Thanks to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe creating a plethora of new characters and plot lines, it’s no wonder that the franchise can sometimes be confusing. The same goes for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, which features a cinematic campaign and highly satisfying co-op combat.
In this article, we’re going to give you some advice for playing this game and getting the most out of it.
- Exploration Is Key
- Leveling Up With Infinity Trials
- No Team Is Perfect
- Prioritize Synergy & Abilities
- Take Advantage Of Team Bonuses
- Look For Hidden XP Cubes
- Play All Heroes
- Stagger Enemies
- Dodge!
- Use the Environment
Exploration Is Key
The standard video game rules regarding exploration still apply in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, though they are a little more important in this case.
If your destination is on the right, then you should head left first. If you find yourself in a room of prison cells, check them all.
If those prison cells happen to be locked, check to see if you are able to open them.
If you spot a suspicious-looking wall behind a pile of crates, punch everything. There will almost always be a destructible sparkling box to hit and loot to find.
Explore!
In any other game, this advice would be quite redundant, as most people tend to favor exploration anyway.
But the upgrade items in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 are almost always slightly hidden, so don’t let your curiosity dip! Exploration will yield rewards nine times out of ten.
Leveling Up With Infinity Trials
You will be able to acquire the materials you need to upgrade your squad by exploring and progressing through the campaign.
But you won’t find yourself swimming in Void Spheres, Ability Orbs, XP Cubes, or anything else that is necessary to level up. There’s a solution for that, though.
If you are trying to make your team more powerful or just need a couple of items for a single upgrade, then consider taking a break from the campaign and completing some Infinity Trials.
Completing a Trial rewards you with valuable materials that can be used for upgrades.
Do Your Best
What’s more, the better you perform in an Infinity trial, the more loot you will be rewarded with.
You are able to return to play a Trial again, and we highly recommend doing this so that you can earn all three stars and collect anything you didn’t collect previously.
No Team Is Perfect
This goes for just about any squad-based video game out there, but we feel it’s extra-relevant to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.
Sure, the characters can buff one another and earn a team bonus, but that doesn’t make much of a difference, and you’re not going to find a magical hero combination.
Rather, it is better to focus on the bonus aspect. They are great to have, but they are by no means essential.
You are at liberty to create any team composition that suits your playstyle and that you find to be the most effective, which is the beauty of Ultimate Alliance 3.
It’s Not That Serious
For the most part, the level of any given superhero and the smart use of their abilities is much more important than the single-digit percentages that team bonuses provide in an action-packed fight.
Feel free to add whatever heroes you want to your team.
Prioritize Synergy & Abilities
Iron Man can fire a lethal beam from his chest, while Captain America is able to charge through a crowd of enemies with his shield.
Ghost Rider whips his fiery chain around, and Gamora leaps into the air and impacts the ground with a devastating shockwave.
These moves are called Abilities, and they are some of the most powerful attacks in Ultimate Alliance 3. Therefore, you should be using them any time you get the chance.
Try not to be too precious about them - they’re there to be used.
Energy Points
The only caveat is that you are going to need EP (Energy Points) to use Abilities.
You are able to see your EP via the EP Gauge, which is the blue rings at the bottom left of the screen.
EP populates slowly over time and refills quicker when you attack enemies.
Take Advantage Of Team Bonuses
After you have compiled your first team, you will notice on the Hero Select screen that there are stats at the top right that relate to the main stats of the game, like Mastery, Vitality, Resilience, etc.
These stats are important to consider, and here’s why.
You are able to give your team a significant advantage by selecting heroes that have similar affiliations and tastes.
For instance, each new character in Ultimate Alliance 3 receives a bonus, as do characters that make wisecracks or swing webs regularly. You can see where we’re going with this.
Study the Attributes
You should study the entire list by pressing Y on the Hero Select screen.
You will be shown the bonuses that are active, as well as the potential alliances you can form with some of your favorite characters.
The system is quite flexible, especially if you aren’t attached to specific characters.
Look For Hidden XP Cubes
When playing the Ultimate Alliance 3 tutorial, you are bound to find some glimmering orange boxes that are distributed throughout the level.
When you break them, they reveal a scarce resource, an ISO shard, or some concept art. You should constantly be smashing these boxes. Why?
They can provide you with the crucial materials you need to level up and add enhancements.
While there are several of these orange boxes out in the open, there are also many others that are hidden behind walls, paintings, and locked walls that emit the same distinct glow.
Synergy Attacks
To get past these obstacles, you will need to approach them and study the two symbols on them.
You will need to perform a synergy attack that makes use of both of the represented attack styles to gain access.
If you need a certain skill, you can always swap characters.
Play All Heroes
Even though Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 front-loads its roster within the first few hours of gameplay - meaning that many of the most iconic characters have a low level.
You have to put in some effort to improve them - you should do your best to swap out heroes regularly.
At the very least, you should consider characters as and when they are first introduced into the story, since they will be somewhat close to your level already and easier to incorporate into your team.
Also, while there are certain hero ‘types’, everyone has a unique team composition.
Give Everyone a Chance
Of course, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t play your favorite heroes - that’s the whole point of the game!
You just shouldn’t neglect all of the others just because you don’t like them as much.
Who knows? You might just find yourself surprised by some of the other characters’ abilities.
Stagger Enemies
In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, there are essentially three kinds of enemies.
There are the standard grunts that will only take a couple of hits to get rid of, the fleshed-out bosses with enormous health bars, and mid-tear enemies with purple bars below their health meters.
By depleting the purple bar of the latter enemies, you can stagger them. When combined with a synergy attack or an ability, this will cause them to be stunned.
Getting the hang of this combination is essential to succeeding in Ultimate Alliance 3, so you’ll want to get that down ASAP.
Fight Smarter
Avoid the temptation to ignore grunts completely, especially if they are the ones that hurl dangerous projectiles.
Generally, you’re going to want to focus on the enemies that can be staggered to stop them from steamrolling your team.
Managing them will keep the field clear, so you don’t get stun locked.
Dodge!
Ultimate Alliance 3 teaches you how to block and dodge as soon as you start playing. Tap L to dash, and hold the button down to block damage altogether.
You should never forget about this button, no matter how fast-paced things get - and things are going to get quite fast-paced.
You will likely be able to make it through the campaign without holding down the block button, which can feel counterintuitive considering the speed of combat.
However, dashing is vital, especially when many of the enemies perform combination attacks that push your heroes in one direction and cancel their abilities.
Dodging Saves Lives
It gets worse when you’re playing with heroes who have low agility ratings, since you are going to want to dash often.
Dashing through attacks - like you would in Dark Souls - allows you to survive them and attack the enemies from behind.
Dodging can be the difference between life and death.
Use the Environment
Getting lost in the chaos of Ultimate Alliance 3’s intense combat is extremely easy, but it is important to always pay attention to your environment.
In each chapter, the game will introduce a new projectile explosive that will obliterate players who ignore them. A good player will observe their surrounding environment.
Picking up an explosive barrel or a rocket to hurl at a tough enemy can change the fate of the battle, tilting the scales in your favor.
Ultimately this will allow you to emerge victorious when you would have failed otherwise.
Just Keep Throwing
Later in the game, some enemies will also only take damage from specific items that you throw.
This is why it is a good idea to get accustomed to incorporating them into your attack combos as soon as you can.
Summary
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 is an extremely entertaining and rewarding game that will keep you busy for hours and hours on end.
We hope that you found our tips and advice useful!
