Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Alliance's most memorable moments, however, will likely be epic setpieces during boss battles where the camera moves out of locked position as you execute scripted maneuvers to take on towering foes. In one sequence, Wolverine has to grab an enemy's fallen weapon and run up the arm of the lumbering ice giant Ymir to stab him in the back. In another, the Silver Surfer soars through the skies while dodging the hungry arms of Galactus. Developer Vicarious Visions is in the process of reimagining how you'll interface with these battles, but we've seen them-- they're real and they're spectacular.

Vicarious Visions clearly isn't resting on the laurels of cutting-edge next generation graphics, however: Ultimate Alliance's storyline encompasses over 70 levels, unfurling a massive plot weaving through intergalactic, underwater, frozen, hellish and flat-out frantic worlds. We battled through Arcade's life-sized pinball level, where the heroes bounced off electrified bumpers. In another level, a secret icon allowed us to play a mini-game with a solo Luke Cage, where we discovered and defeated Ultron.

The story has a multitude of branching points, and choices you make early on will affect situations later in the game, allowing new characters or levels to appear. All told, there will be over 20 possible endings-and the entire thing can be played in cooperative mode online, or in competitive mode where you'll compete with your friends for the most kills.

We played the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, both of which looked and felt phenomenal, before moving onto the Wii edition and its unique controls. It's impossible not to be immediately struck by the Wii's graphics, which unfortunately can't compete with the crisp, sharp definition of the Xbox 360 or the raw glimmering power of the PS3. Once you pick up the controller, however, the playing field is seriously evened out.

You move your character with the analog stick on the nunchuk, while attacking with the magic wand, and holding down the wand's trigger as a modifier to use special powers. This allows you to immediately choose attacks like upper-cuts that are only achievable through combos in the gamepad versions. It also makes you feel like you're really attacking your foes, and results in a more intuitive, lifelike interface. We played this version for nearly an hour and never felt ourselves growing tired. Going back to the gamepad versions afterward was oddly numbing, like you've lost an odd amputation.

Whichever version you choose, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is shaping up to be a mandatory purchase for comic fans this fall. Look for continued coverage on this title as we get closer to its highly-anticipated launch!

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