Cross-over obliges (moreover in a universe of superheroes), it is not necessary to seek a great coherence nor even depth in the scenario of the game. The adventure revolves around a hunt for the Stones of the Infinite, coveted by just about everyone for their immense cosmic power. The player must collect them one by one, and fight many opponents along the way. Whether on the side of the heroes or the villains, no one ever really dies in these clashes, and the stakes end up looking pretty low. But let's skip the relative inanity of the scenario, because Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is above all an action game. The fights use a system of quick attacks and powerful attacks, which allow you to accumulate energy points needed to trigger special moves, called techniques. That's it for the basics. But the simultaneous control of four heroes opens the way to attack combinations. These synergies can be triggered when two heroes are close enough, with the game automatically offering the right combination based on each character's attributes (melee, ray, grenade, fire, etc.).
To push the show even further, an additional gauge allows you to launch extreme attacks, which correspond to the most powerful blow of each hero. And here again cooperation is in order, since you can perform several extreme attacks simultaneously in order to obtain, depending on the number of characters involved, an "Extreme Alliance", an "Extreme Super-Alliance" and even, hold on tight , an "Extreme Ultimate Alliance". This all doesn't sound very clever, but in reality it's important to unleash these attacks at the right time. Some enemies are indeed equipped with a stamina gauge, which must be emptied in order to unbalance them and make them a little more vulnerable for a few moments. And that's not all ! As if trying to refute his nag side, the game also uses a system of characteristics for each hero (strength, durability, mastery, resistance, vitality and energy), technique points intended to improve special moves, tree allowing to unlock general improvements, and even "ISO-8 crystals" to equip to obtain some bonuses. Not enough to compete with a real action-RPG, but it is still necessary to look into these aspects when you want to approach the adventure in difficult mode.
THEY CAME, THEY ARE ALL HERE
The main asset of the game is of course its foolproof cast, since over the fights, the player constantly expands the circle of heroes available. We start gently with the Guardians of the Galaxy, which are quickly joined by... Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Falcon, Black Widow, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, the Wasp, Hawkeye , Deadpool, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, Storm, Black Panther and many more! As for the enemies, Marvel fans are also spoiled since they can count on the presence of Sandman, Green Goblin, Venom, Electro, Mysterio, Doctor Octopus, Kingpin, Ultron, Loki, Red Skull and even Thanos. The fan-service also concerns the levels that we go through, since we find there the tower of the Avengers, the Manor X, Attilan, Wakanda or even Asgard. Even if the developers have kept a few characters on hand for future paid downloadable content, the proposal remains very honest. The most pleasant thing is to be able to compose your team of four characters absolutely as you want. Small "union bonuses" (for example a few more strength or energy points) are still granted to more or less homogeneous formations. We will naturally think of grouping the Avengers or the X-men, but other teams a little less expected are also viable. Thus, the combinations of "Femmes fatales", "Funny on duty" or even "Web weavers" also work very well. In order to compensate for the profusion of possible combinations, the game sometimes allows itself to be displayed and spoken to by characters other than those chosen during certain cinematic sequences. We won't hold it against him. On the other hand, we will be a little grayer in front of the overall dated appearance of the game.
MARVELOUS BUT NOT MARVELOUS
Apart from a few relatively nice and impressive boss fights, the corridor levels (sometimes literally), the ultra-basic and inopportune little puzzles, and the graphics from another time (barely made up by a touch of cel-shading and often explosive special effects) take us back almost ten years. The worst concerns the camera which, literally and figuratively, goes all over the place. First of all, it is possible to choose in the options between a "simple camera" and a "heroic camera", closer to the action. This is clearly an admission of helplessness on the part of the developers, who have failed to find a good compromise. Then, the camera keeps changing style during the levels, without warning. Some passages are seen from above, others in profile, we can sometimes freely control it, and other times an angle is imposed on us. All of this evokes confusion more than healthy variety. Especially since it happens from time to time that the camera goes into an inappropriate corner or prevents us from seeing a specific place (if one of your heroes has fallen in combat in this blind spot, good luck reviving him…). Good point on the other hand for the possibility of playing in coop, whether online, locally with several consoles, or on a single Switch with several controllers. The game is also much more fun with several people, whether to explore the single-player campaign or explore the "Infinity Rifts", which are bonus missions offering specific rules (replaying a boss fight with synergistic attacks more powerful and reduced classic attacks, surviving against waves of enemies, etc.). In the end, all this will not be enough to overexcite a classic player, but Marvel buffs will get their money's worth.
