As Suicide Squad arrives to a mixed reception, readers discuss their favourite superhero games, from Midnight Suns to Spider-Man 2.
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Gadfly, who also asked, if budget was no issue, what kind of superhero game would you like to see and who would you like to make it?
Some people got fairly broad with the definition of superhero but that’s unsurprising given how relatively few games there have been over the years, with Batman: Arkham and Spider-Man games easily coming out on top.
Best of the Dark Knight
My favourite superhero video game of all time is Batman: Arkham Asylum. I’m a lifelong Batman fan and this game made me feel like Batman, from the Freeflow combat system to the stealth picking your targets. I’ve always preferred Batman: Arkham Asylum to Batman: Arkham City for the story, atmosphere, and smaller setting.
The Scarecrow sections in Batman: Arkham Asylum are amazing and another reason for my preference. I’m so glad Rocksteady had the sense to bring back Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Arleen Sorkin, and Paul Dini from the legendary Batman: The Animated Series, the best Batman of all time.
Paul Clay
The one and only
For me the best superhero game by a long shot is Marvel’s Midnight Suns. I’m still gutted it’s a flop and has probably killed the chances of XCOM 3 or anything more from Firaxis that’s not Civilization. It’s a fantastic game and while I know a lot of people are put off by the card angle it’s really not an issue, it’s just how your options are displayed and I think it works really well.
Apart from just being a great strategy game it’s also filled with superheroes, with a good mix of classics and more obscure magic-related ones. I think it’s great and while I do agree the abbey side of things could drag on a bit, so much effort has been put into it I just can’t recommend it enough.
Bors
Not time yet
A game I have wanted for a long time is a MMO based on the Doctor Who universe. The setting could be the Time War and there is so much potential for characters, not even just being a Time Lord; with such a massive back catalogue of lore you could be a human, a Judoon, a Dalek or any number of races with different motivations and goals.
Plus, there is the ability to go anywhere in time and space. Imagine solving a puzzle from the time of the Big Bang to the end of the universe or a battle that rages not just among the stars but through history. Weapons ranging from a stick to any futuristic gun you could imagine or abilities that stem from your physiology. I could talk about what I imagine a game like that could include for weeks but that’s the basics.
David
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Super Sentai heroes
For my favourite superhero game, I’d like to say it’s Spider-Man: The Movie 2 (GameCube) but as others might also vote for it, I’ll pick something else.
As a sidenote, I really did like the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games, with the first two being my favourite of the trilogy.
However, my favourite superhero game is Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie on the Mega Drive.
It plays like Streets Of Rage but instead of picking up weapons, each Ranger has their own weapon which can be used by holding the ‘B’ button.
Boss battles can end up with them growing to about 12 storeys high, so then you get to control one of the three various Megazords, the White Tiger Zord or even the flying Falcon Zord.
What makes this game great (apart from the gameplay) is the digitised versions of Ron Wasserman’s rock music from the TV show, which plays during the levels.
I no longer have a Mega Drive proper (I do currently have the latest/best Mini version) but decided to buy a copy of the game anyway.
I would have loved to have played, or better yet owned, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle but I didn’t have an Xbox One or PlayStation 4 back then.
Unfortunately, its long been delisted but I always hoped it would reappear on the Switch’s eShop. Sadly, that still hasn’t happened.
LeighDappa
A rare breed
It’s funny, isn’t it? How thin on the ground superhero games are really, especially considering the impact of the MCU on the general public’s knowledge of superheroes.
Full disclosure: I am a comic book geek, mainly Marvel though. But interestingly, thinking through my gaming history, when it comes to superheroes Batman has had by far and away the best run of video games. And these go back a long way.
Back in the mid 80s, and probably the first licensed superhero gaming I played was the brilliant (and when I say that I mean for the time of release) 3D isometric Batman by Ocean (Ocean released a lot of good Batman games).
A couple of years later another great Ocean Batman game: The Caped Crusader. If I recall a side scrolling puzzler that really captured the feel of the more light-hearted comic books.
Then a great film tie-in from Ocean: 1989’s Batman The Movie. It recreated scenes from the film and had platforming, driving, and flying levels. It may have looked best on the Amiga, but the driving levels were so hard it played better on the Spectrum. It genuinely was a good tie-in, one of the best up there with RoboCop (although the RoboCop tie-in had the advantage of being based on a great arcade game).
I also recall thoroughly enjoying the Spectrum conversion of the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, which given how famously tough it was on Nintendo must have been easier on the Spectrum because I completed it. And it was very rare I managed to complete games back then.
In the 90s, the arcade had a couple of those side-scrolling multi player beat em’up coin sinks: X-Men and TMNT were particularly fun with four-players but made so they would just eat money. A couple of years ago I played one at The National Videogame Museum to completion. A lot easier when the credits are free!
But to be honest, for me the best (that I have played) is, by quite a large margin, the Batman: Arkham games. So which one? Well, that’s tough, but I actually think I would go with Arkham Asylum. The smaller, tighter map worked really well and it was such a revelation at the time. The use of the villains was great, except Killer Croc… That sequence was just infuriating! I particularly liked the Scarecrow sequences.
For the future? If Insomniac nail Wolverine (assuming it hasn’t been too badly compromised by that awful hacking episode) and release it on PC in a fairly timely manner I will be a happy man. I wrote in a while back to say I’d love a game featuring the Patch guise of Wolverine set in Madripoor, and lo and behold that is what was teased! Princess Bar and all! Chuck in Tyger Tiger and the rest of the Madripoor cast and that will be great.
I wonder why there are so few successful superhero video games? I mean, if you think about the likes of Assassin’s Creed, the kind of stuff you’re doing fits a lot of the lower level superheroes. The parkour elements and fighting are perfect for the likes of Daredevil or Moon Knight. I guess the trouble is once you have really powerful superheroes, what can you throw at them? [Really powerful supervillains? – GC]
Whatever you’re playing, enjoy gaming y’all!
The Dude Abides
Missing the boat
I’m going to say Spider-Man 2, just because I bet that’s the obvious one no-one mentions because they think everyone else will. It is a great game though and while it owes a huge debt to the Batman: Arkham games it still does its own thing as well. Plus, Venom is absolutely perfect.
It is odd how few superhero games there are though, especially given the MCU and everything. I know there’s some coming, with Iron Man, Black Panther, and I think Captain American but by the time they arrive superhero movies are going to seem like yesterday’s news. They’ve should’ve acted while the iron (man) was hot!
Ganache
Super idea
I will always be a Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City fan and to me these are the ultimate Batman and superhero games in general. Spider-Man games were fun and good to play and gave a life and emotion to Peter Parker and co., but the game mechanics in Batman felt beefier and to my preference, despite the fluidity of Spider-Mans mechanics.
It also helps that Batman’s locations and enemies, with its industrial gothic detail and storytelling, along with more creepy and disturbing characters and settings, is more to what I took from Tim Burton’s two films when I was younger.
I feel that other superhero games not including Spider-Man and Batman have not enticed me whatsoever and none of the recent Avengers or Suicide Squad attempts make me want to spend time dealing with these games when there are so many other greater non-superhero games out there, surpassing these by a long way!
The way the Batman games were played out in a very realistic way regarding the first two Asylum and City games. Then there was the combat, exploration and characters’ voice actors putting so much life into the game and making this story led adventure so much more fulfilling and memorable.
My only preference to developing a superhero game which will tickle my interest would be an awesome Superman game. Making Superman stories in an involving way without just huge mad violence only, would do justice to the comics, films and TV series which was not just about flying and smashing buildings and baddies to smithereens.
This would be on par with Arkham Asylum and City or potentially even better! As you go to the Daily Planet for your day job in an office environment before zapping into the Man of Steel and saving the world, as this guy does on his day job across locations from around the globe!
Alucard
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