How wonderful it is to be alive today, where comic book characters from the previous century come to life in strange, new ways, through film and video games. I’ve just completed the PC version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and I can’t begin to describe the absolute joy it has been to just take control of a team of superheroes whose adventures I have been faithfully following for the past decade.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance gives you the opportunity to play around with up to 25 of Marvel Comics’ most loved creations. Controlling Captain America (and later on changing his costume to that of the USAgent’s) is like a dream come true, although as the story progressed, it became clear to me that Iron Man is the more useful character. Nothing beats his plasma discs, not even Cap’s shield throw. It was a blast to also use the various different costumes and to see all the additional powers associated with each outfit, such as the original Ghost Rider being able to resurrect allies.

Despite the hero roster missing some classic Marvel heroes like the Hulk, one is otherwise spoilt for choice between Avengers like Thor and Black Panther, and New Avengers like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman, the Fantastic Four and other solo heroes like Daredevil and Elektra.

Finally, while most of the dialogue between the heroes and villians was often tired, cheesy material, there were flashes of brilliance with gratituous dollops of humour when using witty characters like Spider-Man and Deadpool.

The only thing I wasn’t particularly happy with was the over-reliance on the Ultimate Marvel universe, even though the story itself is based in neither continuity. Costumes and characters seemed to contradict the current Marvel Universe - Captain America, for example, seems to lack any leadership ability whatsoever, relying on Nick Fury’s charisma instead. But other than this personal gripe, the cut-scenes are beautifully animated and the voice-acting is top notch.

Score one for comic books! Soon they’ll be so mainstream I can imagine a module on Superheroes for just about every subject from Physics to Literature.