Auto targeting works well provided your expectations are reasonable. More often than not I found myself swinging and firing at who I was aiming for. There were certainly a few instances that the targeting system has me doing my best three-part combo into thin air, whiffing past a no name grunt a scant quarter inch away. During the few seconds my hero of choice was practicing his shadowboxing, I couldn't help but wonder what thoughts were running through my enemy's head. I suspect it was "I expected to be dead by now, how am I still alive and why is Iron Man attacking the air around me?"

As mentioned earlier, and before wrapping this review up, I need to get something off my chest. There is a long standing issue I have had since playing the original Ultimate Alliance on the Xbox 360 a couple years ago - bear that in mind as I may be alone on this. It bothers me how there are only a handful of "types" of characters with few exceptions. Wolverine and The Hulk both have devastating melee attacks and can absorb damage. Most range attacks accomplish the same thing and damage; only varied in their visual effects. It's enough to make it feel like there are really only three different characters re-skinned several times over. I'd love an option to turn off "balancing" and allow the truly dominant superheroes to play like it while the less powerful have a harder time of it. Let a punch from The Hulk do tremendous damage while Iceman's regular blows do much more moderate damage. I understand why characters are balanced, but it would be fun to be able to turn it off for more realistic gameplay… well, realistic as far as Marvel mythology goes.

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That rant out of the way, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Nintendo DS is a fun game that has the most to offer when played cooperatively. The biggest flaw, beyond the minor aforementioned annoyances and distractions, is when you boil it all down this is a game intended for the consoles and that is where it excels. The best of the best DS games are generally those intended and created just for the system, a la The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Still, if you don't have a console or prefer to take your superhero action with you, this is a solid pickup. But, if you have an Xbox 360 or PS3, you may want to consider spending the extra $20 for the console version - it's worth the difference.

By Caleb Newby
CCC Freelance Writer