Online multiplayer is the best way to play the game, as is the case with most arcade-style beat-em-ups. Unlike most games, character selection in itself is as delightful as the actual gameplay. It’s an eclectic cast of characters, and depending on their associations to one another, your team will benefit from star boosts, like if you pair up original members of the Avengers, or all four Guardians, for example. Marvel, Moon Knight, Blade ( that’s soon to change, though), and more. In addition to Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the rest of the MCU mainstays, there are characters who have yet to be featured in Marvel Studios’ oeuvre, like the X-Men, Ghost Rider, Ms. You (and a few friends, if you fancy) take control of a four-hero team as you play through the campaign and challenge modes, and as always, mixing and matching all of your favorite characters from the Marvel universe is unabashedly geeky and cool. Leveling up and unlocking goodies certainly help to propel you through the game’s campaign, but in all honesty, the core gameplay is fun enough to justify the game’s existence-the light RPG elements are just a bonus. Your heroes’ stats can be improved across the board with the game’s sprawling stat tree feature, and ISO-8 crystals can be equipped and modded to lend characters perks. Heroes’ abilities can be combined in “Synergy Attacks” to make them more effective (and flashy-looking), which also fills the heroes’ special meters. Each character plays pretty much the same, boasting weak and strong attacks as well as four special attacks and one “Extreme” attack that does massive damage, often with screen-clearing areas of effect. The button mash-y action’s simplicity is masked by dynamic special attack and stagger gauges as well as the sheer number and variety of heroes to choose from. The latest, Switch-exclusive entry in the series, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, essentially boasts all of the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessors, but with updated rosters and nods to Marvel’s recent big-screen outings.Īfter all these years, Marvel Ultimate Alliance’s core gameplay still holds up.
The strength of the Marvel Ultimate Alliancegames, as well as their X-Men Legends predecessors, is that they capture the pure fun of arcade beat em ups while also using light RPG elements and a cadre of unlockables to make the experience feel substantial and full of features.