It’s sure been ages since I played the first two Ultimate Alliance titles. The first one is super nostalgic for me, I’ve seen the cutscenes numerous times and remember how much fun it was to play. The second one I remember feeling like a downgrade but it was still pretty fun. Now after all these years I get to check out the third one. It’s pretty solid although it does feel like the gameplay/story are weaker compared to the last ones. Still ends up being a fun overall experience.

The game starts with the Guardians of the Galaxy causing trouble as per usual but this time it gets serious because the Infinity Stones are at stake. Peter Quill acts fast and prevents Thanos’ army from getting them but now they are scattered across Earth, where most villains reside. They will have to team up with the Ultimate Alliance in order to get them back. This will mean tangling with powerful foes like Magneto and Green Goblin. Will the heroes be able to do this?

You get to see a whole lot of Marvel heroes and villains here which is pretty fun. The story certainly does move at a breakneck speed as a result and the story tries to cycle the characters who appear in the cutscenes a lot. I think a better approach would have been to send different members to each mission to force you to play as a bunch of different characters but that may have gone against the game design philosophy. This game makes it easy to constantly switch out your party every level if you want to.

Personally I stuck to my team as soon as I unlocked the fun ones. I went with Thor, Psylocke, Iron Man, and Wolverine. A pretty good team if I do say so myself. The game can actually get rather challenging so I would encourage you to stick to a team. You do get bonuses based on the character dynamics though so you may want to just play as Avengers for an easier experience as they get a nice bump. I just wanted to play as the characters I wanted to play as so I didn’t really worry about any of that.

One of the toughest levels was actually the first one. I don’t know why but the Guardians have some of the worst movesets possible. You will want to get rid of them as soon as possible. I think it made the whole gameplay feel weaker before I switched out. For example Starlord has so much recoil that he goes backward with every hit. Then you have Drax as the power hitter but he doesn’t do much damage. So yeah you want to get them out of there. I do think part of what makes the gameplay a little weaker here is how airy everything feels though. You don’t feel the oomph behind the blows the way you would have in the older action games.

It also means that the big beat em up sections aren’t as satisfying because you want to really be blowing them away. Instead you’re just spamming attacks until you win. There are many ways to get stronger such as equipping ISO crystals, filling out your skills matrix, and upgrading your techniques. It’s not the most convenient way to get stronger that I’ve seen but it’s definitely worth going through those menus. You also have your general level ups as well. Like I mentioned, the game can be difficult so if you don’t do that, then you will likely be losing a lot of battles.

You can grind by doing different Rift missions at any time. So at least you won’t be getting stuck anywhere. The game makes sure that you have the tools that you need in order to get stronger. The story also feels like it’s at a decent length. Mix that in with the bonus missions and you have a good amount of bang for your buck. If you are here for the story, it’s still fun to see everyone interacting. The scope of danger is also the highest that it’s ever been with reality in the balance but none of the heroes take it particularly seriously so you probably won’t either. I would have liked to have seen more unique character interactions within the story but due to the structure of how many characters are around that may have been difficult.

The graphics are pretty solid. The game is very colorful and the characters all look very sharp. The different game locations are all immediately recognizable and so I have no issues here. The soundtrack is surprisingly good although it is extremely limited. So fortunately I enjoyed the main theme but if you don’t like it, well be prepared to be hearing it for almost every cutscene. That’s why it’s important to have a good theme and since the game pulled this off, there’s nothing to worry about. On a technical level the game holds its own.

One nitpick I have with the game is that every characters starts out with only a single special attack instead of the usual 4. You gradually learn the other 3 as you level up through the game. It doesn’t take too long to learn them but I think I was halfway through the game before I got my first character to have all 4 attacks. So until then I was spamming even more than usual since I only had a single attack to use. I feel like you should have all attacks learned from the start. Also we can probably ditch the platforming for the next game. It’s clear that this wasn’t the developmental focus of the game and it’s extremely choppy. I don’t think anybody’s playing this game for platforming so that can safely be dropped.

Overall, Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3 is a pretty fun title. You’re playing this for classic popcorn fun and it definitely succeeds in that area. I can see some gamers playing it through a few times to talk to every character and maximize how much enjoyment they get out of it. You can’t say that the game is low on content after all. I’d like an Ultimate Alliance 4 at some point with a heavier emphasis on the crossover aspect. Maybe make it a reboot so we can get all of the original meetings. When this game starts, the Ultimate Alliance is already a team led by Nick Fury after all. Going in fresh could add more potential to the series, particularly since most of the characters have already been used by this point.

Overall 7/10