Video Game Mutterings

Okay, let me be the first to say, buying Ultimate Alliance when I'm in the middle of National Novel Writing Month was a bad idea. I haven't had much of any chance to play. The bits I did get to play (mostly the intro) were pretty awesome.

I've never played X-Men Legends, I'm told the games are similar. I've never had much interest in the X-characters though. I like the Avengers and Fantastic Four better.

I'm a bad comics geek though. I was much sadder about not getting to play Hank Pym than I was about the Hulk. I mean, the unlockable costume opportunities alone! Admittedly, I'm not quite sure how they'd go about using his powers. But dude, it if it involved pulling shrunken death rays out of his pockets, I am SO THERE.

I like the flying. Zipping across the room is fun.

My current "team" (I haven't made it to the real team creation type) is made up of Captain America, Ms. Marvel, Storm and Spider Woman. I'm not sure why except that possibly in my head, Steve Rogers is a woman.

I suck at the combat. Seriously. No head for tactics, me. Also, buttons confuse me. I'm playing this game for the costumes. I'm one of those sorts that never grew out of Barbie Dolls.

The unlockable characters sound like fun too. Sadly, I have the PS2 version, so no bonus characters. Though really, considering I have to find time to play at all, that's probably a good thing though. I'm sad about not getting to play Black Widow though.

Also, my roommate has Final Fantasy XII, so even if I weren't dreadfully behind on my NaNoWriMo (I WILL finish in time, damnit!) I'd still need to negotiate over PS2 time. I have to admit, FFXII is the first game I've watched that I have absolutely no inclination to play. Though I do like the space pirate guy. But that's a digression.

I really like the team-up options in this game. And the amount of characters. I'm more of an RPG sort, so I like that there's a lot of focus on story and point A to point B stuff here instead of just a fighting game, which I suck at.

I love the dialogue too. I've read some reviews that called it cheesy. Of COURSE it's cheesy. It's COMICS! If the dialogue wasn't cheesy, something would be wrong. Besides, Captain America in particular is supposed to sound a little lame. That's part of his charm.

I have to admit, I approve of the selection of X-Men used in the game as well. There are so many X-Men to choose from that it must have been hard to narrow down a choice. Wolverine's got the advantage of being iconically recognizeable and everywhere anyway, which makes him a good choice, even if I don't like him. Storm's just cool. And there's that whole Black Panther marriage. I wasn't as sure about Bobby or Colossus (who I don't have anyway. :-)) but I can't honestly think of anyone better. And their powers are neat, so I can't complain.

Over all, I think the character choices are really good. All characters I'm vaguely familiar with at least, but not all the obvious choices. It makes it a lot of fun.

Except for the lack of Hank Pym's unlockable costumes. Seriously. The man's closet must be huge...and kept in his pants pocket. I'm told he is an NPC in the game though, which makes me happy.

I also bought Justice League Heroes. Which looks very cool too. Oddly, much as I'm far more DC oriented than Marvel, I thought this one looked more interesting to start off with. Even if I'm gleeful at the prospect of unlocking Hal and Kyle. (No Guy though? Hmph. My inner Guy fangirl is disgruntled. :-))

I'm interested in the plot as well. I'm hoping it will be deliciously cheesy. It's Doctor Doom we're talking about after all. I've heard there's lots of replay value. Which makes me happy. I like unlocking stuff.

But anyway, I'm having fun, even if I won't be able to really play until December. (Or until i get the writing back on schedule. Which means not until December. Hee.)