Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 Review: 7 Ups & 6 Downs

4. Experimentation Isn't Encouraged

One of the most frustrating parts of Ultimate Alliance 3 is that it throws so many great heroes at you to play as, but then almost punishes you for experimenting with them. Unlike in previous titles, characters you aren't playing don't acquire XP, which means that if you drop someone from the team for a few hours and then reintroduce them, they'll be massively underpowered compared to the new ones you've unlocked.

It throws off team balance, swapping between a Level 30 Iron Man and a Level 7 Iron Fist, and makes you stick with the characters you've put the most time into. It's great that core strength and vitality isn't attached to a character's level but rather The Lab, which means that under-levelled characters aren't totally useless, but the combat requires special abilities to really shine - something which is directly dictated by rank.

Likewise, you can quickly boost a character through consumable XP unlocks, but these can be easily wasted.

Making this worse is sudden spikes in difficulty. For the most part the regular campaign is easy enough, and offers a decent amount of challenge when necessary. Occasionally, though, it will throw you into a insanely tough boss fight - like the one that comes at the end of Chapter 5 - that can take you by surprise. If you have been spreading your time between characters you'll be wholly underprepared, and will need to grind up your levels before progressing.