The Perfect Superhero Game - Why Are You So Elusive? - Misfit's Blog

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The Perfect Superhero Game - Why Are You So Elusive?

Posted on February 20, 2010 at 12:58 PM.

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Boys fall into two categories as children, those that love trucks and those that love action figures. I personally was a matchbox kid until around the age of 5 when I presumably saw my first Ghostbusters cartoon. The Ghostbusters were an obsession until one day at the store I saw the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. I somehow got my mom to purchase three for me (Leonardo, Donatello, and Krang) with what I assume was likely birthday money or something. The TMNT obsession lasted until I was 9 or so and Fox debuted its X-Men cartoon, at which point I became a superhero kid.

I collected X-Men (and later Spider-Man) figures until such things were considered childish (though once ToyBiz unveiled its Marvel Legends line around the turn of the century I was hooked once more until its demise). I was always rational about my collection and did not posses a "gotta have 'em all" mentality. I only wanted figures that were of interesting characters, that looked good, and were not repaints of older figures. As a result, I rarely collected an entire series (which usually consisted of six or seven figures) but still amassed a rather large assortment of figures and vehicles. I had Wolverines too numerous to count, multiple Gambits, and rarely enough villains but these satisfied my compulsion to have a tangible representation of my favored heroes.

This however, is not a blog post about my affection for action figures but my dissatisfaction with the superhero outside of them, namely videogames. There have been good games in the past carrying a popular hero's name. The two X-Men games for Sega Genesis were quite good at the time, though both did little to advance the genre. Batman had a decent game based off of the Animated Series for the Super Nintendo but it was mostly standard platform fare. Batman of course most recently starred in Arkham Asylum, a very good if not great stealth-action game. The problem with that is that its a Batman game. I love Batman, but he doesn't put the super in superhero, so to speak.

A truly great superhero game based off of Marvel of DC characters has yet to be created. The X-Men Legends series, which spawned the more recent Marvel Superheroes, has its moments but at no point does the player get the sense that he is a superhero. The fighting games have been great, but again the same issue arises.

The two games where I felt that I was controlling a superhero are Freedom Force and Infamous. Freedom Force is a top down RPG-styled game not unlike the X-Men Legends series or even a simplified Baldur's Gate. The characters can do "super" things though like toss cars, rip telephone polls out of the ground to use as clubs, fly, fire lasers, and so on. Because of the perspective and interface, it is not immersive which is disappointing. Infamous of course, is quite immersive. The character Cole is imbued with lightning powers and can fire off blasts of energy, glide through the air, and survive gigantic falls. The game is excellent and one of the best released in 2009.

Both games however share a common flaw, they're not recognizable superheroes. Cole is pretty awesome, but he isn't Iceman and while Freedom Force has a varied arsenal of heroes none are as flashy as their Marvel or DC counterparts. If Cole was a bit more powered, say given the ability to fly or possess even greater powers of energy projection, Infamous would be as perfect a superhero game can be that does not involve a major comic book company. I want something that gives me a true sense of what it would be like to control a Superman.

Spider-Man has had some good games, but all have suffered from a fatal flaw. Still, he's probably received the best assortment of games. My desire to play as him has mostly subsided. Wolverine has even had some moments, never great, but the experience of playing as Wolverine is not foreign to gamers. A great Wolverine game would just be a God of War clone or something. I want to play as a truly over-powered kind of hero. Perhaps Iron Man would work. His suit gives him superhuman strength and the ability to fire energy blasts and fly. Sounds perfect. There's always Superman who can do almost anything. Though truly, I want a great X-Men game.

I liked that Activision attempted an RPG approach with the previously mentioned Legends, but it ultimately isn't necessary. The X-Men do not parade through the comics developing new powers or growing stronger, they're fairly static. The RPG elements just felt tacked on and unnecessary. A small core of characters is all that is needed. I'll always be partial to the era I grew up in, the Jim Lee era, so I would like to see characters from that era represented but it isn't necessary. The approach is the hardest to come up with though, should it be open world/sandbox gameplay or a focused third-person action titled?

The open world format's greatest advantage is flight. I think it would be awesome to fly around a big city, but if its just to fly from one mission to the next how important is it? The X-Men are not the guardians of the city like Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man. That is to say, they do not patrol the streets of New York looking to thwart villains.

This train of thought leads me to a different premise. A pseudo-open world format where the location changes based on the point in the story. The setting I think would work best for this would be the Age of Apocalypse. Consider you're given control of Magneto, leader of the X-Men in this universe and you're hovering over the destroyed ruins of New York. There's danger lurking everywhere; Sentinels, drifters, Apocalypse's henchmen. You have an objective to advance the plot, but the map is large and you can take your time. You can even switch characters. Perhaps you would rather torch your enemies with Sunfire, or smash through them with Colossus. The storyline and setting present opportunities for branching plotlines. One moment you're playing as Magneto and his team, the next you're Wolverine or Jean Grey trying to accomplish your own goals, or perhaps Nate Grey (X-Man).

The scope of the title would be massive and I'm not saying it would be easy, but with the technology we have it certainly seems possible. I'm sick of movie tie-ins and have no interest in playing another bad Spider-Man game. I'm not a Superman fan, but I'd even take that at this point if it was done well. The template has been laid by other parties, its time for Marvel/DC to capitalize on their work already being done for them and give us something worthy of our money and time.