Flashback 02.27.07 Comic Book Video Games (Part 1)
Posted by Steve McHugh on 02.27.2007
Independent comic books
If you're reading this then that means that you've come back to read the second newly-named column of greatness – Flashback.
I hope you all had a good Valentines Day last week and that your gifts and cards were received warmly. Point for the future though, do not do as a friend of mine did. Gears of War, whilst a great game, is NOT a good Valentine's present. Even though his girlfriend is a big gamer she was less then impressed with that one and he had to make it up to her big time (This included buying Viva Piñata, a meal, chocolates, flowers and the list goes on).
I had a few people wondering exactly what Flashback was and why this is the name of a great retro game. To those people all I can say is how can you not know Flashback? It was one of the last megadrive/Genesis games and was a sort of follow on from Another World (not in story but in tone and presentation). For those of you still in the dark here's a screen shot of the game.
I would love to see this on Nintendo's VC or Microsoft's XBLA in the future as it really is a phenomenal game.
In other gaming news it's almost the launch of the PS3 over here and even if it was possible for me to actually get one without buying a PSP and various other bits and bobs I still wouldn't be interested. Various people have accused me recently of being a Sony hater and that's not true as I think the PS1 and PS2 are both great machines but I fail to get interested in either the PSP or the PS3 due to Sony's bizarre policy for alienating the fans who actually want their machines. They're both too expensive and are outclassed by cheaper machines. Yes they are both the most powerful machines in each category but as the Wii and DS have proved, graphics and processing power don't mean very much these days. Or at least they don't mean as much as they used to. I hope Sony sort it out and have a great launch in the UK but they seem more interested in getting people to buy the PSP as well as a PS3 otherwise you won't get your console. I fail to see the point of this as it alienates even more people. I certainly don't know anyone who would be able to spend the £700 ($1200) on getting everything they'll need and that doesn't even include a HDTV. You can't even say the exclusive games on the PS3 will be stellar as the 360 seems to be stealing a lot of Sony's exclusives leaving (off the top of my head) only MGS4, FF13 and Devil May Cry 4 to sell a machine. I know that there are more then that but Virtua Fighter 5, Assassins Creed, GTA5 and a few others have gone over to both systems. The once mighty Sony is a bit on the ropes at the moment. Hopefully they'll turn it around. And soon.
What I‘ve been playing recently.
Dragon Quest 8 – Journey of the Cursed King PS2
A wonderful game and I'm very glad that Level 5 will be handling the next installment. This is an excellent RPG that looks absolutely stunning and it sounds great too. It's got one of the best pieces of spoken dialogue I've heard in ages and it gives the game a very British flavor. It's also very funny; in fact in parts it's very, very funny. A truly great game. Oh and for those of you who noticed my error last time I am sorry for calling Level 5, Level 7 by mistake. Whoops.
Other Stuff
This is going to be quick this week, as I just want to talk about TNA. I really enjoy TNA but I'm now officially fed up with Russo's booking. Firstly not every single match needs a stipulation, in fact just allowing the wrestler to, well, wrestle should be enough. And now I will plead for him to please get Kip, of no discernable talent, James off of my TV as he's taking up valuable air that could be better spent pushing someone like Ron Killings, Christopher Daniels or any number of people who could benefit the company. Also the Team 3D LAX feud is awful. Stop it. And that's not Lax's fault as they've been great. Team 3D seem to be completely uninterested in actually helping LAX to put on a good match. They've come across as bored and seem unwilling to sell for Homicide, which is inexcusable in wrestling as far as I'm concerned. It's one thing to no sell something to advance a story or character but to just no sell someone randomly just reeks of being unprofessional. He's more over then you Ray just get over it. Oh and when you've got Christian Cage and Kurt Angle in a ring together you don't need run ins and stuff. Just let them wrestle, at least for a while, as that's what people want to see. However on the plus side Christian is easily the most enjoyable person to watch in TNA at the moment and his new stable is a great idea and full of a lot of talent. I just wish for all the good stuff going on Russo would cut the shit that doesn't make sense or isn't going anywhere. Maybe they should give Cornette the book for a while and see if that makes any difference. Let him have 6 months and if ratings haven't gone up then see from there.
As I said last time I'll be taking a look at one of the gaming myths that games based on comic books are largely awful. Now I'll be doing this in 3 parts, this will be all of the indy stuff and next time I'll be dealing with DC and leaving Marvel for last. This won't be a list of every game but I'll be looking at some of the bigger releases for the consoles (no PC or handheld as I'll be here all year – same goes with arcade versions of these games) and giving each a rating as follows.
