hard to stop playing Batman, mind you for the second time through, we decided that it was time to see what the Marvel Universe had to offer. So which version of Ultimate Alliance 2 tag teams its way through the Marvel Universe victorious? Keep reading to find out!
Raven Software was responsible for the previous Ultimate Alliance which got generally favorable reviews from the critics, so Vicarious Visions, the developers behind Ultimate Alliance 2, had some big shoes to fill. Graphically speaking, Ultimate Alliance 2 hasn’t really evolved much from the previous version. We were looking forward to seeing another jaw dropping intro cinematic by Blur Studios, but the budget must have been tight on Ultimate Alliance 2 and they went the economic route. Ultimate Alliance 2’s prerendered intro cinematic paled in comparison to the quality Blur has produced with the first game. The movie looked downright ugly due to the amount of compression. But that’s not all, one version actually looked worse by adding screen tearing to the mix. The PlayStation 3’s intro cinematic had some serious playback issues – it was riddled with screen tears. It just goes to show that 3rd party developers have no intention in utilizing the Blu-Ray format to increase video quality of prerendered clips.
In terms of graphics, they were pretty close. Although texture sizes looked the same when close to objects, once again the PlayStation3 renders them slightly blurry when at a distance. And since this game takes place with a zoomed out camera, that’s most of the game. There were also some minor differences between versions with shadows. Shadows on the PS3 version used a dithering effect, while the Xbox 360 utilized a smooth shadow implementation. Furthermore, the PlayStation 3 version only supported 480p and 720p resolutions, no 1080i/p upscaling here, but honestly both versions seemed to be rendering sub 720p resolution. It is nice to see though that the characters don’t take too much of a hit in details from one console to another, proving it was quite possible to make a perfect port, had the developers spent some additional time.
When it comes down to performance, the Xbox 360 is the clear winner. The PlayStation 3 version suffered from severe screen tearing when many characters and effects were on the screen at once. The Xbox 360 very rarely had this issue. Both versions ran at 30fps, however the PlayStation 3 would take a slight dive when there was a lot of action happening on the screen. As for load times, most of them where masked by the cinematics, making it almost impossible to see which version loaded faster.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences.
Roll over to see the differences. Notice the ground texture on the PlayStation 3.
Overall, the Xbox 360 wins this Head2Head with slightly sharper visuals but it easily takes the win with performance. Chalk this up to yet another developer spending neither the time nor money to develop their games equally across platforms. But, let’s be honest. You can play up to four super heroes on the screen at a time, and for some reason Batman can still kick all their butts.
| G R A P H I C S | ||
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Xbox 360 wins here, while the camera stays pretty far from all the superheroes so you can see them all fighting, you can see them slightly better on the Xbox 360. |
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| P E R F O R M A N C E | ||
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Xbox 360 comes out on top sporting better performance, based on frame rate, screen tearing, and other general issues. |
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| L O A D I N G | ||
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Tie. Most of the loading was masked in the cut scenes. It is worth mentioning that the PlayStation 3 had a mandatory install of right around 2 gigs. |
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| O U T C O M E | ||
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Xbox 360 wins this Head2Head sporting better performance and slightly sharper textures. While Ultimate Alliance 2 looked and played like you would expect, Marvel really needs to step up their game plan because the gaming industry has found a new hero. |
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So the PS3 has screen tearing… does the 360 has screen tearing too ? if not I’ll go for the 360 version. good work you guys.
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This is bullsh** to the fullest, It looks the same on my friends 50 inch 1080p DLP for both consoles, the same goes for my 72inch DLP in my living room with both consoles in, same setup, same picture on Hi-Def–1 and Hi-Def–2
THE SAME, these people dont know how to setup a ps3 or something but i assure you theres videos haha. go check them out and learn a thing or two
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It looks the same because:
A) your stupid
B) The reason why your stupid is that your playing on a 72 inch 1080p TV, which the game runs at 720p native, so obvisouly they would both look stretchy and ugly.
C) You fail.
This review came too late for me I already bought the ps3 one
I think I can get full money back for a week…hopefully if not, meh!!!
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His stupid what?
…Irony….
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Thanks for anther H2H. I’ve been thinking about getting this game. It’s nice to know which system it shines better on. My PS3 hasn’t seen much action lately, but Uncharted 2 comes out next month. I can’t wait!
As for the people who voted for the PS3 being the better version for this game, I feel sorry for you. You must be legally blind. The last roll-over picture is so drastically different that there’s no way you can even fool yourself into thinking the PS3 version looks better. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
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Uncharted for the win, I think it will take Best graphics of the year, unbelievable graphics for a console.
