The Civil War was one our darkest days as a nation. The conflict pitted friend against friend, brother against brother, Iron Man against Captain America. That's right, I'm talking about the Civil War that split the Marvel comic book universe.

Now with "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2," gamers can choose a side in the fight for super hero registration and defend their beliefs. And while "MUA2" doesn't follow the storyline to the letter, it does a great job of putting gamers in the middle of the conflict, regardless of whether you support the Pro-Registration side or the Anti-Registration resistance.

While getting to experience one of my favorite comic book events of all time in the virtual realm was a big plus, I was most impressed with the refined game play offered in "Ultimate Alliance 2." Granted, my love affair with the franchise goes back to the "X-Men Legends" days on the original Xbox, so the game play was instantly familiar. But Vicarious Visions has made subtle tweaks to the basic combat formula that results in the most polished experience the series has seen.

At its core, "MUA2" remains a button-mashing beat-'em up. Each level boils down to your hand-picked squad of four super heroes (or villians) mowing down countless numbers of generic bad guys while searching for an objective, which usually leads to a boss battle against another super-powered foe. What keeps this formula from getting stale are the sheer number of characters at your disposal and their unique powers, both individually and in pairs.

The roster in "MUA2" is strong, with plenty of returning favorites like Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine suiting up alongside newcomers like Deadpool, Iron Fist, Penance, Gambit and Songbird. Each hero is a force to be reckoned with when fighting alone, but in order to survive tough battles you'll need to combine your heroes' powers to create a fusion attack.

Fusion attacks are the most notable addition to the combat in "MUA2." Any two characters can team up to perform a fusion, which results on massive damage being inflicted upon your enemies. More than 250 unique fusions are available, and experimenting with different pairings leads to some cool results. And the visual effects that accompany fusion attacks can be pretty spectacular, too.

The RPG elements that have been around since "X-Men Legends" return, allowing you to customize each heroes stats, and branching dialogue choices present chances to score boosts for your team depending on your answers. I have to admit, though, that I quickly shifted the process of distributing experience points to the game's AI so that I could focus on strictly combat. For those who like to micromanage their teams, though, the process of allocating powers and boosts has been streamlined and can now be done on the fly without the need to pause the action.

While all of the things that have made this series great return in "MUA2," so too does its primary shortcoming -- the camera. I've run into camera issues in each iteration of this franchise and had hoped that the developers would have looked into fixing the problem this time around. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. During one particular boss battle, the camera fixed itself behind the bad guy and, even though I could rotate the camera the angle never presented me with a clear view of my target. I was fighting blind and Daredevil wasn't even on my squad. Luckily this issue doesn't pop up often, but it's extremely frustrating when it does. I encountered some funky issues with the game's sound, as well, as sometimes the volume of the audio would drop or be cut out altogether during cut scenes.

The Civil War was one our darkest days as a nation. The conflict pitted friend against friend, brother against brother, Iron Man against Captain America. That's right, I'm talking about the Civil War that split the Marvel comic book universe.

Now with "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2," gamers can choose a side in the fight for super hero registration and defend their beliefs. And while "MUA2" doesn't follow the storyline to the letter, it does a great job of putting gamers in the middle of the conflict, regardless of whether you support the Pro-Registration side or the Anti-Registration resistance.

While getting to experience one of my favorite comic book events of all time in the virtual realm was a big plus, I was most impressed with the refined game play offered in "Ultimate Alliance 2." Granted, my love affair with the franchise goes back to the "X-Men Legends" days on the original Xbox, so the game play was instantly familiar. But Vicarious Visions has made subtle tweaks to the basic combat formula that results in the most polished experience the series has seen.

At its core, "MUA2" remains a button-mashing beat-'em up. Each level boils down to your hand-picked squad of four super heroes (or villians) mowing down countless numbers of generic bad guys while searching for an objective, which usually leads to a boss battle against another super-powered foe. What keeps this formula from getting stale are the sheer number of characters at your disposal and their unique powers, both individually and in pairs.

The roster in "MUA2" is strong, with plenty of returning favorites like Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine suiting up alongside newcomers like Deadpool, Iron Fist, Penance, Gambit and Songbird. Each hero is a force to be reckoned with when fighting alone, but in order to survive tough battles you'll need to combine your heroes' powers to create a fusion attack.

Fusion attacks are the most notable addition to the combat in "MUA2." Any two characters can team up to perform a fusion, which results on massive damage being inflicted upon your enemies. More than 250 unique fusions are available, and experimenting with different pairings leads to some cool results. And the visual effects that accompany fusion attacks can be pretty spectacular, too.

The RPG elements that have been around since "X-Men Legends" return, allowing you to customize each heroes stats, and branching dialogue choices present chances to score boosts for your team depending on your answers. I have to admit, though, that I quickly shifted the process of distributing experience points to the game's AI so that I could focus on strictly combat. For those who like to micromanage their teams, though, the process of allocating powers and boosts has been streamlined and can now be done on the fly without the need to pause the action.

While all of the things that have made this series great return in "MUA2," so too does its primary shortcoming -- the camera. I've run into camera issues in each iteration of this franchise and had hoped that the developers would have looked into fixing the problem this time around. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. During one particular boss battle, the camera fixed itself behind the bad guy and, even though I could rotate the camera the angle never presented me with a clear view of my target. I was fighting blind and Daredevil wasn't even on my squad. Luckily this issue doesn't pop up often, but it's extremely frustrating when it does. I encountered some funky issues with the game's sound, as well, as sometimes the volume of the audio would drop or be cut out altogether during cut scenes.

Minor technical issues aside, "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2" is a great game that falls into the "must-own" category for comic book fans. Since it was first announced earlier in the year, this has been one of my most-anticipated games and I'm happy to report that it doesn't disappoint. A great story with two full campaigns, addictively fun game play, stellar graphics and some outstanding four-player co-op make "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2" one of the most enjoyable games I've played this year.

"Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2"

Developer: Vicarious Visions

Publisher: Activision

Available for: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 ($59.99)

Rating: T for teen

Score: 8.7/10