Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is absolutely packed and here’s what you can expect to see.

GoNintendo has pulled the top reveals from the feature and we’re here to share them with you.

The full feature has much more information, including comments from the development team and character profiles. So we recommend obtaining a Game Informer subscription for the full article. And if you’d just like this month’s issue, you can just buy the standalone digital issue for $5.

– Team Ninja is leading development
– Marvel Games is providing writing talent, character selections, and watching over authenticity
– Nintendo visited Marvel before the Switch was publicly revealed in order to show them the hardware and plans moving forward. This presentation convinced Marvel Games to work with Nintendo on the game.
– Marvel and Nintendo both wanted to see the return of the Ultimate Alliance series.
– The series format felt like a great fit for Switch due to the multiplayer focus and versatility of the Switch.
– Marc Sumerak is the lead writer and has written Avengers comics in the past.
– the story ‘rides the line between comics and movies’.

Bonuses

– get a Women of Marvel team-up bonus for select an all-female combination of characters
– Spider-Gwen and Miles Morales teaming up gets them a Web Warriors bonus
– multiple attribute bonuses can run at once
– other attribute bonuses include Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Wiscracking Warriors, Femme Fetales, Defenders, Midnight Sons, and more.

Character Roster
– confirmed characters thus far include: Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Crystal, Daredevil, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Drax, Falcon, Gamora, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, Nightcrawler, Rocket & Groot, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Storm, Thor, Venom, Wasp, and Wolverine.

Locations

– locations include Shadowland, New York, Avengers Tower, X-Mansion, and many more.

Character Abilities
– each character has a general style of attack and specialty, all of which can be leveled up
– Scarlet Witch can buff her teammates with a radius healing effect
– Daredevil can use radar sense to identify weaknesses
– Rocket and Groot are a single playable character who work together
– Groot will whip enemies with his vines, and then light them up with a Quantum Igniter
– roster features over two dozen characters

Gameplay
– XP Cubes will boost experience quickly when picked up
– you can also use a lower-leveled character with other high-powered choices to boost their XP quicker
– four characters are on-screen at all times
– customize your characters with different abilities and stats
– there’s a classic camera option for wide-field view, and ‘heroic’ camera for an up-close look
– Synergy Attacks are unique ability combos between two heroes
– for example, Iron Man can shoot Captain America’s shield to split the laser
– Storm and Thor can create a cyclone together
– these Synergy Attacks feature button prompts that players have to hit together to activate
– Extreme Attacks are activated by both triggers when your EX gauge is full
– this flashes a character portrait on screen, and lets other players join in
– these attacks clear the screen and show a devastating attack
– all four characters using an Extreme Attack at once makes for an Ultimate Extreme, complete with a damage counter
– enemies have all sorts of attacks, and some have a stagger bar that will empty until they’re stunned
– the team is still working on ways to make it easier for the player to keep track of their character in all the action
– the Alliance Enhancement system includes upgrades that apply to your whole team
– these are unlocked through credits and enhancement points, and you must unlock points to gain access to adjacent nodes
– these various points will include ability usage, defensive, or offensive buffs
– you can also focus on individual characters to power them up, and standard leveling opens all 4 primary abilities for a character
– each ability can be improved with ability points that you earn during play
– ISO-8 is an equipable element that lets you tweak a hero’s capabilities in a fight
– these can decrease damage taken when health is low, increase HP orbs dropped, , increase stun chances, decrease damage taken by piercing attacks, add shock attributes to an attack, and more
– individual pieces of ISO-8 can be broken into fragments, and then used to upgrade other ISO-8 pieces
– Infinity Trials offer new twists and variations on battles, and will net you rewards for completion
– Infinity Trials are seen as rifts throughout the main story, but you can unlock a menu option for these trials midway through the game
– Infinity Trials are split into groups, and each has a serious of challenges to tackle
– new Infinity Trials open up as you complete previous entries
– there will be rewards in Infinity Trials that can’t be gained anywhere else
– Infinity Trials have wave battles, countdown trials that put you against a timer, and ability trials that weaken regular attacks while charging up abilities and synergies
– beating the game once will open up a new difficulty level with better rewards
– carry over alliance enhancements and character levels for your second playthrough
– you can also select the chapters you’d specifically like to replay
– the story is a new take on the Infinity Stones storyline exclusive to the game
– the game will also contain a number of Marvel villains outside of the Black Order

Spoilers for the story below.

– the story starts on the Milano with the Guardians of the Galaxy
– Rocket’s sensors pick up a reading from a derelict Kree warship
– the Guardians board the ship and come across Nebula, Ronan the Accuser, and Proxima Midnight
– the Infinity Stones are on the ship, and the fight between the two teams sends the stones flying across the universe
– characters are introduced with word graphics featuring names and witty descriptions
– tutorials are brief and folded into fights
– the next chapter takes place on Earth during a prison break at the superpowered Raft.

What do you think about these details about the game? Let us know in the comments.