Flashback 03.06.07: Comic Book Video Games (Part 2)

Posted by Steve McHugh on 03.06.2007

DC Comics

I'm back with another edition of the epically wonderful column Flashback.

This week I'll be continuing my look at comic book video games by looking at games based on DC comics.

Just as I predicted last week no one e-mailed me defending Superman 64. Obviously everyone's aware of just how awful this game is.

Gaming News

Well it's almost time for the PS3 launch and everything seems to be getting worse for Sony as they've announced the European console will not have the backwards compatibility chip that everyone else has had and only a fraction of PS1 and PS2 games will work. Not a problem but they're also not reducing the price…once again Europe gets screwed. I could rant about it but what's the point. People will still buy the machine regardless but I hope more people go out and buy a 360 and Wii instead.

In other, much happier, news it's been announced that Sam and Max will be on Xbox Live Arcade soon. All I can say is………Woooooooooooooooo. No one's sure if it's the old game or if it'll be the new remakes and whilst I hope it's the original either one will make me happy.

What I'm playing

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga PS2

I picked this up for about $20 and so far it's more then worth the money. A good script, decent voice acting and an interesting way to gain new abilities all adds up to a very good, and mature, game. The second one was out over here last week and I'll be getting it when I've finished this one.

Okami PS2

Read my review. Then go buy this game.

Viva Piñata 360

Finally Rare delivers an excellent game and something that it genuinely interesting too. I wish to own my very own Pretztail.

Other stuff

Only a quick mention this week as Russo's booking is making me more and more annoyed so no wrestling stuff but I just went to watch Hot Fuzz and it's excellent. This is how I described it to my friends, a granny takes a flying kick to the face and that's not the funniest thing in the film. It's awesome and a great follow up to Shawn of the Dead. If you like in the UK go watch it now and if you like in the US then go find out when it's coming out and book a ticket, you might not get all of the jokes, but you'll still laugh your ass off. Fantastic stuff.

Now on with the column and as with last week I'll be using the following guide. Also as per last time there's no arcade or handheld games in this list and it may not be a list of every game ever but it's pretty close.

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.


Aquaman

You know, I've never met anyone who cares about Aquaman. Ever. I mean people must care because he sells comics (not many but still a few) but no one I know seems to admit to buying it. It could be because he's awful, or it could be that he's just a less interesting version of Namor. Either way Aquaman sucks. He's also got a really weird history that I can't be bothered to go into because it makes my head hurt. Basically he's the king of the sea and used to have a hook for a hand (a bad guy cut off his normal hand) but now he's a different guy with 2 hands intact. That misses out A LOT of stuff but like I said too much makes my head hurt.

Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis (GC)

Hailed the worst game of all time by many, this is a truly dreadful game and certainly gives Superman 64 a run for its money. It's shallow, repetitive and boring (something a super-hero game should never be). Oh and then there's the fog. Underwater fog. And not in some sort of ‘murky water' kind of way just in a ‘we can't be arsed to develop this game to any degree of competence' sort of way. Avoid it like an oil spill.

0



This is the most interesting screen shot I could find and it's still boring.

Batman

If there is anyone out there who doesn't know who Batman is I've never met them. Batman, like Superman, is a bit of a cultural icon. I've always found the characters that surround Batman to be more interesting, Nightwing, Birds of Prey etc but when written well Batman is a very interesting character with a great supporting cast and some great villains too.

Batman (C64/ZX/NES/MD)

Okay I will be dealing with the Megadrive game here, as it's the only version I've played and it's pretty good too. It's basically a scrolling platform fighter and it's fairly simple, and hard as nails, but it's a lot of fun and it follows the film pretty well. It's also got some great side scrolling shooing levels here too. The only problems are it's looks, which are not good, and how short the game is as you can finish it very quickly.

3


Batman Returns (SNES/Mega-CD/MD)

The SNES and Megadrive games are almost the same, with the SNES having nicer graphics, they're both side scrolling beat-‘em-ups and both were fairly bland ones at that. However, it doesn't end there as the Mega-CD version had excellent driving sections and a wonderful soundtrack, which made it a must-own title for the machine. So the score varies depending on which version you get.

SNES/MD – 2.5

Mega-CD – 4 (yes those racing sections were that good)


Batman Forever (SNES/MD)

An odd game if ever there was one. It's meant to be a side scrolling beat em up (again) but the controls on the SNES version were a nightmare. And it had load screens. What these were for I don't know but I remember them happening on a regular basis and being annoyed at constantly having to stop what I'm doing. The Megadrive version was much better as the controls didn't cripple you and I don't recall too many load screens. Either way it was hardly the game of legend and was in fact very generic and repetitive.

2.5


Batman Vengeance (PS2/Xbox/GC)

The first thing I remember about this game is that a lot of talent who did the voices on the cartoon did the voices in this game and they are all fantastic. I actually really like this game as it's a lot of fun and has quite a deep control system for a fighter. It's a shame that Batman games went downhill pretty quickly after this one as it was a really good benchmark to take the games to new highs. If you can find it and like Batman then this is the game for you.

4


Batman: Dark Tomorrow (Xbox/GC)

I hate this game. It's got an awful camera and boring levels and even more boring gameplay. However there is a bright shining star. The cut scenes and story were very good but even that couldn't drag this pile out of the gutter.

1


Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu (PS2/Xbox/GC)

Based on the cartoon this was a sequel of sorts to Batman Vengeance and it wasn't as good. It was yet another fighting game and it was also repetitive and lacked anything that made me want to play it for more then a few minutes. The main problem is that to complete the game just keep pressing the same button over and over again and that will get you through most enemies. There's nothing here that a dozen other games don't do a hundred times better and even a fan of the characters will get fed up of this.

1.5


Batman Begins (PS2/Xbox/GC)

Based on the most recent, and excellent, movie this game tries to imitate the idea that Batman strikes terror into criminals. For the most part it manages it ok. The main problem is that everything is so scripted and repetitive that you'll sleepwalk through the majority of the game. It also contains very boring driving sections, which don't do anything to help this game. So overall, a very average game, but certainly not a bad one.

3



If Batman has actually hit this guy that means that Batman's right leg is about twice as long as the rest of him.

Catwoman

Catwoman is actually an interesting character. Selina Kyle is not really a villain (not anymore anyway) but is never quite the normal hero. I actually like the character quite a bit and thought that Michelle Pfeiffer did a great job in Batman Returns. Shame this game is based on the awful Halle Berry film where she played a different Catwoman to any I've ever heard of. Maybe one day they'll do the comics justice because it shouldn't be too hard to do a decent Catwoman game. You just do a Tomb Raider (the new one) style game but in an urban environment. There, simple.

Catwoman (PS2/Xbox/GC)

Best thing about this game? Halle Berry is on the box. That's basically it. Everything else is awful. Bad unresponsive controls, bizarre glitches and crappy story, this game has it all. It's about as good as the film is to be fair.

0.5



JLA

The JLA have had all sorts of different incarnations (JLI being my favorite) but basically the JLA is now the best and most powerful characters in the DCU. You get Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and… Aquaman (I don't know either). If you're looking for some good JLA stuff read Grant Morrison or Mark Waid who both did a great job.

Justice League Heroes (Xbox/PS2)

Basically it's X-men Legends but not even close to being as good. It's still a good laugh but it doesn't do anything clever and it doesn't look very good either. One of the main problems seems to be that whilst X-men legends and Ultimate Marvel Alliance had a huge cast JLH only has very few and there are very few unlockables worth bothering with. It's got some RPG-lite aspects to it and a few characters to choose from though so anyone who's looking for some light fun in the DC universe should start here. And it's the best game with Superman or Aquaman in it to ever exist by a long, long, long way.

3



Superman

If you have no idea who Superman is there really is no hope for you. Even if you don't read the comics or watch Smallville or even ever watched any of the films it's almost certain that you'll have heard of him. Personally I think Superman is really boring and only a few writers ever seem to be able to make him interesting but he's a cultural icon no matter what I think.


Superman (Atari)

You too will believe a man can hover and move …really…slowly. Here it is folks, the game that seemed to curse all Superman games after it. Bizarrely this also has bad controls… I think there's going to be a trend here.

0.5


Superman (MD)

Another side-scrolling arcade style game, which was actually not too bad. You only had limited powers (jumping, kicking and punching mostly) with the more impressive powers only being used when you picked up an icon during the level. It looks pretty good (even better then later versions) but it's not really a Superman game. It's just a generic side-scroller with the occasional power and a Superman sprite. However, good luck finding it as it's meant to be very rare (and expensive).

2.5 (An okay game but a bad comic book game)


The Death and Return of Superman (SNES)

Never played it to be fair. Although it's a side scrolling beat-‘em-up starring Superman, and all the other wannabees who popped up when he died. I've been told it's not dreadful but it's very boring and not a patch on other games of the type so it gets;

2


Superman 64 (N64)

Worst. Game. Ever. You want more info? How about awful controls, bad responsiveness, boring gameplay, bugs everywhere. And the fog of complete and utter shittiness. This is a disgrace to the gaming community, and it's down there with the likes of Rise of the Robots and Custer's Last Stand in gaming hell. Where it deserves to be.

0



Superman's deoderant was not getting the job done.

Superman: The Man of Steel (Xbox)

Another awful Superman game, which I know will come as a shock to everyone. I had actually forgotten all about this game and I kinda wish I still could. Somehow the controls in this game are even worse then in Superman 64. I mean they work this time but they're just so counter productive and complicated that you'll give up after about 5 minutes.

0


Superman: Shadow of Apokolips (PS2)

Superman in a good game!!!! Well okay maybe not a good game but it's better then every single other Superman game released after the 16 bit era. It's still just one long fight scene but you can actually play this game without wanting to hurt the developers.

2


Superman Returns (Xbox 360/PS2)

Marginally better then the 64 version for one reason, there is no fog. In fact there don't appear to be too many bugs either. But instead of bugs we get boring gameplay and unresponsive controls and so many other things that I think I'll leave it there before I go mad.


0.5



Remember kids, just because it looks cool doesn't mean it's not a steaming pile of shit.


The Flash

A favorite DC character of mine ‘the fastest man alive' has always had the best villains in the DCU outside of maybe Batman and the character (be it Barry Allen or Wally West) is also one of the most interesting. This always seemed to me to be because he was a person first and super-hero second, much like Green Arrow whereas Batman and Superman always seemed to be the hero first and character second. He had a fairly successful (and pretty good) TV show in the early 90s and is one of the main DC characters I think would make quite a good film.

The Flash (Master System)

This was never released outside of Europe and is actually not too bad at all. It's very fast paced, which was its main criticism as it makes it hard to control but it was graphically very impressive and was basically a decent stab at a character who would be hard to do. I'm surprised no one else has tried to make a Flash game as I think it might do well now.

3



Teen Titans

These guys are basically a bunch of teenage super-heroes and are also one of my favorite comic books. At the moment they consist of Robin, Cyborg, Raven, Wonder Girl and a bunch of others too but they've had some pretty big names on their team in the past such as Superboy and Nightwing and they're massively popular. Enough to get their very own Cartoon that was actually pretty good considering it was aimed at a fairly young age.

Teen Titans

Based on the cartoon more then the comic, this is a fairly forgettable and boring game where you spend the whole game running through boring and repetitive fights with enemies again and again and again. Kids may like it because it's simple and colourful but even they'll get bored fairly quickly. If you're over the age of about 10 you should steer well clear.

2.5



Hellblazer

The character is John Constantine who can be summed up as follows;
A – From Liverpool.
B – A sorcerer of sorts
and
C – A complete bastard.

He's a great character who was created, I believe, by Alan Moore who had him take a piss on swamp thing at a birthday party.

Constantine (PS2/Xbox)

Based on the ok film which stared Ted Theodore Logan and Rachel Weisz….ummmmm. Anyway moving on, the game is not too bad and actually manages to capture the film pretty well and even does ok with the comics too. If you see it cheap pick it up as you'll get a fair few hours' enjoyment out of it.

3.5

The 411

Well basically games based on DC characters are awful unless they're called Batman. In fact there are more candidates for worst games ever here then I realized. I mean how hard can it be to make a Superman game? Why does every developer screw it up beyond all belief? The one thing that always surprised me about DC is that they have so many great characters that would make good game characters: Hawkman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, JSA and many more but they just don't seem keen on using any of them. From the crap they've put out in the past it's easy to see why.



2 down 1 to go and next week is the biggie as its Marvel who has had more games about their characters then I can possibly remember.