This game serves more as a lesson on the entire Marvel Universe than a revolutionary game. But still manages to be fun.
The game boasts 19 different playable Marvel super heroes, spanning the entire Marvel catalog, everyone from Spider-Man and Iron Man, to Ms. Marvel and Spider Woman. If you aren't familiar with the history of Marvel then you will definitely be amazed by the sheer amount of back story this game goes off of. Not only does it have plenty of heroes, even more that are non-playable, there are also plenty of super villains to test your skills against. The gameplay is nothing you haven't seen before. The combat system plays the same as previous games with the ability to switch between four different heroes in the middle of combat. Each hero has different moves you can learn and the system for developing characters is much more interesting this time around. Each character has several different skins you can earn as well, each one affording them different powers. You can have up to four people play, each controlling a different hero, and it also features online play. I havent actually tried either of those options.
Also new, is the Team feature. This feature rewards you for using the same heroes through several features, you can choose to create your own team but you can also use one of the already existing teams, (i.e. The Fantastic Four, The Avengers, etc.) The story is interesting although it is decidedly patchwork and serves more as a vehicle to show you as many people, places, and things as possible, than a really amazing plot. But., what did you expect? It works. Trust me. I think the worst part of this game is the gameplay. After long sessions of playing you will start to think, wow, so this is the same thing with different villains and settings. And it is. But its still pretty fun.
The voice acting ranges from really great (Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, Iron Man etc.) to horribly awful (Spider-Man, and worst of all Deadpool). But it is usually more good than it is bad. I can definitely say that this game would probably be better on one of the next-gen consoles, but it serves its purpose as one of the last great games to come out for PS2.
As a final note, this game offers so much extra content it's mindblowing. It has a feature similar to the Danger Room which will allow you to play a different comic mission for each character among other things. It has tons of concept art, movies, comic books, etc. There are several unlockable characters and plenty of surprises for the Marvel fan.