Marvel Ultimate Alliance // Xbox 360
Dream teams

// The skinny: Dr. Doom has assembled a legion of super villains to execute a plan for world domination. In response Nick Fury has called on earth's greatest heroes to stop him.

// Review: Comic books have gone the way of collectable sports cards ever since the industry's bubble popped back in the 90's. But the spandex jockeys have found a second and more lucrative life in movies and video games. The concept behind Marvel Ultimate Alliance is in effect every fanboy's wet dream.

/ If you've played any multi-player top down button masher, especially X-Men Legends, then you know exactly what you are in for. There is nothing revolutionary about grinding through hordes of generic baddies, collecting gear, and leveling up your guys. The big difference with this game is that instead of barbarians or elves, you can play with a host of different characters from the Marvel Universe. Who would've thought that C listers like Moon Knight, Dr. Strange, or Spider-Woman would ever get any love?

/ Having the entire Marvel universe to pull from, the designers were able to create some really diverse and exotic levels. You fight through Atlantis, Murderworld, Doom Castle, and Asgard to name a few. The different playable heroes have animations unique to their powers, but you basically have your ranged and tanking characters.

/ Most of the game you are just wearing out the same 2 buttons, but each boss battle involves using the environment to defeat them. It's not very challenging, but it adds a lot of variety to the gameplay. While you can switch to any of the 4 characters in your customizable team on the fly, it's much more fun to party up with friends.

/ The game looks nice. Great colors and levels, the heroes models look really good, but unfortunately most of the cut scenes use blocky cell shading. The pre-rendered scenes between each act though are fantastic and are easily the best looking from a non-Japanese game. I thought the ending was perfect for a comic book game. Depending on which side quests you chose to complete, various consequences of those actions are told in a comic book style that's really cool.

// Wrap up: This is mostly mindless entertainment, but if you are a comic fan and enjoy playing with friends, it's a pretty good time.

Entertainment rating: 3.5