In this day and age of video games, the large majority of those based super hero comics come and go without much of an afterthought. 2 years ago, X-men Legends gave a twist to how most comic games are made and allowed you to take control of various characters and added an RPG element which allowed you to upgrade your characters stats and equipment depending on what you find throughout the duration of the game. Marvel Ultimate Alliance looks to push further past what the previous game gave gamers and makes it bigger and better across all next generation platforms.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance lets you take the reigns of 20 characters from the Marvel universe ranging from anticipated Spiderman, Captain America and the Thing to the more obscure Blade, Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider. Each character has their relevant powers and traits and from what we saw, are very true to their comic book counter parts. Since every hero needs its ying to its yang, Marvel Ultimate Alliance delivers a whopping 140 characters that are found within the Marvel universe to battle against. In the demo we were shown, Scorpion was the main enemy which is nice to see that the lesser known enemies have their moment in the limelight instead of the larger, well known enemies.

Being that the version we were shown was on the PlayStation 3, it’s fair to say that the graphics were well above average. The cell shading styled graphics gave the game a comic book look while everything from the characters to the catwalks you treaded across were draped in real time lighting and shadows. Incredibly large outdoor areas and background scenery gave the feeling of an enormous environment even if the path you were following was narrow and linear. At one point, seeing Galactus stomping in the background as you and your team fought smaller enemies on your way to meet him was surreal and gave you a sense of just how large the area you were playing in was. The game does follow the same style as the earlier X-Men Legends where you have a team of four characters that you can control on the fly and each can level up their skills as well as the items they have equipped. In true RPG fashion, you will pick up items along the way to keep your characters battle ready and up to the challenge of the stronger foes you’ll come across.

Along with being able to choose your team of four characters for the single player campaign, you will also be able to team up with 3 other friends and play a 4 player online co-op escapade throughout the game. With the online co-op component, experience is given to players that do the work, so it is not divided up evenly like during the single player mode. Players that do the work are rewarded for it and aggressive playing styles will progress your character level after level. Aside from the single player campaign and the co-op modes, there are also comic book missions for each character. These missions will take you through a period in time taken from the comic of each character. Although we weren’t shown any or given any examples, it would be safe to assume that the comic book missions would be along the lines of Spiderman going toe to toe with one of his many arch enemies or Blade facing off against Dracula. Since the comic book missions will be focused on only one hero, the other three characters that players control in the co-op mode will be able to take the role of the enemies and give their buddies a run for their money.

With the experience, skills, upgradeable powers and items, Marvel Ultimate Alliance has a deeper RPG element within it. The storyline has different paths that can be taken so that it is not a directly linear path each time it is played. Each decision affects the outcome of events during the game and at the end those choices will determine what happens and what you will be a part of. With Marvel Ultimate Alliance heading towards the Ps3, the Xbox 360, the Xbox and the PSP, players everywhere will have their chance to get in the game with plenty of characters from the pages of Marvel comics. Along with many features still unannounced, there was mention of different costumes available for each character to add a little more zest to the game for those gamers that want more and more. Scheduled to be a launch title for the Ps3 when it hits the mass public later this year, Marvel Ultimate Alliance looks like it will be a definite front runner of the comic book based video games. - Jeff McAllister.