Why Comic Books + Video Games Should = Awesome
"I Believe In A Thing Called Love"
Comic books and video games are two things that most nerds love, and they should go together perfectly
Unfortunately, that is almost never the case. The quality in these games range from horrible to just shy of greatness. There are three major flaws in nearly all of their games that developers need to overcome to make a truly amazing comic book game.
First, pick a hero, or group of heroes, that people want to play as. Let me make this as clear as I can; NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY AS AQUAMAN. It really makes me sad how many games fail at this basic level. The hero should always be someone that the player can enjoy playing as, rather than some second-string superhero. The game that does this best is “The Darkness”. Impaling someone with the Darkness powers always has a way of making the player feel like a bad-ass.
Another pit that developers keep falling into, is straying too far from the source material. The Darkness would have been a lot better if the developers would have embraced the style and story of the comic rather than creating their own story. How hard would it be for a developer to keep the hero of their game at least somewhat similar to the hero in the comic book? The best example that comes to mind is Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The characters looked and acted exactly like their comic book counterparts, and the story was believable for that universe.
Lastly, developers need to do a better job of capturing the epic power of their superhero. Iron Man shouldn’t have to use a control panel to open a door when he has the power to level a building at the push of a button. This is my biggest problem with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. While the 4-player Beat ‘em up style of gameplay works for characters like Wolverine and Captain America, it feels like it restrains super-powered characters like Iron Man. The only game that comes close to achieving this is “Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction”. That game perfected playing as the Hulk. The player could be the Hulk in a open-world New York City, slamming into cars, crushing enemies, and jumping from building to building. In short, the game perfected “Hulk Smash” gameplay.
So what would be the perfect comic-book game? Should it be based on a Marvel or DC hero, or on an indie brand, like Vertigo? You tell me. Feel free to comment below or email us at wingdamageblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
Tags: Aquaman, ComicBooks, Darkness, Editorials, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, masterlookas
This entry was posted on Monday, February 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 am
Jonah "spambot" Gregory says:I think the most successful superhero game I’ve played yet is Crackdown. It not being based off of an existing product really works toward it being a success.
Translating everything a hero from an existing brand can do into a game seems to always leave people unsatisfied. There have been some interesting attempts. In Superman Returns, for example, you don’t take damage, but the city does. Even though the game fell flat in other areas, the basic idea fit the character really well.
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:You could make a game about The Flash, but then you would have to throw in a bunch of slow “werehog” levels. HEY OH!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
shaolinjesus says:A Flash game would have to end with you fighting a super smart gorilla. Dems da rulez.