| Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3:The Black Order | |
|---|---|
 Cover art ofMarvel Ultimate Alliance 3:The Black Order[a] | |
| Developer | Team Ninja |
| Publisher | Nintendo |
| Director | Hiroya Usuda |
| Producers | Yosuke Hayashi Peter Rosas |
| Artist | Tim Tsang |
| Writers | Marc Sumerak Makoto Shibata Kohei Ota |
| Composers | Takahiro Umeda Masafumi Okubo |
| Series | Marvel Ultimate Alliance |
| Platform | Nintendo Switch |
| Release | July 19, 2019 |
| Genre | Action role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is a 2019action role-playing game developed byTeam Ninja and published byNintendo for theNintendo Switch. It is the third installment in theMarvel: Ultimate Alliance series, following 2006'sMarvel: Ultimate Alliance and 2009'sMarvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, and the firstUltimate Alliance game produced without the involvement of previous publisherActivision, whose license to publishMarvel Games expired in 2016. The game follows a new team of superheroes as they come together to save the universe fromThanos and the eponymousBlack Order, who have launched a campaign to find the sixInfinity Gems.
Upon release,Ultimate Alliance 3 received mixed reviews from critics, who generally found the gameplay and storyline fun but were disappointed that the game did not improve much upon its predecessors. The game had sold over 1.6 million copies by December 2022.
Like the previous two entries, gameplay is reminiscent of a top-down dungeon crawler with an emphasis oncooperative play. Up to four players can play the game cooperatively locally either on the same screen with a single docked Nintendo Switch system or undocked with up to four systems, or online with friends or random player lobbies. Players choose four characters from various Marvel teams to traverse linear stages, fight enemies, and defeat bosses. Certain passive buffs are acquired with particular character combinations. Each character's controls are fundamentally identical; each has a jump, light attack, heavy attack, dodge, block, and four special abilities. Special abilities can be synced with the other three members for a synergy boost, with an especially powerful attack unleashed if all four party members sync up simultaneously. Additional characters are unlocked by story progression or optional Infinity Rift challenges.
Character progression is handled in a similar manner to traditional role-playing games, with party members leveling up by defeating enemies and bosses. In addition to stat increases, passive buffs can be attached to characters (excluding an alternate playable version of Thanos) by equipping ISO-8 crystals. A sprawling skill tree is also present, which allows characters to gain permanent stat increases by acquiring and spending in-game currency.
The plot ofMarvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is an original story written specifically for the game and disregards the stories and continuity of the first two games in the series.
While it takes inspiration from recently released Marvel projects such asAvengers: Infinity War andAvengers: Endgame, both of which were inspired by the 1991 storylineThe Infinity Gauntlet, the game's story was written to reflect its wider cast of characters and to stand apart from theMarvel Cinematic Universe, the comics, and other popularized versions. Additionally the game takes inspiration from various Marvel Comics storylines such asthe 2008Guardians of the Galaxy series,Spider-Verse,New Avengers,the 2017Defenders series,Shadowland,Midnight Sons,Avengers: Ultron Unlimited,X-Men,Avengers/Defenders War,Inhumans,Ta-Nehisi Coates'sBlack Panther,Uncanny Avengers,The Infinity Gauntlet,Illuminati,Avengers Assemble,Infinity,Doctor Strange: Damnation,X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga, andJack Kirby'sFantastic Four.[1]
The Mad TitanThanos and hisBlack Order—Corvus Glaive,Proxima Midnight,Ebony Maw,Cull Obsidian, andSupergiant—attempt to collect the sixInfinity Stones to achieve galactic conquest. Originally guarded byNebula andRonan the Accuser, theGuardians of the Galaxy stumble upon their attempt to hide them from the group and end up accidentally alerting the Order to their presence. In desperation,Star-Lord uses the Space Stone to scatter the other stones on Earth, and to get him and his team to safety. AsS.H.I.E.L.D. detects their presence,Nick Fury Jr. unites the Guardians and Earth's mightiest heroes to find them.
Together they are able to retrieve the Time Stone from theSinister Six led byGreen Goblin during a breakout atthe Raft.
Then they retrieve the Mind Stone fromUltron when he assaults theAvengers Tower. The Power Stone is retrieved from theHellfire Club and then again from theBrotherhood of Mutants membersMagneto,Mystique, andJuggernaut, who briefly steal it during aSentinel attack orchestrated by Ultron at theXavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters.
The Reality Stone is recovered fromDormammu in theDark Dimension after the heroes escape from the attacking Black Order members. Then they claim the Soul Stone fromA.I.M., led byMODOK, whenWinter Soldier briefly secured the stone upon arriving atWakanda for reinforcements.
Along the way, they help theDefenders retrieve an ISO-8 crystal from theKingpin and facethe Hand atShadowland; stop an attemptedcoup d'état byMaximus at theInhuman city ofAttilan; and form uneasy alliances withVenom, the Brotherhood,Loki, and Thanos' illegitimate sonThane.
When the Black Order find them in Wakanda, Thane gives himself and the Infinity Stones over to them to ensure the heroes' safety, but Proxima Midnight nonetheless teleports them toAsgard, where they faceHela andSurtur, as well asHydra, led by theRed Skull, defeating them with the aid ofValkyrie,Odin, and Loki. Odin then transports the heroes toKnowhere where the Black Order and theNova Corps are waging war.
