Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Standard vs. Gold (Goozex Value Bin)
Written by Ryan Johnson Wednesday, 05 January 2011 06:00
I recently used the Goozex Value Bin to obtain Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. Great service, that Value Bin. Only 100 points for a quality game ready NOW. It was mailed to me instantaneously. I enjoyed it for a while right before Christmas.
When Christmas rolled around, a VERY awesome friend gave me a pile of games. He went to GameStop during a Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale, and picked me up Red Dead Redemption, Transformers: War for Cybertron, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition.
"Ah," I said. "A chance to see (and review) the differences."I messed with both, and upon seeing their similarities, decided to get rid of one. They are basically the same game, after all.
I look on Goozex. Original going for 100 points, 20 some odd people offering it, 3 people requesting it. Gold edition? Three times the price, almost 40 people waiting in line, and no offers whatsoever! During a trip to town, I look at the prices over at GameStop. $4.99 used for original, $27.99 for Gold! You can get a copy of Ultimate Alliance 2 used for less than the Gold edition! At Amazon, the original runs $13.50 new, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition is $50 (you can buy it used for cheaper)!
"What gives?" I wonder. So I browse the internet, and find the reason: Eight additional characters were offered online for a total of 1000 Microsoft Points: the Heroes Pack (Cyclops, Hawkeye, Nightcrawler, and Hulk) and the Villians Pack (Doctor Doom, Magneto, Sabretooth, and Venom) were 500 points a pop. Still, that's only about $12. What makes it worth 23 extra bucks, or 200 extra Goozex points? Those downloads are no longer available.
If you want these characters, you HAVE to get the Gold edition (or the since-released Platinum Edition) of the game. Therefore, regardless of the quality of the game or its characters, this places the "Gold Edition" into "collector's status."
Mind you, you get these characters in the original edition: Black Panther, Blade, Captain America, Colossus, Daredevil, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Elektra, Ghost Rider, Human Torch, Iceman, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Moon Knight, Mister Fantastic, Ms. Marvel, Nick Fury, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Storm, Thing, Thor, and Wolverine.
So if you want to get in on the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Universe (after all, UA 2 has come out, and fans are pining for UA3 one day), which is the best place to start? It all depends on how much of a Marvel nut (specifically, a fan of those particular characters) you are. The eight characters were solely DLC characters. They did nothing to change the outcome/outlook of the story. In a movie, they're basically deleted scenes. You get nothing more in terms of the actual game having these characters.
However, if you are like me, you appreciate deleted scenes. Those eight extra characters add flair to a game. Sure, you already have 25 characters, but why NOT 8 more?? Then you have to decide whether it's worth both 200 extra Goozex Points AND the patience to wait through 40 some trades when nobody is offering it right now, or a 23 to 36 dollar difference purchasing at a store.
Overall, it's a fun game. I'm very glad my friend bought the Gold edition for me as a Christmas present. I'm glad I have it, but I didn't lay the cash down for it, either. I'm looking forward to seeing the storyline, and with my backlog of games, I may be finishing UA2 by the time UA3 is announced. There is one of the great benefits to the Goozex Value Bin: catching great titles you may have missed that are gearing up for another sequel down the pipe. Definitely check this out: for those not in the know, it's kind of an action-RPG set in the Marvel world with all of your favorite characters. True comic nuts will have already played through this, but it is a solid gameplay experience you ought to try if you haven't yet already. It's up to you, however, to decide just how much the experience is worth.
Amazon Video Game Deal of the Day
Comments
For instance, one character actually talks during dialog but if you changed him/her out, it's basically reading it.
Also, certain combinations of characters also gives a little boost when fighting (for example, you pick all 4 of the Fantastic 4 members and you get a Fantastic Four bonus which is +20% health).
Here's a link that gives all of the combinations;
http://www.cheatscodesguides.com/xbox-360-cheats/marvel-ultimate-alliance/
It REALLY sucks that they decided to pull the DLC for MAU 1&2 because its not that bad of a game and I dont know anyone that downright hated it. And especially hearing that there most likely wont be a Gold Editon of MAU2... it's really saddening.
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