5 – A great game, even non-fans will love it.
4 – A very good, game that everyone should enjoy.
3 - A decent game, fans of the character should check it out.
2 - Not very good, even fans should think twice before getting it.
1 - An awful game, everyone should stay away.
0 - Superman 64.
That's right Superman 64 gets a 0 before I even get to it. If anyone would like to argue how that game deserves anything more then a 0 I'd like to hear your argument. I'm willing to bet I don't get a single person e-mailing me about it.
So here's how it's going to work. I'll go through these by character, writing a little about the character in the comics before looking at the game.
Usagi Yojimbo (DH, Fantagraphics)
The Samurai ronin rabbit (Usagi Yojimbo literally means Rabbit Bodyguard) is one of my favorite comic book characters ever and some of the finest comic book work of all time has come out of his adventures.
Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo (C64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum)
This was released in 1988 in the States and as such until recently I've never actually played it. However I had seen footage of the game on you tube footage you can see right here: - Usagi Yojimbo
It's a side scrolling adventure where you have to defeat ninjas and other enemies whilst maintaining a good karma score by showing respect to monks and travelers. If you attack, or even draw your sword, to the wrong people your Karma goes down. It's a great idea and something that allowed a choice of gameplay not normally done at the time. Okay if you're too evil the game just ends as you commit seppuku, so whilst it's hardly KOTOR it had the right idea. It's looking somewhat dated by today's standards but it's begging to be updated for a new generation maybe as a Yakuza style game with fighting and exploration.
A great comic book game and worthy of a good score with only it's repetitive nature letting it down (which to be fair was a problem with a lot of the older games of this type).
4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage)
If you don't know who the Turtles are then be ashamed of yourselves. Unfortunately in the UK they were called the Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles, apparently even the word Ninja is enough to send the children of this country crazy. For those of you who don't know, the Turtles are 4 mutant ninja turtles (hence the name) called, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo who go out and fight crime.
The TMNT were originally a comic book back in the 1980s, they then became successful cartoon characters and even had three successful films. Most recently they came back in a new TV cartoon a few years ago. Most of the games are technically based on the cartoon's continuity but as the comic book came first they all still count. Lastly although I'm not including it the TMNT Arcade game is awesome and not only would have gotten an easy 5 but should go onto XBLA or VC as soon as possible. Useless fact ahoy – Usagi Yojimbo has starred in both the early 90s cartoon and the new cartoon and even took part in the comics too.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
This is one of my favorite NES games as it looks great and keeps a lot of the charm from the characters. The one thing about this game is just how hard it is. This is one tough game and anyone expecting a kid friendly difficulty will be sorely tested. A noticeable feature of the game was the ability to switch between the 4 turtles at any time, which led to some strategic choices as each character had a different weapon that meant a different fighting tactic should be implemented e.g. Donatello could be further away to hit someone then Raphael. It was a huge success at the time and got some great reviews and so gets a just:
4.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (SNES)
Basically a scrolling beat-em-up that looks fantastic but has a few control issues. Having to press forward twice to run is a nightmare when you're in the middle of a fight. Still a lot of fun to play.
3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (MD)
My favorite Turtles game and in fact one of my favorite side scrolling beam em ups ever. It's basically the same game as Turtles in Time but with better controls (a much needed run button) and a few extra levels. And it looks great too. I never figured out how the newer games got it so very wrong after this one.
Another good TMNT game (they were on a roll in the 90s), this one is a one on one fighter and it's actually very good. Some of the characters are unbalanced but over all it's a nice little fighter. The SNES version is easily the best as it uses a 4 button control system whilst the Megadrive on uses a 3.
3.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GC, Xbox, PS2)
Instead of a continuation of the greatness of the 16bit era what Konami did was create a really boring button masher. One of the worst TMNT games.
This is almost as bad as the last one except for one noticeable exception, namely the inclusion of the original arcade game as an unlockable extra. Unfortunately you have to play through a bunch of uninspired rubbish to get it but it's easily the best thing about this game. Without it the best thing about this game would be you can play with 4 people at a time. With it included the game gets another point, no more because you still had to shell out (pun not intended) the money for a brand new copy of this tripe to play it.
Basically the same as the last 2 games but this had a copy of the SNES TMNT Turtles in Time included. The main game is better then the last 2 but again having an unlockable that embarrasses the main game this much is really bad but it's the only reason to ever play this game.
2.5 (2 for the game 0.5 for the extra)
Hellboy (DH)
Mike Mignola's Hellboy was brought to Earth from Hell by Nazi's and once rescued by the Allies he was brought up in America where he now fights occult threats. It's a great character who has had some really interesting stories and a pretty decent film too.
Hellboy (PS1)
The game spent 4 years in development and was awful. In every single way awful. Bad graphics, unresponsive controls basically led up to a game that was not fit to use the name Hellboy and it became a deserved flop. One of the worst comic book games ever.
1
Spawn(Image)
Spawn was created by Todd McFarland after he left Marvel to form Image. It deals with Ron Simmons who worked for the CIA and was killed by his boss. He made a deal with a demon to become a ‘hellspawn' and it went from there. It was very successful when it first came out but that popularity has almost disappeared in recent years. Personally I hate Spawn; he's a second rate Ghost Rider with a less interesting back story and no bike.
Spawn: The Eternal (PS1)
Ugly, boring, uninspired piece of rubbish. It's not that it makes me angry to think about it, it's just such a piece of nothingness it just doesn't matter.
1
Spawn: In the Demon's Hand (DC)
Almost worse then the PS1 game. Almost, but not quite.
1
Spawn: Armageddon (GC, Xbox, PS2)
Well this is easily the best of the bunch. Imagine Devil may Cry but with chains and axes and almost a total lack of interesting gameplay and you're about there.
1.5
Death, Jr (Image)
This is, obviously, about the son of the Grim Reaper, DJ. The basic story is that DJ tries to impress a girl and opens Pandora's Box causing all kinds of problems. Problems which have to be sorted out before DJ's Dad catches him (who bizarrely isn't in the game at all).
Death, Jr. (PSP)
This got some pretty average reviews when it was released but it's not at all a bad game. It's a bit fun whilst it lasts and it's harmless enough the only problems are the shoddy camera and slightly unfriendly controls. If you see it cheap and like action adventure games then pick it up as the story and characters are actually worth playing the game for.
3
XIII (Dabel Brothers)
This is a Belgium comic about a man who makes who with no memory of who he is but suddenly everyone is trying to kill him. It's written by Jean Van Hamme and drawn by the William Vance and volume 1 was just republished by Dabel Brothers Productions in association with Marvel Comics. This is the first time it's ever been published uncut in America.
XIII (GC, Xbox, PS2)
On this occasion some excellent graphics and a genuinely interesting plot added up to a very good FPS game. It's a shame David Duchovny provided the voices but you can't have everything and he's not horrible or anything just very flat. The Game takes place over only a few of the graphic novels but it looks like they won't be making any more. Even so what you've got is still good enough to stand up against a lot of FPS games released on those consoles.
4
Shadow Man (Valiant Comics)
Shadowman was created by Jim Shooter (former Marvel Editor in Chief) and David Lapham and was about a man called Jack who was bitten by a creature of the night. This ends up giving him powers and he starts to fight evil. The game, however, seems to be based in a totally different continuity.
Shadow Man (N64, DC, PS1)
A good platform adventure game, with a fairly interesting plot and decent controls, although the fighting really isn't very good. Unfortunately it hasn't aged well and it looks awful now but get past that and you've got a fairly interesting game ahead of you. There was also a sequel, which is basically more of the same.
3
The Darkness (Top cow)
The Darkness is passed down from father to son, killing the pervious user as his first child is conceived. The power then manifests on his 21st birthday. Darkness users can create anything they desire with the darkness, even sentient beings, but anything they make will crumble to dust in the light. The Darkness powers are quite deadly, allowing the user to call forth darkling minions to aid them, and even survive gunshots. The power can also be used to maul and feed on people. The comic deals with one main character, Jackie Estacado who is the Don of a mob.
The Darkness (360, PS3)
I know it's not out yet but I wanted to add it anyway. It looks fantastic and is being made by the guys who did the Chronicles of Riddick on the Xbox (which no one bought), which was an amazing game and easily the best thing Vin Diesel ever did, and no, that is in no way inaccurate. This should be just as good if not better as Paul Jenkins is doing the script. The comic has been a little bit too much T‘n'A in the past but this looks like it may actually be a rare occasion of the game being better then the material it's based on. Definitely one to watch out for.
4-4.5 (Expected score)
Asterix
If you don't know who Asterix is then there's really no help for you at all. It's basically about a tiny French village who resist the Romans invading them by drinking a magic potion that makes them super strong.
