Review: Mild-mannered Marvel game saved by superheroic supporting cast

TORONTO – In the 10 years since the last “Marvel Ultimate Alliance” action role-playing game made its way to major video game consoles, comic book superheroes have enjoyed unprecedented mainstream success.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a pop-culture juggernaut, with “Avengers: Endgame” recently becoming the all-time box office champion, and last week’s 50th anniversary of the San Diego Comic Convention increased the hype for the next wave of films and television shows featuring costumed crusaders.

In what seems like the perfect time for Marvel’s co-op brawler to come out of its extended hiatus, “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order” has recently hit store shelves as a Nintendo Switch exclusive release.

Aside from any shortcomings — and there are a few — the game delivers on the promise of superheroic fun. An extensive cast of cool characters to draw from, and the joy of bringing heroes together to combine for over-the-top joint team-up attacks, go a long way toward elevating what is otherwise a merely competent action RPG.

Players are introduced to the game’s concepts in an introductory level featuring the spacefaring Guardians of the Galaxy. Shortly after, players are given their first set of heroes to mix-and-match, which features several core Avengers as well as Captain Marvel and the Wolverine of the X-Men.

There are 36 characters in all to add to the alliance, and the roster goes well beyond the familiar Marvel Cinematic Universe to include heroes from the X-Men and the Spider-verse. More characters will be added later, via both paid downloadable content and free update.

Characters have several individual attacks at their disposal as they plow through hordes of lackeys before taking on a famous villain in a more demanding fight. More enjoyable, however, is getting two heroes to combine their powers for devastating joint attacks. For example, Thor can power up one of Hulk’s leaping attacks with an electrical charge, laying waste to any would-be rogues foolish enough to get in the Green Goliath’s way.

The thrill of teaming up heroes is amplified considerably in co-op multiplayer, where the game really shines. Dropping in and out of local co-op play is easy, and it’s much easier when not relying on the gam’s AI to bring characters together for devastating special attacks. Online multiplayer is also available, though a subscription to Nintendo’s online service is required.

The plot is boilerplate Marvel stuff — galactic archvillain Thanos wants to collect the six all-powerful Inifinity Stones, and the heroes want to prevent that from happening at all costs — but it is presented well. The dialogue has an old-school comic-book feel, with all manner of quips and corny jokes, and the voice acting is quite good.

Outside the cast of characters and the fun simplicity, the game tends to be less Hulk and more Bruce Banner. The game’s presentation looks outdated, with bland menus that have minor navigation annoyances. While the simplistic character models actually work here as a nod to their comic-book origins, backgrounds tend to be dull and repetitive. It can be hard to believe, by looking at “Ultimate Alliance 3,” that a decade has transpired between instalments.

Worse still is the game’s camera, which struggles to keep up with the frenetic action. Characters who happen to venture into the corner of a battlefield when the camera is fixed frequently get lost. Even if the camera is free, some stages have side rooms that players can’t navigate the camera into.

At times during the game, players will have a chance to talk to other heroes for a bit of perfunctory exposition. Previous “Ultimate Alliance” games might change the dialogue up depending on the initiating character. This game gives the players the same lines regardless of which hero is being controlled.

At one point players can talk to a hero about how well a morally dubious new addition will fit into the team. Which is fine, unless the controlled character is also the morally dubious character, then the cracks in the writing lay themselves bare. These are minor flaws, but ones that point to a lack of polish that might not be as easily glossed over without the power of the Marvel IP to smooth over the cracks.

Those who are looking for a good co-op action RPG, but are not invested in Marvel’s comic characters, can find better options on the Switch, especially at the game’s suggested retail price of $80. “Ultimate Alliance 3” falls well short of a genre masterpiece like Blizzard’s “Diablo 3,” which does almost everything better despite being several years older.

But the smart, entertaining way “Ultimate Alliance 3” uses the characters at its disposal makes the title more compelling for fans of Marvel’s exploits. Those who have yearned to create their own dream team from divergent superhero franchises will likely be able to look past the game’s flaws and find a lot to like.