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i kinda figured this before reading. it happened with part 1 too. i already planned on it for 360.
im all ready for Uncharted 2 now. just finished 1.. excellent game, and i was actually not interested in it when it first came out. glad i gave it a chance.
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It certainly was expected, after MUA1. And after many have argued issues with the PS3 version it came as no surprise. I’m just glad to see the graphics aren’t as badly ported as Ghostbusters. As a Marvel fan I’ll most likely get this for PS3 (lacking a 360) eventually, just wait for some price reduction/patch (haha yeah right I know). Probably not the worst game I’ve spent money on for Marvel.
Can’t wait for Raven Software to come out with the next one. At least that’s what Activision tends to do sometimes, cranks these games out like a factory, has Developer A work on Game 1,3,5 and Developer B work on Game 2,4,6 so that they can work on both at the same time. They do that with Call of Duty with Infinity Ward and Treyarch. Will Galactus return? Will Raven be saving the world from an antagonist while VV works on more Civil War? Maybe Raven will just return to X-Men Legends series…
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Good H2H. At first reading this, they both look about the same, almost giving props to the PS3, but when you look at the roll over parts, you can clearly tell that the 360 does have better shadows and sharper textures. If anyone says anything different, they need to get their eyes checked
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Thanks for another h2h.
How long do people think it will take before the marketing/hearsay based opinion of “PS3 power is supposed to be better, so I’m going to mention I played *insert multiplat game here* on a TV and it looks great!” statement which, could be true but does not prove anything.
Is it denial? Is it really anger? Is it blind faith? I’m not even arguing whether or not the difference is important, but by coming in here and posting it must be somewhat important to certain people. I’d say I care, personally – small difference or not.
How many more years of generally worse ports (yes of course there are exceptions) will there be before people “get it”, and accept it?
I understand people spend money on these things and its like, you’ve invested in a sports team and you feel a need to “apologize” for your team whenever it loses… but yikes.
I’ve seen comments on this site like “but the Blu-Ray makes the cut scenes so much clearer” on games where this was irrelevant and just not true. Yes increased capacity can mean higher bitrate, but it looks like in practice it ain’t happening!
I did expect the PS3 to evenually have less compressed textures, but you then realize the bigger the file the longer it takes to read off a disc, and since the disc is already slower 2x BD-ROM vs 12x DVD, it seems developers asre mostly shying away from that.
I think this is all very interesting, and neither machine is a lame duck.
Bringing up hardware failures, or trying to say none of it matters at all is contradictory and/or pointless.
Bring on more h2h for those of us who care, admit it, and don’t find a need to justify our hardware purchase or “team”.
this and think – ok. I spent hundreds of dollarss on the Sony machine. It doesn’t look better. I’m not going to nitpick a flaw (screen tearing) which negating another (lower res textures on PS3 – but – but – you don’t see them!)….
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My post ends with “team” – don’t know what that blob o’ text at the end is
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I hear you Taggard! I own both systems and I have to say this H2H drove me over the edge: no more buying PS3 titles unless they are exclusive/include exclusive DLC. I still love Resistance, Killzone, Infamous, etc. and will NEVER get rid of my PS3 but I cannot continue to buy games that are not offered in 1080p with mandatory installs; I am glad I have the choice between the two systems. I can’t back a purchase of a PS3 game when the Blu-ray technology is not being used in my games. I say it without siding with a “hardware team” (I already stated I like both systems) but the 360 tends to kick the PS3’s ass. I checked my PS3 HDD the other day and saw it is half full. I have no music or movies saved to the PS3, the majority of those GB are for mandatory installs! Not only have the H2H’s proven that the PS3 usually gets the ugly end of the stick in production, but my personal evaluations have shown the similar results. The next PS3 game I’ll get is MAG, for obvious reasons! Like you said, neither machine is a lame duck, I think you’re 100% correct; I just feel better buying more of my games with the XBOX these days…
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You forgot about Uncharted 2… but yes, I’ve had an exclusive only policy on PS3 for ages. Though, Burnout Paradise is one exception.
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You know, I never really got into Uncharted but the production looks amazing. There is so much hype on part 2 that I’m going to have to check it out!
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Totally agree with you
My 360 gets all the multiplatforms
My ps3 on the other hand I don’t even play it…
Yea they have lots of exclusives but 90 percent of them are japanese games jrpg’s and all that sh1t NO TY.
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How did Killzone 2 do it? that game proved that there didn’t need to be a fast blue ray reader and has the best graphics on any console (except uncharted 2 now) and killzone 2 didn’t even need an install. companies should find out how to do this more often.
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this page the owner is bill gate ….you are stupid..ps3 is the best…
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You are a credit to your peers. Bravo.
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You’re lack of of grammar usage alone discredits your opinion.
