If you’re both a gamer and comic book collector, chances are you spent many hours playing the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series from Activision. And in turn, you might have been pleading for a third title in the ten years that have passed since Ultimate Alliance 2‘s release. Luckily, the folks at Nintendo and Team Ninja have finally granted your wish in the form of the Switch-exclusive Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.
No roses, just stones
The story is very similar to the recent Avengers films. Thanos teams up with a group known as the Black Order, and they go on another hunt for the six Infinity Stones, which were inadvertently scattered by Guardians of the Galaxy leader Star-Lord. It’s up to you and up to three other players to put together a giant roster of heroes and anti-heroes, sharpen your beat-’em-up skills, and save the galaxy before Thanos’ team conquers it.
Hack-and-slash? More like hack-and-Hulk-Smash
Gameplay-wise, The Black Order is a team-based beat-’em-up. Your heroes have light and heavy attacks as well as special moves that can be used when standing next to your allies. There are no complex button combos to memorize, so every battle and puzzle is basically full of button-mashing. As your journey progresses and you keep taking out bad guys, you’ll be earning enough currency to upgrade your characters’ stats and give them some new moves. Your starting roster is comprised of Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, and Groot (With Rocket Raccoon on his shoulders), and many other popular Marvel characters will join you along the way. The overall roster is pretty big, and it will keep getting bigger thanks to free updates and a season pass.
Despite the limitations of the Switch’s hardware, the character designs look as if they’ve escaped from whatever comic pages you happen to be reading, and that’s a compliment. The graphics engine itself is also well-designed, and I have not run into any framerate issues whatsoever. The music definitely sounds like something out of a comic book show or film, and it’s accompanied by wonderfully-performed voice-acting from stars such as Laura Bailey, Phil LaMarr, James Arnold Taylor, Nolan North, and Yuri Lowenthal.
Talk about a MARVEL-ous adventure
As I mentioned, it had been a decade since Ultimate Alliance 2 hit the shelves, and the third chapter does an above-average job picking up where the folks at Activision left off. Whether you’re an avid fan of comic books or adept at co-op beat-’em-ups, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 will reward you and your friends with more action-game fun than you can shake a stack of Free Comic Day books at.
Silver Soul Gaming 