Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Nintendo Switch Game Review 1h5657

Heroes and Villains clash in this cosmic scale Action-RPG 2h2c3u

Reviewed by Noah F. on Sep 04, 2019

Rating:

Work together with a team of heroes to take down Thanos and his Black Order across all corners of the Marvel Universe. See what Kidzworld thought of this super-powered adventure, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order!

Endgame and this game. Hopefully, we'll see a bit more originality if the series continues to a fourth game.

You might recognize Thanos' Black Order from Infinity War, they get some more time to shine in Ultimate Alliance 3Courtesy of Nintendo

Pick Your Team fbu

By far, one of the best parts of the game is picking your team of heroes. There are over 45 playable characters, most you meet throughout the story. The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders, Spider-People, some of the X-Men, Spider-Man and Wolverine were constants in my hero lineup. For the most part, the designs of the heroes' iconic costumes are appealing. Both the comics and recent films inspired the heroes' suits for a look that fans of both will surely enjoy. In addition to the roster that is already unlockable, there are more incoming in both free and paid DLC to help bolster the already massive lineup. X-Men Colossus and Cyclops were recently added to the bunch, and the Marvel Knights Blade, Moon Knight, Morbius, and The Punisher will be the first group DLC with more to come later. In battle and during exploration, your heroes can perform synergy attacks where two characters combine their abilities into one massive attack. These are especially useful when tackling big boss battles on Mighty difficulty, and some treasure chests can only be opened by using a specific synergy which gives you another reason to experiment with your playstyle with multiple characters.

Surter is one of the many huge boss battles you'll encounter during the hunt for the Infinity StonesCourtesy of Nintendo

RPG Gameplay 4so1u

Ultimate Alliance 3 is an Action-RPG in the style of games like Diablo. Each character has several skills and attacks that can be unlocked and upgraded when you level up. You can also play the game with up to three other friends in both online and local co-op making Ultimate Alliance 3 a great party game. These different abilities make choosing your team all the more important so choose wisely. When you recruit a character, their level will be high enough that you should be able to use them right off the bat. Characters that you might not have used in a while don't gain experience points when you aren't using them, though. Frequently switching out the of your team is the way to go here, as it is the best way to keep your group up fighting strength. You will eventually notice that you may be falling behind the curve and might need to get your heroes' levels up quickly. That is where the Infinity Rifts come in. These are special challenges that you can repeat for higher rewards and difficulties as well as to get a huge amount of experience. Whenever the game might feel a little too difficult, hop in here and take on some of the challenges. Boss fights with adjusted damage, battles with hundreds of enemies, and more await for those who want an extra challenge. Each location has an Infinity Rift to tackle, but fear not. If you don't feel like doing it when you find it in the level, there is a separate menu where you can go back and play old rifts as well as new ones you find on your journey. I enjoy the change of pace and challenge that these provide, but can't help but feel like they also eventually fall into the trap of feeling repetitive especially if you're doing them over and over trying to level up your heroes. There are puzzles to solve in the environments you find yourself in, but rarely do they offer much challenge or an engaging change of pace. Quiet time is important for action games like this one since they can get so hectic, but the puzzles never feel fun enough to feel like a meaningful substitute for the combat. A lot of the environment-based ones can be skipped entirely with the help of flying and web-swinging characters. I appreciate that these puzzles are here, but they never really feel as fun as you'd want them to.

A.I.M., The Hand, the super-powered prisoners of the RAFT and more are all looking to stop you and your group of heroesCourtesy of Nintendo

Final Thoughts 1e244x

For Marvel fans looking to smash virtual action-figures together in massive battles, look no further than Ultimate Alliance 3. The variety of characters, locations and boss fights will no doubt make any True Believer smile, and there is great fun to be had building up your ideal team of heroes to fight through hordes of enemies. The RPG systems are deep and rewarding, and the motivation to try new characters does keep the gameplay from growing stale for a while. While that fun does last, the gameplay never really expands. Sure you do unlock more skills and become more powerful, but the pace of combat in the beginning basically stays the same the entire length of the story. With some exceptions with the bigger boss battles, most encounters boil down to simply wearing down the enemy's stun meter, and then unleashing your super attacks when they're down repeated over and over until you win. The enjoyable cutscenes make the story interesting enough to want to see through, and the huge amount of characters do make the game more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. Overall, it is a solid action-RPG as long as you know what you're getting into from the beginning. If blasting through hordes of enemies, spamming abilities and taking on huge boss battles sounds fun and you're a huge Marvel fan then you really cannot go wrong especially if you plan on playing with friends. Just don't expect much too much more than that.