Flashback 04.03.07: Comic Book Video Games (Part 4)

Posted by Steve McHugh on 04.03.2007

Marvel Comics Part 2: X-Men and Spider-Man

Hello and welcome back to the final part of my look at comic book video games. This time I'll be looking at Spider-Man and X-Men games and it's going to be a bit shorter this week as there's no news I really wanted to talk about.

To start with this week we've got some feedback.

First from csustu

The Ironman XO Manowar game was also released for Gameboy. And also stunk. Just in case you were wondering.

Shocking. Ironman XO Manowar is dreadful on every format it's ever been on.


And next up from Travis Post

Hey, I was reading your article today (great stuff btw, I loved how you
included the comic book explanations)

only 2 things I noticed you missed, one Berserk, is from Japan, so
it's more of a manga then a comic book, a really original manga that's
worth a read btw, I know that's more of a tomato, tomatoes kinda thing
but I just thought I'd include it anyway.

Main thing I wanted to write about was you missed a few games in your
marvel section:
The Hulk: SNES, Fantastic Four: PS1
Marvel Super Heroes, War of the Gems: SNES, which was pretty much the
X-Men SNES game, only not as good IMO


Thanks for the compliments Travis glad you liked the column. Berserk, like you said, is a manga but I decided to include it anyway as there aren't too many games from manga comics so I figured I'd just include it. Also of those games I missed:

The Hulk (SNES/MD)

I'd forgotten this game even existed which didn't bode well but after a quick refresher I realized it was awful. 5 levels of utter dullness. 1.5

Fantastic Four (PS1)

Okay another really bad game. I mean really, really bad. The controls are awful; the level design is dull and boring use of powers. The single high point is the fact that She-Hulk is in it. 1

Marvel Super Heroes: War of the Gems (SNES)

I'd forgotten about this one too and actually it was pretty good. It was a side scrolling fighting game much like X-Men Mutant Apocalypse and was overshadowed by that, admittedly better, title. Still this is a decent little game that didn't get the credit it deserved at the time. 3.5

Well if anyone else has any comments then please let me know.


Before we get to the games I normally say what I'm playing now but instead of that I thought I'd share what games I'd like Konami to put on XBLA now that the sublime Castlevania is there. In no particular order.

Turtles: Hyperstone Heist (MD)

I know they just released the arcade game but this is so much better it's not even in the same league. Oh and it's much better then the SNES version of the same game.

Zombies ate my Neighbours (MD/SNES)

If you've never played this then you're missing out on one of the best shooters ever created. It's basically Gauntlet but with wonderful graphics and some great weapons as you run around various environments (the shopping centre was my favorite) killing everything in sight whilst trying to save the people. And it was 2 players, which made it even better.

Rocket Knight Adventures (MD)

Right now there's probably more then a few of you who are wondering what the hell I'm talking about. Basically Sparkster was a giant possum in a suit of armor. It looked amazing, played just as well as anything with Sonic or Mario in the title and sold about 4 copies. This needs to be brought back for a new generation to realize just how good this game is.

Castlevania: Bloodlines (MD)

My second favourite Castlevania game after SON and I would love this to appear on XBLA after the guaranteed success of SON. Charge 400-600 points for it and I'll be the first in the queue.

Snatcher (MegaCD)

A point and click adventure game with an excellent cyberpunk theme that was actually pretty adult in content for the time. It's fairly expensive now and would be great to play again without having to fork out a fortune.


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



Spider-Man

Everyone in the world knows about Spider-Man and who he is. Hell the term ‘with great power comes great responsibility' is one of the most recognized that I can think of in any comic. Spider-Man is also one of my top favorite characters in any medium; he's just one of the perfect lead characters. He's starred in 2 (soon to be 3) fantastic movies, a few decent TV cartoons (Spider-Man from the 90s was much better then its given credit for) and a TV show that whilst not exactly great was highly entertaining. Spider-Man has had some of the best written comics about him of all time. Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacey and the Venom Saga are all excellent and should be read by anyone with even a passing interest in the character.



Spider-Man Vs the Kingpin (MD/Mega CD/Master System) – 4.5

I love this game as throughout it you have to take pictures of the bad guys. It's a fantastic idea that hasn't ever been used enough in later games and it really gave it an extra that make you feel like this could be Spider-Man. Add in some superb level designs and controls and you had a great game. I'd love to see this put on XBLA or VC as it really deserves to shine.


Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcades Revenge (SNES/MD) – 1

And I hate this one. A dreadful mess of a game that was too hard and too boring to bother playing for more then a few minutes. Worst Spider-Man game I have ever played.




Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage (SNES/MD) – 5

Woo. Those of you who have played this game will know why it gets an easy 5. For those of you who haven't the story is based on the famous (and epic) comic storyline of the same name where Carnage (Venoms spawn bonded to a serial killer basically) gets a gang of bad guys together and starts killing everything that moves. Spider-Man then has to team up with a bunch of his friends and enemies (Venom) and stop all that's going on. The game follows the story very well and as a side-scrolling beat-em-up is the perfect type of game for this story. Absolutely fantastic and the SNES version comes in a ‘blood red' box which is kinda cool.




Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety (SNES/MD) – 2.5

This was the sequel to Maximum Carnage and was once again based on a comic story where Venom ended up giving birth (sort of) to a whole bunch of the same sort of entities that made Carnage and then he gets Spider-Man to help him stop them all. It lost the spark the first one had and the story wasn't even close to being as good. If you see it cheap then maybe pick it up but this game can get to a stupid price on EBay. Least it wasn't the Clone Saga though eh?


Spider-Man: Web of Fire (32X) 1

The 32X. That worked well didn't it? So well in fact that I've never heard of this and no one I spoke to had either. In fact even people I know who own a 32X had never heard of it. A quick look later and apparently it's awful and so gets a 1. I've never played it though so if it is in fact wonderful then please let me know.


Spider-Man (PS1/DC) – 4

Andrew talked about this in the Sixaxis column and he's right; it is a huge amount of fun to play and it looked great at the time. Lots to see and do make this an easy thumbs up. Look out for a review coming fairly soon.


Spider-Man: Enter Electro (PS1) – 2

Oh dear. This game suffered from sequel syndrome as it offered no improvements over the first one and actually managed to give you an even worse camera to deal with and some fairly spongy controls. Oh and Electro is never the character to place as the main baddie in any game let alone a Spider-Man one.


Spider-Man the movie (PS2/Xbox/GC) – 2.5

The move was great. The game less so. It's not that it was bad it just seemed to be a missed opportunity and rushed to get it out on time.


Spider-Man 2 (PS2/Xbox/GC) – 4

However this is exactly what the first game should have been and more. Excellent graphics, an amazing swinging system and a seemingly endless ream of stuff to do makes this a great buy. There are problems with the fighting system as it's just not very exciting to use, and there's way too many go fetch quests but even so this is a great game.


Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2/Xbox/GC) – 3

This looks fantastic but after that goes downhill. The story is meant to be set in comic continuity but that doesn't seem to be the case at all which causes a few moments of confusion, even though it is still pretty good. Also whilst the fighting was much better then Spider-Man 2, the swinging was utterly boring and just didn't feel right at all. On the plus side you get to play as Venom which is always great. Certainly worth a rent and after a day or two you'll have finished it anyway so there's little point in buying it.




X-Men

The X-Men are probably just as well known as Spider-Man although many people couldn't name more then a handful of individuals that are in the group. They've had a few successful, and good, films and a decent cartoon in the 90s. The comics went through a bad patch in the 90s with some of the most confusing and bizarre stories ever written and only recently have the X titles begun to get back to the good stuff. Mike Carey, Ed Brubaker, Peter David and Joss Whedon write the core books (with another 6 or so books which are also mostly good too) at the moment and they're all excellent stuff.


X-Men (NES) - 0.5

Well it looks hideous, plays like the characters are actually detached from the control system and is unbelievably hard. Why this was ever released boggles the mind.


X-Men (MD) – 2.5

Ah this game. This is actually pretty famous, or should that be infamous, because of the Mojo level. Basically the game broke the fourth wall and acted like it had crashed and needed you to reset the game before you continued. Unfortunately it did this without ever letting you know that you needed to reset the game so people were just switching it off and complaining it was broken. An awful idea that drags this game down a lot. Other then that it was a good looking but overly hard action platformer game. The choice of heroes (Wolverine, Gambit, Cyclops, and Nightcrawler) was pretty cool but the game just can't match up to them.


