Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is a nice surprise. Not only is the game wonderfully designed and fun to play, but it comes years after MUA 2. People who haven’t gotten to play MUA 3 yet, are going to be pleasantly surprised when they get their hands on it. If you’ve played the other games in the series, it feels like a new and improved version of the same great games that came before The Black Order. Let’s start off with looks and gameplay.

The game looks true to its comic book origins. Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t a thing at the time, the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance games were designed in the style of the comics instead. Fans wondered if any MCU influence would come into the game, but it’s much more an ode to the characters’ origins on paper. Graphically, the game is good, sitting at 30 FPS docked, and diving below that regularly in handheld.

Two criticisms are going to pop up in your mind immediately. First, the graphics are very on par with a Switch game, meaning you’re not getting a PS4 experience in this title. That’s not a bad thing, but some try to compare consoles all the time when really it’s apples versus oranges. Another issue for some is going to be the frame rate. It’s concerning to some to experience frame rate drops, but in my experience playing through MUA 3, it’s not game-breaking. Usually, it only occurred during the synergy attacks.

Synergy attacks take place when four characters team up to attack with stronger moves at the same time. It’s a great way to knock down your enemies’ shields and get them into a state of vulnerability. The frame rates drop here because there’s a ton going on, but in handheld, I only noticed it a few times. In docked, it wasn’t an issue for me.

Synergy attacks are a great way to use characters together for more damage. You might already be attacking at higher damage if you’ve put together a team that qualifies for a team bonus. Team bonuses reward you for using a team that is somehow connected. For example, using an entire team of superwomen yields you the Women of Marvel bonus. These team bonuses stack your stats up to higher levels, but to be honest, you don’t feel more powerful when using a team with the bonus. It’s fun though!

While we’re talking teams, there’s not really a perfect team. Find what you like most and play with it. I found myself keeping one heavy hitter like Hulk or Venom on my team at a time, with a few randoms mixed in to hit other fight styles. You have access to over 30 characters in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, so use them all to get a good idea of who feels best. The characters come to you as you carry on through the story, and it fits nicely with the narrative.

You level up your characters by fighting with them, and as you earn XP, you can level up special attacks. The system is streamlined and easy to follow, which is better than no progression at all, or an excessively complex one. I always get lost in complex customization trees and level processes, so I’m a huge fan of the easy to follow interface.

The narrative is a huge surprise for me. The story is great and fits the Marvel world well. You’re fighting a never-ending array of bad guys that would make any Marvel fan happy, and boss battles come early and often. Thanos and the Black Order are looking to take the Infinity Stones, and you start with the Guardians of the Galaxy trying to find out what this new looming threat is. It’s fun, fast, and moves logically from villain to villain as you realize the Green Goblin and Mysterio are just the start of the evil you’ll encounter.

You fight your way through the game in a Diablo-style top-down fighting mode, which can be angled using the right stick. You have a regular attack, a power attack, and those synergy abilities mentioned above. As you carry on, you cycle through basic enemies and bosses, progressing the story and earning new heroes.

The main game runs at about 10 hours if you rush it, but there’s more to be played. You can take on levels with friends via online multiplayer, as well as take on random people. Infinity missions also allow you to take on more enemies and bosses as you work on leveling up all your heroes. That means you can easily play this game well past the first run through, and another difficulty releases once you finish the story once. You’ll also get more mileage out of the game when DLC starts releasing, featuring X-Men and Fantastic Four characters, as well as others from the Marvel world.

It’s been over 10 years since the last Marvel Ultimate Alliance game, and it feels good to get back to the RPG-ish action series. Given Marvel’s insane popularity, it’d be great to get more from this series in the future. I love just about everything I got to do in the game, but one issue I haven’t mentioned is the camera locking from time to time. Move too close to the foreground of the camera view and you’ll disappear as you try to move back into view. It happens a lot, and it’s kind of annoying.

Nevertheless, these little bugs remind me of the original games and times when AAA games were getting produced all the time, faults and all. That’s what makes this game great; it’s not an MCU game, it’s a Marvel game from the heart of the good old days. I look forward to playing even more, and the DLC can’t come soon enough. Pick this up if you even casually love Marvel IPs.

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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

59.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great Comic-Influenced Gameplay
• Huge Cast of Characters
• Great Enemies
• Good Narrative
• Easy to Follow Progression System

Cons

• Camera Issues During Combat Pop Up
• Some Frame Rate Drops

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