Marvel Ultimate Alliance is the latest release by Raven software who also made the X-Men legends series of games. The game is more of an action RPG than a pure RPG which works for the better which I'll get into later. The story is based around Dr. Doom and his evil plans and you being the one who's out to stop him.
At the start of the game after an impressive cut-scene you will have four pre-selected heroes in Spiderman, Wolverine, Thor and Captain America. You will eventually be able to choose your own team from 20+ Marvel characters and you have to admire the detail that Raven software has put into every hero in the game from their likeness to their voice which is hard to tell the difference from their Hollywood counterparts. As well as choosing your own team you will be able to unlock further heroes as you get further into the game plus new costumes for your current heroes which gives you tons of playability. The story in Marvel Ultimate Alliance is very good and being able to interact with so many different characters helps the story move along even better. There are RPG elements to the gameplay like levelling up and using items to equip your character with. This can be done automatically or you can choose to do it yourself.
Combat you could argue is some frantic button mashing with some special powers thrown in this however makes it no less satisfying to play. Using the A and B buttons you can unleash some combos but to succeed you will need to use your powers also. For every superhero in the game they will have their own unique set of powers to use. Wolverine will slash his enemies to death while Spiderman will use his webbing to incapacitate then eliminate the enemy. Throughout Marvel Ultimate Alliance you will also face boss fights which are memorable and will require you to think as well as fight. As with any typical RPG you would be expecting this game to last you some time and while it may be shorter than your average RPG it's still fun while it lasts and has plenty reason for you to go back and play through it more than once.
Other than the main story missions there are missions pacific to each character which you can unlock through the main story mode. This in turn will unlock even more stuff should you play through the missions. There is also a trivia game included to test you on your Marvel knowledge getting questions right will reward you with XP so choose wisely. Plus there's an online mode with co-operative modes available.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a game I overlooked but turned out to really enjoy playing. With a fantastic storyline to keep you interested plus all the possible combinations of teams, powers and things to unlock you will find it's certainly a game that has a lot to do in it. Even if you don't really like Marvel you should still enjoy this game and if you're looking for an adventure you'll find a great one right here in Ultimate Alliance.
