Stuff UK – September 2019

TESTED GAMES

onsidering the Marvel
Cinematic Universe’s
seemingly unending rule
over the box office, it seems
strange that – with the exception
of last year’s solo Spider-Man
title – we’re scratching our heads
for a worthy Marvel game.
So is The Black Order that
game? In short, probably not.
This Switch exclusive is a welcome
reawakening of the series after a
10-year hiatus, but it could easily
be a 2009 game itself. Although
pleasingly comicbook-y in its

presentation, it’s hardly a graphical

showcase, and there are other

games in the genre that are more

satisfying to play.

Ah, but those games don’t allow

you to put Spider-Man and Venom

on the same side, nor do they let

you witness a Luke Cage/Hulk

double-team. Want to take on the

bad guys as the Guardians of the

Galaxy? Fine, but why not sub in

Captain Marvel for a few fights

along the way?

This is an action RPG in which

your four chosen Marvel heroes

(or anti-heroes) move from room

to room fighting hordes of enemies,

usually preceding a boss battle.

And the 30+ roster of characters

dwarves anything you’ve seen

in the MCU.

Easy-to-learn controls mean

anyone can pick this up and start

scrapping immediately. But the

lightweight fighting gets repetitive;

and save for the later boss fights,

you can pretty much get by with

button-mashing.

The game does contain plenty

of RPG elements that you can

mess about with to maximise

your team’s abilities. Characters

will level up pretty quickly, and you

can apply various stat buffs as well

as accumulating in-game currency,

but it’s just a shame navigating the

menus is a bit clunky.

In short, The Black Order is

mindless video-game fun that

never asks you to take it seriously.

If you’ve got a Switch and some

friends who love Marvel, there

are far less entertaining ways to

spend an evening.

Matt Tate

STUFF SAYS No Hulk smash, but it’ll tide you over while you wait for the Avengers game +++,,

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

3: The Black Order

You’re mad about Marvel and you swoon over your Switch – so are the two loves

of your life finally about to be united in the shape of this hero-packed action RPG?

Switch /

stuff.tv/BlackOrder

C