(continued from previous page) ...and mastering them will aid you no end and make combat more tactical than just randomly button mashing. Certain attacks will make your opponent stagger and fall down while others pop them up in the air leaving them vulnerable to one of your heroes' many powers.  

The Sinister Six(axis) 

In certain locations you will be asked to disarm bombs and this is where the PS3’s Sixaxis controller comes into play. In order to disarm a bomb you will be asked to tilt your controller in a certain way (left, right, up, down) without being struck by an enemy. Doing this will disarm the bomb and let you continue on your way. This does feel like a bit of a feeble gimmick to shoe-horn in some of the Sixaxis' unique abilities, but at least Raven have tried.

When you complete the game and stand proudly over Dr. Doom's motionless form, you still won’t want to put it down as it unlocks the Hard mode. Now starting the game all over again in Hard mode is well…Hard. But the challenge is balanced by the fact you can upload your previous (levelled up) characters and restart the game with this team at no penalty. Not the most exciting replayability feature we've encountered on PS3, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

As far as MUA's graphics are concerned they average out at 'decent' at best. The cinematic scenes in the game are beautifully done but there level of quality just makes you wish there were more. in the cut-scenes the heroes look realistic, but in-game the characters are very rigid and repetitively animated and don't make you feel they should be leaping around kicking bad guy booty. The environments are similarly disappointing for a supposedly next gen game, with objects and terrain looking unfinished and not on a par with other PS3 titles around right now.

But graphical quibbles aside, Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a blast. The single player is great fun, but can get repetitive if you’re not mixing up your team enough. That being said, if you've got three buddies playing alongside you (or via online), it doesn’t matter which character you're playing, you’re bound to have a great time. After all, who wouldn’t like to take a break from reality and become superheroes to save the world?