Okay, before you get to naming the Gamecube Incredible Hulk game, the recent Spiderman games, and well, that’s about all I can think of right now, my primary question is this: when you really scrutinize all the games that have come out based off of comic books, why have a great majority of them been either terrible, or, egads, worse than terrible like Spawn, for the Sega Dreamcast?
When you come to think of it, really, shouldn’t comic books actually thrive in the realm of gaming? The open approach, controllability, and overall freedom that games provide should offer ample opportunities for comic books to make that no sweat transition to video games a breeze. But besides a chosen few moldy oldies (Maximum Carnage was the naz, Spiderman and the X-Men: Arcade’s Revenge, not so snazzy), the list of comic book characters that made a great lasting impression on the video game scene are slim to nil.
I mention this because there are a string of new video game/comic book cross-overs coming out this year, some ranging from the ridiculous (Mortal Kombat vs. DC?) to the promising (The newnew Incredible Hulk game). The problem is, neither really sounds interesting enough to get all that excited about and sell the family farm.
A reason why comic book video games are usually so bad, though, is because most, if not all of them, take too easy an approach when it comes to getting made. Back in the 90s, comic books always took on a pre-existing genre and just stuck comic book characters in there where other, more defined characters used to be. That’s why The Punisher game for the NES was just a glorified version of Operation Wolf. Why X-Men: The Arcade game was a side scrolling beat ‘em up in the same vein as Final Fight, and why even the most recent Ghost Rider game was basically just God of War on estrogen. I mean, I’m not saying that the comic book industry needs to reinvent the wheel or anything like that as far as video games are concerned, but how come I haven’t played a single Batman game yet that’s more about solving mysteries than bashing in skulls and driving the Batmobile? Batman isa detective, after all, so why don’t any video games portray him as such? And what about Captain America? No games of him fighting as a soldier in World War II? What’s up with that?
So, with whatever new game that comes out about a comic book character, please, video game companies, please, take the time to look at the character more thoroughly before you invest your time in making a 12 hour plus game. A Wolverine game where he travels through the different parts of his history would be nice. And a Superman game that well, just didn’t suck, would be nice, too. The possibilities are endless, really, so why do we keep seeing a means to an end rather than an endless ends to a mean? I riddle you that, video game companies. I riddle you that.