The heroes battle the Black Order and retrieve most of the Stones, but as they prepare to clash one final time, they are stopped by Thane using the Time Stone. While Thane is distracted trying to choose a side, Thanos attacks him from behind and places the Infinity Stones in his Infinity Gauntlet, transporting everyone to his throne for a final battle. Thane, corrupted by the power of the stones, takes the Gauntlet from Thanos and uses the Infinity Stones' power to don the Infinity Armor, planning to kill his father to prove his superiority and the heroes if they stand in his way.
The group is transported into the Heart of Infinity, where the Infinity Stones were forged at the center of the universe, and the heroes aid Thanos in stopping Thane. Thanos reveals that the power of the Infinity Armor is too great for any mortal being, even Thanos himself, and pulls the gauntlet from Thane's hand, causing both to disappear and leaving the heroes and the Infinity Stones behind. Ebony Maw attempts to take the Infinity Stones for himself, but is arrested byRichard Rider and the Nova Corps, as Rider plans to have him and the rest of the Black Order imprisoned at theKyln. The heroes affirm they will be ready should Thanos ever return and agree to separate the Infinity Stones, hiding them in distant corners of the universe for safekeeping.
In apost-credits scene, a pair of eyes are seen above the Heart of Infinity.
Sometime after Thanos and Thane's disappearances,Doctor Doom attacks Wakanda, seeking the Soul Stone inBlack Panther's possession. All the heroes reunite to stop him, but Doom transports them to theNegative Zone so he can continue with his plans unhindered. The heroes are overwhelmed by the Negative Zone's native Insectoids, but are rescued by theFantastic Four, who had been trapped at Negative Zone while pursuing Doom before Thanos's attack. The four join the heroes to findAnnihilus, the ruler of the Negative Zone, and defeat him, obtaining his Cosmic Control Rod and using it to open an inter-dimensional bridge gate to escape.
The heroes emerge from the gate inLatveria, discovering that many of its people have been absorbed into the Soul Stone. They make their way toCastle Doom where Doom reveals that he is using his people's souls to resurrect aCelestial. The heroes defeat the Celestial, but Doom uses the cosmic power from the Soul Stone to transform himself into God Emperor Doom. The heroes ultimately triumph over Doom, freeing the souls of the Latverian citizens and reviving them. Afterwards,Mister Fantastic reveals that Doom's plans were meant to protect the universe from unknown entities awakened by Thanos and Thane's clash, and the heroes, including Doom, prepare to join forces once more against this new threat.
The game's features a base roster of 36 playable characters, including members of various superhero teams such as theAvengers, theGuardians of the Galaxy, theDefenders, and many others.[2] Thirteen additional characters fromMarvel Knights,X-Men, andFantastic Four, including a hidden fourteenth additional character are featured as paiddownloadable content via the post-launch Expansion Pass.[3][4] Two additional X-Men characters were also added via a free update.[5][6]
The game was revealed atThe Game Awards 2018 in December 2018.[7] During that month, it was announced that Team Ninja would be the game developers.[8] The game was released on July 19, 2019.[9]
An expansion pass for the game was announced atE3 2019 which revealed plans for additional content, including story missions, modes, and characters fromMarvel Knights,X-Men andFantastic Four starting in fall of 2019. AtSan Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Marvel announced that additional characters Colossus and Cyclops from theX-Men would be added to the game via a free update, which was released on August 30, 2019, and revealed the four characters coming in theMarvel Knights DLC pack, "Curse of the Vampire", which was released on September 30, 2019. The contents of theX-Men DLC pack, "Rise of the Phoenix", were detailed atThe Game Awards 2019 and announced to be released on December 23, 2019. TheFantastic Four DLC pack, "Shadow of Doom", which includes a new story set after the main campaign, was released on March 26, 2020.[10][11][12]
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| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | 73/100[13] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Destructoid | 7/10[14] |
| Game Informer | 7/10[15] |
| GameSpot | 8/10[17] |
| GamesRadar+ |   [16] |
| IGN | 7.8/10[18] |
| Nintendo Life | [19] |
| Nintendo World Report | 7.5/10[20] |
| USgamer |  [21] |
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according toreview aggregator websiteMetacritic.[22]
Tom Marks ofIGN called the game "a treat to play alone and with friends alike" in their review.[23] Chris Carter ofDestructoid said "There's plenty of room for improvement, but I had fun playingMarvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order."[24]Game Informer Executive Editor Andrew Reiner noted that the game had enjoyable moments, but also moments where "it all falls apart", awarding the game a 7/10 rating.[25]Nintendo Life writer Dom Reseigh-Lincoln mentioned that the game was fun, however also stating that "it doesn't do anything particularly new or outstanding", giving it a "Great" score of 8/10.[26]CNN's Jacob Krol called the game "An all-around enjoyable experience with few setbacks."[27]
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order was the sixth best-selling game during its first week on sale in Japan, with 9,424 copies being sold.[28] In August 2019,The NPD Group shared the best-selling games in the US during July 2019 and the game was 4th in the ranking, behindSuper Mario Maker 2,Fire Emblem: Three Houses andMadden NFL 20.[29] By December 2019, the game had sold 1.02 million copies worldwide.[30] As of December 2021, the game has sold 1.50 million copies.[31] As of December 2022, the game has sold 1.60 million copies[32]