Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Review

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order feels like a game a very long time coming. The first entry in this series came out back in 2006, and the sequel came out in 2009 (back when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was only a year old).

We’ve had a decade since players could control a variety of heroes and villains and smash their way through a virtual Marvel world. Earlier games in the series released on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. However, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is currently a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Did Nintendo and publisher Team Ninja get everything just right? Or is this game as forgettable as Thor 2: The Dark World? We’ve got our full breakdown below.

The MCU Connection

The first Marvel Ultimate Alliance game pre-dated the clean and organized MCU. In fact, your core group in that game (Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, and Wolverine) felt like a hodge-podge of popular characters simply thrown together.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 has Thanos, his killer crew, and a search for The Infinity Stones. So, is this an MCU game? The answer is both “yes” and “no.”

Canonically, the series takes place in a separate universe from both the comics and the movies. However, the plot, character selection, and Easter eggs are heavily focused towards the MCU.

You can expect to play as your favorite MCU heroes, but don’t expect any likenesses of actors such as Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth.