After the success of Batman’s “Arkham” series of videogames, how come game companies don’t understand there is a market for good games based on superheroes? We’ve seen plenty of cheap videogames made to cash on the many super hero movies that have been coming out, but usually the quality ranges from bad to mediocre (see: that Thor game). It shouldn’t be this way, though, as Arkham Asylum and Arkham City proved, there is a market for well-done games, faithful to the protagonist’s legacy that can both please fans and sell well.
We’re not saying there aren’t any good super-hero based videogames: in the last few years Wolverine, Spider-man and many others got decent games that were really fun to play (oh, how we loved Ultimate Spider-Man…), but they’re still based on their movie counter-parts and hardly ever portray the hero as the comic readers know them. No more, we say. We want more Arkhams and new heroes starring our favorite form of entertainment! Here’s our list of the 8 characters that most deserve a game that lives up to their legacy and can be a fun experience. Here’s 8 Super Heroes That Should Get A Video Game
Deadpool
This is just a gold mine waiting to happen: Deadpool, the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ is a fan-favorite on the internet, and was even called “4Chan made super hero”. An open sandbox type game, where Deadpool can run around, mouth off, and dismember enemies, while the player gets tasked to do missions (he’s a mercenary, after all!) would be perfect for him. Imagine having to infiltrate the X-mansion, fool Wolverine’s sense of smell, and have to fight Cable. It would be perfect.
Chances of it happening: A Deadpool movie is planned for 2014, so expect the character’s popularity to grow a bit in the next few months/years. Still, we’re not sure of how creative would game producers get.
Lobo
Lobo was a villain created in the 80s, and became a anti-hero in the 90sm starring his own comic-book. As Giffen, the responisible of his revival explains “I came up with him as an indictment of the Punisher, Wolverine, hero prototype and somehow he caught on as the high violence poster boy. Go figure.” Doesn’t he sound like exactly the type of character you’d want to play? He could give Kratos a good fight as the best character for a quick, violent button masher.
Chances of it happening: Slim, at least at the moment. The character has been sort of inactive as of late, and the movie adaptation of the comic hasn’t produced any news in the last couple years.
Superman
How come one of the most popular characters of all-time has never had a decent game? What were the programmers of Superman 64 thinking when they released that flying-through-rings monstrosity? It shouldn’t be hard, we just want a game where Superman can freely fly around, stop planes from crashing, fight Luthor, Darkseid, Brainiac and Doomsday. We want big, open cities where characters fight and demolish buildings here and there, and where we can fully use Superman’s powers in a way that is congruent with the comic.
Chances of it happening: Every time DC comics creates a good product Batman-related, they try a similar formula with Superman. People still prefer the Dark Knight because of the dark tone imprinted in the stories, though, and the Superman product ends up looking bad in comparison. We hope this time they learn their lesson.
The Phantom
A great, classic character. A bunch of our readers might recognize him from the re-imagination of the character in TV Show form, Phantom 2040 (created by the guys who did Aeon Flux) and many other adaptations. The Phantom is awesome because he’s part of the “I-don’t-have-super-powers” club, so combat would get really interesting. We imagine a game with stealth mechanics and over-the-top action scenes (like, “escape X facility before/while it blows up”).
Chances of it happening: Really slim. The last time the character made a videogame appearance was during the 90s on a SNES/Genesis title, and a mediocre cellphone game in 2006. Unless there’s a sudden surge in his popularity…
Sandman
In case you’re not familiar with the acclaimed character by Neil Gaiman, Sandman is starred by Dream, the personification of dreams, who escapes his prison of 70 years and plans to take revenge and rebuilid his kingdom. Gaiman explains the tone as “The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision”, which sounds like the best premise ever for a dark, gritty videogame. The best mechanic for such a game would be something heavy on story-telling, maybe a sort-of interactive movie like Heavy Rain.
Chances of it happening: Gaiman and DC would have to be on the same page if this were to happen, and although the comic has been praised endlessly, it has sort of lost momentum with the years. We don’t see it happening any time soon.
The Flash
There is an abundance of DC Comics characters in this list, but it just seems that DC doesn’t know how to use their intellectual property wisely! We’re not asking for much, here, just a good game with Sonic Adventure like mechanics, and a fun, fast-paced combat. Flash starred his own game for the Master System, and a spin-off videogame for the Gameboy Advance (“Justice League Heroes: The Flash”), both of which were mediocre side-scrollers/beat-em-ups.
Chances of it happening: He’s one of DC’s most popular characters, we don’t know what’s stopping them.
Avengers
Basically, every Marvel character ever was at some point a member of the Avengers. Still, when we say we want an Avengers game, we want some of the most classic characters: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, and so on. There have been some beat-em-ups starring them throughout the years, but none of memorable quality. A good game would have to include differentiation between the characters, the way they use their powers, and the type of missions or sequences each do. Hell, this would be the perfect game for co-op play.
Chances of it happening: With the movie by Joss Whedon coming out in 2012 (we can hardly wait!), it’d be criminal if we didn’t get something. Good or bad, though, that’s another issue.
Witchblade
We all liked The Darkness videogame! How about we get a Witchblade videogame now? Hell, we’ve even read the Witchblade/Tomb Raider crossovers, we should’ve gotten one by now where we can solve misteries as Sara Pezzini and fight crime or even Jackie Estacado (The Darkness) himself, wielding the Witchblade. The mechanics, as we imagine it, could resemble the latest Castlevania title, Lords of Shadows mixed with LA Noire.
Chances of it happening: Although the Darkness games have been consistently good, nothing seems to hint towards a Witchblade videogame. Even the manga version of the character seems to be more popular than Sara Pezzini nowadays. We can only hope it will happen at some point.
If you still feel like reading about super heroes, head over to 10 Super Heroes That Will Never Get Laid and Super Heroines Fight Crime And Breast Cancer.
