Thinking of getting this to try with my wife, but she is looking for something with easy to learn mechanics and a interesting story to play through. So how much story is there or would we be better off getting mice and mystics?

I think Mice and Mystics might be a better choice.

This is a solid game, and if you intend on playing skirmish you'll start seeing some real value, but as a story driven dungeon crawl-esque game, I think there are better (and less expensive) choices.

If your wife is a Star Wars fan, and she enjoys a narrative dungeon-crawl game, then I would definitely suggest picking up IA.

The narrative is read before and after missions, and during almost all of the "triggered events", and the story missions progression tell an overarching story from start to finish, with side missions injected at regular intervals that expand on the backgrounds of the hero/villain they are for, as well as having a mission to run.

There isnt any "role-playing" in the game, but there is a decent story. The narrative is there to tell you why everyone is doing what they are doing.

As Fizz said, there is narrative text before, during, and at the end of missions, and how the main story progresses depends on the success or failure of the previous story mission. There are also side missions throughout the campaign, and those have their own self-contained stories - the personal side missions for the heroes in some cases have the best stories.

By default, there really isn't any roleplaying to the game other than that. But an Imperial player could add embellishments to enhance the narrative aspect. You also could introduce a bit more roleplaying aspect if both sides can agree to play things in character, rather than powergaming. What would your hero do in this situation? What kinds of enemies would actually be present at this Imperial facility, etc.

As the IP i try to incorporate as much "RPG" into the game as possible. Whatever the rolls are, I tend to elaborate what happens, like if someone dodges, or they do damage, but its all blocked, or if an imperial figure dies/gets reinforced.

Theres a lot of creative stuff you can interject throughout the course of the game. But you gotta want to be vocal. Then we all start laughing and mocking each other on who sucks at rolling and how Gaarkhan should just start off wounded and other fun times as a group of friends can get.

The more the merrier. Also even if just 2 people, let your wife play 4 heroes, dont do the 2 (Legendary) or 3 (Heroic) options.

~D

I would actually say there is a fair bit of rolepaying elements to teh game. Your characters progress, resource management, an ongoing story line, player choice in missions. The only thing REALLY missing is a dialogue/personal interaction element. And combat can get VERY narrative as Hoodie said. I don't have to do add that part as my players do that part for me. I actually play the game as if it was a roleplaying game, (well, ok, maybe a ROLL playing game, still...). HEck, the heroes have won almost every single mission and I am good with that. I just don't see it as my job as the Impy to kill off all the players.

I would push you toward Mice and Mystics. IA is a competitive game, and as the imperial player it would be your one singular purpose for playing to wipe out the other players. As the other posters have mentioned, IA is entirely combat with narrative bookends. If your looking for a game with a deep story, look elsewhere. If you're looking for an actual role playing game, I would recommend an actual role playing game, as this allows no character creation options, and no narrative choices other than "Who am I shooting next."