With the amazing success of one of the best superhero films ever, the Avengers, Marvel Entertainment are hoping to continue the popularity with their latest iOS game, The Avengers Initiative, the first installment of this series. For those who have played the Infinity Blade series, this touch screen game is basically Marvel's equivalent which features some amazing graphics, sturdy gameplay and even the ability to customise your characters.

For Marvel purists, the story of the Avengers Initiative continues from the Facebook game, Marvel Avengers Alliance which saw many of the world's most dangerous villains released from the Vault, a top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in the Rocky Mountains. This was caused by The Pulse, a gigantic EMP blast. In order to fix this mess, Nick Fury has recruited the HULK to help capture the villains and to investigate who was responsible behind The Pulse. Although the Hulk is the first playable character in this series, additional Avengers will be available through subsequent episodes.

At its core, the Avengers Initiative is a brawler on the iOS which that is quite reminiscent of Infinity Blade and requires the player to fight a variety of enemies as they pummel the absolute living daylights out of each other. Before the game throws you into the deep end of the game, the first level of Avengers Initiative serves as a tutorial which teaches you how to navigate and attack. Movement is generally an on the rails experience, however combat can be quite in-depth as you fight your way through the various gaming levels.

Fighting is the highlight of the game which allows you to perform a variety of attacks on your opponents, finishing manoeuvres and some really fun special moves. As the Hulk makes his way to the blast zone of the Vault, the super villain prison, he fights some familiar Marvel enemies along the way that include Wendigo, Abomination, the Kronan, and the Skrulls.

In terms of gameplay, nany of these attacks require the player to slash the screen in a particular direction but you also have access to blocks and sidesteps. As you progress, you are awarded experience which can be used to "level-up" the Hulk which is also recorded via the Marvel XP system that allows you to share your Avengers information on Facebook. You can even unlock various costumes and abilities for the Hulk which gives the player some good incentives to finish this game and even play again.

Graphics and audio is as impressive as the gameplay on the iPhone 4S. The characters are well animated and look like their comic counterparts. Environments are detailed but the star of this game are the battles themselves which are quite epic at times, albeit sometimes quite frustrating. The HD visuals easily make this one of the best iOS games of the year in terms of graphics and the sound effects compliment the graphics and gameplay. Just be warned that this is one massive download and is just over 1GB.

All in all, Avengers Alliance is a fun game for the iOS, especially if you love brawlers!