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“You’re lack of of grammar”
Whoa… slow down their, cowboy.
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I think you mean… “slow down there, cowboy.”
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The I’M WITH STUPID applays to you too @CernaML
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I hope that was a joke, Rocky. Because you just came out looking even more stupid.
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I think we can let each other off when it comes to spelling mistakes that are clearly typos. After all, who hasn’t posted online only to notice with horror that there are letters missing from every other word? Ok, so it generally means you ned to clean your keyboard, but my point remains. A good illustrative coincidence is my last sentence where I just noticed I typed ‘ned’ rather than ‘need’, all because my keyboard didn’t register one press.
Inappropriate usage of punctuation is a different matter but to be honest, I blame the schools
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NO SURPRISE HERE !!!
I m a huge Captain America fan
360 get’s my vote
Wow 18 won by xbox vs 9 Ps3
Girl you need to start flexing you’re muscles soon !!! =/
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mj23 the user owner = illiterate
Fanboysim FTW!
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First response, but regard this site as a pretty decent judge of most things.
The sad factor, I look at what the game has to offer, graphics are important, but the way the game plays is the most important aspect.
Which begs the question, why am I posting on this site? well if I want to get a game, I research everything.
Having choice of either PS3 or 360 is a blessing, but the only thing I really want to know is which has the better control system (Yes it can come down to personal tastes, but having logical choices of buttons is important too), maybe adding that to your head to head, won’t harm the outcome, but help people like me, who want more than just graphics.
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Another great H2H as always
I’m also wondering if you guys will do a H2H on Final Fantasy 13, since its a the first time a FF game has been on a MS Console and I’m having hard time decided the console i should get it for.
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My suggestion is that you start listing the primary development console – most of the games seen in the head to head comparison were made initially for the 360 and then ported to the ps3 – it is then up to the company to port it correctly as we have seen with Oblivion – it is aguably improved on the ps3 because they worked it for the ps3 even though it started on the 360 – most companies do not take this route and do what little they have to to port their games over in an acceptibly working fashion. Knowing that the primary development was 360 or ps3 obviously means either A) The company will do minimal porting giving them the highest return – It takes a lot to totally port either way with the different architectures – obviously ending up in a lesser product for the 2nd system or B) The company will invest the resources necessary to do a proper port utilizing the effectiveness of the ported to’s capabilities. This alone would help to decide which is the better system for an individual game since it was made for that system
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Why xbox360 versions win allways in this average games and PS3 versions Win in the biggest games (like Oblivion, Burnout Paradise, CoD4, CoD WaW, Dead Space, Prototype, etc)???
And why the PS3 has the best graphics on any console, like GT5Prologue (best car game visuals on the Market), MGS4 (Best Graphics in 2008), Killzone2 (Best Graphics in consoles so far) or Uncharted 2 (Best graphics EVER)???
I’d rather have the BEST of the BEST, than have the best of the average.
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Let’s see here:
Oblivion: PS3 version only succeeds because of more time & money being put into that version (Read messageboards about it).
Burnout Paradise: Exact same (Read messageboards about it).
COD 4: Both at a tie.
COD WaW: 360 version wins.
Dead Space: 360 version wins.
Prototype: 360 version wins.
http://misterslimm.wordpress.com/360-vs-ps3/xbox-360-vs-ps3-head-to-head-face-off-results/
MGS 4: Isn’t even in Real HD (is at 1024×768 (2xAA, temporal)).
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=46241
GT5 Prologue, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, opinion, since they’re PS3 exclusives.
Not to mention that 360 wins in MOST of the biggest games than the PS3.
All in all, you fail, sir.
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@Garland
Agreed !!!
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Luís says:
Why xbox360 versions win allways in this average games and PS3 versions Win in the biggest games (like Oblivion, Burnout Paradise, CoD4, CoD WaW, Dead Space, Prototype, etc)???
Last time I checked:
Oblivion looked better on the 360
Same with CoD4
CoD WaW looks even worse than CoD4 on ps3.
One quick question have you even played them? or have any ideea of what you’re talking?!
Dead Space and Prototype looked like a tie to me.
Did you even bother to watch the head2head they both had ?! … sigh
Average games so NFS is average ahahaha xD. ever heard of NFS Porsche good old times.
GT5Prologue (best car game visuals on the Market) orly ?! tehehehe xD says who?!
I think it’s called a racing simulator.
Little kid go to school and learn something then after you’re at a mature you’ll see things different trust me I was like you once eating Sony’s BS.
Did you know that GT5 Prologue native resolution is 1280×1080p hence where people get confused and think it’s 1920×1080p and that it even drops lower than that to keep up the frame rate…
Did you know that ?!
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