Video games and the Marvel universe have always gone hand-in-hand. From Capcom’s fighting games to Spider-Man’s many exceptional single-player adventures, the comic publisher’s timeless cast of colorful heroes seem like they were created to be great video game protagonists when comic legends Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the rest first put them to paper decades ago.
But few games have truly lived up to the bombastic, over-the-top action of comic book shenanigans the way the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series has. Five years ago, the Switch-exclusive sequel no one saw coming proved that the simple but fun formula still has a lot of meat left on the adamantium-infused bone.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, like the first two games in the series, is an action brawler with light RPG elements in which up to four players pick from a large cast of Marvel Heroes and plow through levels and waves of enemies. Players choose incremental upgrades for the characters throughout the adventure.
When Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 was announced, it was a welcome surprise. It had been ten years since the second game, and in that time, Marvel went from popular to the single biggest franchise in the world. After all, this game was released just weeks after Avengers: Endgame became the biggest film of all time. But cyclical rights issues over these iconic characters often meant these games had a limited shelf-life, especially in the digital age.
Perhaps even more surprising is that Japanese developer Team Ninja took the reins from Vicarious Visions, who worked on the first two games. As exciting as that prospect was, Ninja’s influence is hardly felt in the final product. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is very much a sequel to the first two, and doesn’t feature any of Team Ninja’s unique panache for action. It instead follows a formula much closer to isometric classics like Diablo, prioritizing flashy abilities and screen-clearing attacks.
That doesn’t mean that the game isn’t a blast to play. It is simple fare, with each of the game’s 36 characters having access to light and heavy strikes, the ability to jump block and evade, as well as four attacks related to their powers. While this may seem limited, these games aren’t about complex combat systems. Instead, the series is more about team composition. Depending on the make-up of your team, players can combine their powers for special synced team-up attacks.
Creating never-before-seen super teams can feel truly magical. Nothing’s stopping you from making favorites like Spider-Gwen, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Rocket Racoon team up for no reason other than them being your personal favorites. For those willing to buy the game’s Expansion Pass, an additional 14 characters, including Cyclops, Blade, and Mr. Fantastic, are available to join the team-ups as well. While some hero combinations offer meaningful bonuses when they work together, the game prioritizes player fun over being comic-accurate.
As a straightforward beat-em-up, the game can be pretty mindless. But having some friends jump into the action makes the game a far more strategic affair on harder difficulties. It also helps that combat feels pretty great. Punches, kicks, and powers hit with a proper meaty thud, punctuating the physical heroics of your team.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 isn’t perfect. The story feels pretty derivative in a post-MCU Phase 4 world. You’re up against Thanos, who is (once again) looking to collect all the Infinity Stones. The plot deviates plenty from the films and comics to shoe-horn in appearances from more street-level heroes like Luke Cage and Daredevil and villains like Green Goblin. But for the most part, you’ve seen this story play out before.
As a Switch exclusive, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is far from a graphical showcase. Expect plenty of slow-down and low-resolution textures throughout on the seven-year-old hardware, especially as multiple characters use their particle-heavy powers. It’s a shame this third entry has never been ported to newer consoles, as the new cell-shaded art direction could look great on slightly newer hardware.
But shortcomings aside, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is a one-of-a-kind title in the current landscape of Marvel video games. There are a ton of exciting Marvel games coming from talented studios in the coming years. There’s the Iron Man game from EA Motive, a Black Panther game from Cliffhanger Games, a PlayStation-exclusive Wolverine game from Insomniac, and that awesome-looking Marvel game set during the Second World conflict. But it's not likely that any of these more focused adventures will capture the colorful “whiz-bang” fun of classic do-gooders up against the treacherous villainy and the impossibly high stakes of saving the universe. And it’s a wonderful bonus that you can blast through this cheesy romp with a few buddies in co-op.
If you’re looking for an all-out, goofy Marvel adventure you can play, there might be no better bang for your buck than Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. And thankfully, unlike previous games in the series, the third installment is still readily available to play on Nintendo’s popular little handheld.
