Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Rising from the ashes of the X-Men Legends franchise like, well, like a Phoenix, comes the biggest, baddest superhero team-up game in the history of video games. Are every Marvel fan's wildest dreams about to come true?

Perching on the cusp of greatness, Marvel Ultimate Alliance has loomed in comic fans' minds all year as a potential benchmark in superhero videogames. Alliance offers a stunning array of playable characters in both their classic and Ultimate incarnations-12 at the outset and rising above 20 through secret and story-motivated unlockables-including rarely-seen fan favorites like the Silver Surfer, Nick Fury, Ghost Rider, Dr. Strange, Blade, Luke Cage, Thor and Elektra in addition to stalwarts like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and Wolverine.

Our hands-on preview with this game absolutely solidified this title as a contender for the best superhero game yet. Played from a 3/4 angle just like X-Men Legends, Marvel Ultimate Alliance allows you to assemble a team of four superheroes to take on sprawling levels with twist, turns, stairs, doors and secrets everywhere. Each character is accurately represented with their powers-flying characters can even fly-and, in RPG style, you'll level up your characters and unlock new abilities as the game unfolds.

You'll also enjoy bonuses for pairing up teammates, like the FF or the New Avengers. Each character has four costumes which offer some unique abilities, and similar costumes can be combined on your team for even more set bonuses. You can also find power-up elements, like Rhino's horn, to improve your suit, but you'll have to decide whether to use them now or hold onto them for your later, more powerful armor.

Alliance's visuals, combined with its stunning level design, promise an absolutely gorgeous game that truly ascends the X-Men Legends scenario into the stratosphere. Atlantis levels deliver shockingly realistic water distortion effects, while Mandarin's Oriental-inspired lair is highlighted by gorgeous lighting and textures. The fantastic character effects reach their pinnacle when the Human Torch flames on and blisters the air with incredibly organic fire. You won't even be able to stop and enjoy the dancing flames, however, because there's so darn much going on in this game at the same time.

Take, for example, a series of levels set on the Skrull homeworld, which is represented as an endless, futuristic city jungle reminiscent of Star Wars' Coruscant. As you're battling your way across buildings and skyways set high in the sky, you'll see Galactus in the background treating Skrull buildings the way Godzilla treats Tokyo. Then, a few levels later, you'll desperately race left to right as Galactus destroys the elevated skyway behind you, even reaching out and grabbing your characters and pulling them toward his mouth. Imagine this, and then plug in the game's adrenaline-gushing cinematic music, and you've got those precious comic fans' dreams on a silver platter.

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