Asterix and the Great Rescue (MD)
I have quite a bit of fondness for this game. Yeah it's not as good as Sonic or Mario or even Ristar or Decap attack but it's a lot of fun and has bags of charm. You could play as both Asterix and Obelix to solve puzzles, which gave it something different from your usual 16bit platformer. A little gem.
3.5
Berserk
Personally I've never read any of this but I do know that it's very popular, as in millions of copies sold popular. It's all about an orphaned mercenary warrior called Guts, and his relationship to Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk.
Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage (DC)
Hack and slash abound as you kill everything in your way. A few dodgy collision issues mar what should have been an excellent game. That said it's still a good game and you should be able to pick it up for next to nothing.
3.5
RoboCop vs. The Terminator (DH)
I know this could be more of a film then a comic but there was a comic written by Frank Miller and was about Robocop discovering he was responsible for what happens and he tries to stop it by destroying skynet.
RoboCop vs. The Terminator (SNES, MD)
Okay let's get this out of the way; I prefer the Megadrive version mostly because the SNES one had all of the blood and gore removed just like Mortal Kombat, rendering that version kinda stupid. Great game that I hold fond memories of. Hard as bloody nails but you keep playing regardless just because it's so much fun.
3.5
Turok (Valiant Comics)
I'm only dealing with the Valiant comics here as they were changed from the original version when they brought the rights. Turok and Andar were 19th century American Indians. They lived in the Lost Land - a cosmic anomaly where time moved in a self-contained loop (which meant that while millions of years passed outside of it, inside it, time barely moved at all). It's actually way too complicated to write a small paragraph about so here's a link to read all about it. Thank you Wikipedia - Turok
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (N64)
Never has a game given me such huge parallels whilst playing it. On the one hand it's a great game to play with some fantastic weapons but on the other hand there's the jumping. Oh the jumping. Evil, evil jumping. Not only was it unresponsive but you had to be so pixel perfect it was almost impossible to make any jump land on the first go. And there were huge portions of the game that required jumping. Overall though, good game and a lot of fun.
3
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil (N64)
My favorite of the series just because of the extra power the RAM cart game the game. It was a shame that they still had fog but that didn't matter as this was again a weapon fans wet dream. Shame there was even more bloody jumping though.
3.5
Turok: Rage Wars (N64)
Basically the deathmatch game of the series and I didn't like it at all. To me the whole point was the single player story and this just didn't match up. But deathmatches can only go so far as a single player. I'm not saying it's a bad game because technically it's very good I just didn't get on with it.
2.5
Turok: Evolution (GC, Xbox, PS2)
Ah Turok Evolution. How I hate thee. Firstly there's nothing about this game that improves on it's predecessors. The levels are badly designed and boring and for some bizarre reason after each level you lose all of your weapons, this was meant to make the game more difficult. Great plan there guys, just having a difficulty select a bit too much work? Oh and I haven't even started on the AI…well lets just say that it's easily comparable to the intelligence found in wet bread. A dreadful game.
1
Red Star
This is a graphic novel by Christian Gossett set in a sci-fi/fantasy world set in a sort of post-WW II Soviet Russia mixing technology and sorcery. It's been said that it was inspired by Russian folklore and military history.
Red Star the Game (PS2)
This game was finished a few years ago but Acclaim went bust and it was never released, despite reviewers getting the finished game to review. Originally it was to be on both PS2 and Xbox but after finding a new home is now only on PS2. From what I've read it's a pretty decent little scrolling fighter that does the comics some justice. It won't sell well but if it had been released when it was meant to be it could have sold a fair few copies.
3/5 (expected score)
Rogue Trooper (2000AD)
Rogue Trooper is a strip in the British comic 2000 AD, created by Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. It follows the adventures of Rogue, a genetically modified, blue-skinned, manufactured elite soldier and his three comrades as they search for the Traitor General. His comrades are in the form of "biochips", which a G.I.'s entire personality is downloaded at the time of death for later retrieval.
Rogue Trooper (PS2)
A decent enough shooter that actually manages to recreate the comics pretty well. Okay so it's not even slightly original and for just as things get really interesting it finishes but if you like the character or the genre then go pick it up. You might be pleasantly surprised.
3
The 411
Well it certainly looks like the majority of games based on the Indy comic scene fare quite well right up until the last generation of consoles. It would be nice to see a few of these released on the VC of XBLA, as they deserve to be remembered (although not Turok Evo which should be burned).
Well next time I'll be taking a look at games based on DC comic characters and I have a feeling they won't do as well as the Indy games did.
