Growing up I was a huge comic book fan, but mostly on the DC side of things. I didn’t really get into the Marvel world until later in high school and college, but at that point, the height of my comic book infatuation had long since passed. When the Marvel movies started coming out, I found myself drawn to those characters much like my younger days with my favorite DC heroes like Batman and Superman. Enter Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which I played through completely on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. I enjoyed the hell out of the game, but it wasn’t without some major flaws. Development of the sequel transferred over to Vicarious Visions who dropped in an updated engine, Havok physics, Fusion powers, and all types of goodness that makes me want this game on my desk right now. We got a chance to play through quite a bit of campaign this past Monday at the Vicarious Visions studios and had a blast.

I first saw Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 in person back at GDC and was very impressed, but wanted to get some hands on time. When that time finally arrived, my initial impressions were validated. MUA2 is better in every way than its predecessor and will give you easily 20+ hours of entertainment. The improved camera makes the game feel like less of a dungeon crawler and more like a superhero showdown. The controls are very similar to the previous MUA game, with quick and heavy attacks, four special powers, and various Fusion moves that can be performed by teaming up with anyone else on screen.

The game starts out with Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America and Iron Man heading off to Latveria to investigate some disturbances in the wake of Dr. Doom’s demise. The first 30-60 minutes of the game are spent with these characters as you learn the ropes and get a bit of the back story. As you progress further, you’ll encounter the Marvel Civil War where you’ll have to choose a side, which makes for multiple play-throughs even more enticing. As the game unfolds, you’ll unlock more and more characters to expand your roster, all of which can be swapped at any point this time around. If you happen to perish in battle, you’ll be revived much quicker in MUA2. No more waiting around for long periods of time.

The new on-the-fly upgrade system, which can be accessed at any time with the Back button on the Xbox 360, is one of my favorite new features. Last time around, if one of your co-op partners wanted to upgrade their powers, the entire game would pause and you’d have to wait for everyone to get their stuff together. Now, just hit Back and you’ll have a small pop up over your character’s icon where you can upgrade your powers and abilities as well as equip various boosts. The boosts are persistent across your entire squad, so you’ll have even more freedom in MUA2 to try new characters. While you’re making all these changes, the AI steps in to control your character to keep the game flowing. The balancing of characters this time around was done with care, as some of the weaker heroes from MUA are now more powerful, such as Thor and Mr. Fantastic.

There were two downsides I found in my 3-4 hours with MUA2. The first was sometimes being unable to distinguish enemy soldiers from Nick Fury, your squad leader. They wear very similar attire, so you might spend time trying to destroy Nick Fury only to find you’re not getting anything accomplished. My other issue with the game stems from the large number of enemies now on screen. With so many combatants, it can sometimes take you a few seconds to realize exactly where your character is located, particularly in the later stages we saw. These aren’t major problems and by no means will deter you from having a blast with the game.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is going to be a must buy for both comic book fans and action game fans alike. If you don’t remotely fall into either of categories, I’m not sure what to say other than get with the program. MUA2 ships September 15th and should be at the top of your radar for early September releases.