Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order releases July 19, but if you’re itching to jump into the role of one of Marvel’s legendary heroes there are already a number of great Marvel-themed games on the market. In honor of our Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 cover story in the June issue of Game Informer, we’ve assembled the ultimate list of Marvel games every comic fan should play.
10. X-Men 2: Clone Wars
Genesis • 1995
The X-Men looked like the biggest heroes of the 90s. Young fans across the country have dreamed of being one of Marvel's most exciting characters, and the friendly head-to-head action game of the headgames helped scratch that bite.
Players take control of Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, and Wolverine as they travel around the world with the goal of eradicating the Phalanx virus and saving everyone from becoming techno-organic slaves.
Each hero has his own unique power, which has helped him to fight and influence the way they go through nature, which further encourages repetition.
9. Marvel Strike Force
iOS, Android • 2018
As an agent of the Special Tactical Reserve for Interdimensional Key Events (S.T.R.I.K.E.) you are tasked with assembling a squad of heroes to protect the planet from an alien threat.
But who are we kidding – we don’t love Marvel’s turn-based mobile game for its plot. We love amassing an ever-growing roster of some of our favorite heroes (and villains) in the universe.
Strike Force’s turn-based combat features just the right amount of strategy, and chasing that slow unlock of new characters is incredibly addicting.
8. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii, PC • 2009
Wolverine is one of Marvel's most beloved heroes and for good reason: he is a neutral man who can walk with almost any injury.
Based on the 2009 film, Raven Software allows fans to explore Logan's past as they traverse hostile enemy forces with Wolverine's indestructible nails. Watching his body reunite a little after the attack is endless, and your lunge attack has been incredibly powerful.
Not only is X-Men Origins a great Marvel game, it has released a surprisingly rare strategy - it is actually a better game than the movie.
7. X-Men
Arcade, PS3, Xbox 360 • 1992
In the ‘90s, arcades were littered with Konami’s addictive side-scrolling beat ‘em up. In fact, it seemed as if arcades were required by law to own a version of this game.
But we’re not complaining; we happily throw a few quarters into one of these machines every time we see it. Sure, some of the X-Men’s powers seem misrepresented (Nightcrawler zipped around the screen like the Flash, for example), but we can’t resist the thrill of beating up an army of Sentinels before the epic throwdown with Magneto.
6. Lego Marvel Super Heroes
PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS, Vita, PC • 2013
Lego games are like potato chips - they are food for comfort. After a long day, it doesn’t make you feel pressured to do it; you can just relax and smash things and enemies into Lego's small bricks.
The heat on the heels of the 2012 Avengers film, Traveller's Tales and TT Fusion exploration of Marvel's universe was a great joy. Not only was the list of characters enormous, but each hero had his own unique power, and hunting at all levels of secrecy proved satisfactory.
5. Spider-Man 2
PS2, Xbox, GameCube • 2004
For a long time, Spider-man 2 was considered the best Marvel game – if not the best licensed game around. Based on the Sam Raimi film, Spider-Man struggles to keep his civilian and superhero life in balance while battling foes like The Rhino, Black Cat, and Dr. Octopus.
Treyarch’s open-world Manhattan was a lot of fun to explore, and the combat was fast and fluid. However, the pièce de résistance is Spider-Man’s swing mechanics, which feel so good that they became the swing mechanics by which all other Spider-Man games were judged.
4. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
PS2, Xbox, GameCube • 2005
Few games allow you to feel like an unstoppable fighter like Radical Entertainment's Ultimate Destruction.
The Hulk runs straight through the walls, car fashions become brass spears, bats' arrows are as far away as flies, and it often destroys anything stupid enough to get in its way. The boss fights against nemeses like Devil Hulk, Mercy, and Abomination feels like a hero.
Bruce Banner just wants while in secret and researches the solution to his condition, but the world does not want to leave him alone. We don’t want to leave him alone, because this fight is so fun.
3. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP • 2006
Raven Software’s epic smash fest was the Avengers: Endgame of its era. Building on the X-Men Legacy franchise, Ultimate Alliance takes Diablo’s basic action/RPG loot fest and throws every major Marvel character into the mix.
Up to four friends can watch each other’s backs as they engage in some truly wild scenarios, such as protecting a helicarrier from the dragon Fin Fang Foom, freeing the inhabitants of Atlantis from mind-control, and participating in an absurd gameshow on Murderworld.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 has a lot to live up to.
2. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3
PS4, Xbox One, PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Vita • 2011
Marvel vs. series Capcom is the only place where you can see the tag team of Captain America and Captain Commando or Mega Man who will get along with Iron Man.
While selecting Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, re-release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has struck a perfect balance between war and its huge list of characters.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a good reminder that you don't need zany news mode when the action is right.
1. Spider-Man
PS4 • 2018
What else did you expect at the top of this list? Insomniac’s masterpiece was a true contender for game of the year when it released, and Insomniac expertly took all of the mechanics that fans loved from previous Spider-Man games and built on them to create something special.
Spider-Man’s combat and web-swinging is the best it’s ever been, and Insomniac tells a gripping story that highlighted Peter Parker’s heroics as well as his alter ego. We could do without the simple stealth moments, but those are easy to forget when the rest of the game is running on all cylinders.
The wait for a sequel is going to be excruciating, because we want to see what Insomniac does next with our favorite wall-crawler.
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