X-Men: Clone Wars (MD) – 4

One of my favourite X-Men games and something I was really looking forward to when it first came out as you got to play with a host of X-Men including Magneto in the quest to stop the Phalanx (the villains in the comics at the time). A good story and come great gameplay (with excellent special power attacks) made this the first home console X-Men game I'd played and really enjoyed. And the levels were all varied enough to keep you interested. Also of note was the fact that the first level started immediately after switching the game on which certainly made you sit up and take notice.




X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (SNES) – 4

This was the SNES answer to the Clone Wars and it was also excellent. The story was very different and it looked much nicer but it was just as good. Great game.


Wolverine: Adamantium Rage (MD/SNES) – 3.5

This was released near the end of the Megadrive's life and didn't exactly sell well. That's a shame as it was a great game that managed to capture Wolverine pretty well and actually made for a decent game. They even managed to get his healing power to work which at the time I thought was genius. Ah youth.


X-Men: Children of the Atom (PS1/SAT) – 3.5

A one-on-one fighting game from Capcom and the game that led into the excellent Marvel VS series. It actually started as an arcade game and as per usual the Saturn got a fantastic port and the PS1 a mediocre one. The game also included Akuma who was still a cheap bastard to play against. The console versions actually allowed the 2 game bosses Juggernaut and Magneto to be selected which was one over the arcade version. This is actually a great game that managed to keep the feel of the comics very well and still plays excellently to this day. Apparently the game is based on the Fatal Attractions storyline but I'm not sure how that can be possible because half of the characters in the game weren't in that story arc. Yes I am a geek thanks for noticing.


X-Men Mutant Academy (PS1) – 2

This mess is made by Paradox (those behind the much better Thrill Kill) and is a step backwards in almost every single way after the excellent Children of the Atom. Just avoid it and you'll be better off.


X-Men Mutant Academy 2 (PS2) – 2.5

Marginally better then the first one as this had more characters and a slightly improved fighting system. It's still rubbish compared to the Capcom games though.


X-Men Next Dimension (PS2/Xbox/GC) – 1.5

Patrick Stewart did the voiceover as Prof X in this game. And that ladies and gents is the best bit. The game in theory should be great and when it was working it was a lot of fun but the developers left so many bugs in it that it was barely playable. When I play a fighting game I don't want my character to SLIP OFF THE SIDE OF THE SCREEN. And a better one is when using Nightcrawler you can actually teleport and get stuck there not being able to move. Bloody good job there guys. It looks nice though.


X-2 Wolverines Revenge (PS2/Xbox/GC) – 2

The main problem with this game is that's its hard. Not Ninja Gaiden hard, where you actually have to be good at the game to get anywhere but unfairly hard where it doesn't matter how good you are you will get killed over and over because of some stupid AI and crappy controls. The stealth kills are very cool though. When you can actually get them to work. However stealth kills do not make a game so over all this one is pretty crappy.


X-3 (PS2/Xbox) – 1

Moving on as this is a complete and utter mess of a game. The developers should be ashamed that they let a game that's as much of a complete turd out as this.


X-Men Legends (PS2/GC/Xbox) – 4

By now most of you should have played at least one of these games. Doesn't matter which as they all rock but for those who don't know it's a top down hack and slash RPG. It's great to play, great to look at and offers some replay value. It seemed the X-Men had found their way and gotten as good as they could.


X-Men Legends 2 (PS2/GC/Xbox) – 4.5

And then this came out and it eclipsed the first one in every single way. Better graphics, more interesting story, a huge roster and all sorts of secret characters to unlock (including Iron Man and Cable both of whom rock) this is the X-Men fans game of choice that doesn't include one on one fighting. It's slightly repetitive but then all of these sorts of games are so you get over it. If you like Marvel Ultimate Alliance then you should go play this game.





The 411

Well my original idea was to see if it was true that most console comic book games suck and the answer I found isn't what I was expecting. The Indy scene stuff is mostly good as is Marvel but DC's stuff is pretty much dreadful all over apart from a few old Batman games. So if it's a comic book game your after, go for most stuff from Marvel (especially Spider-Man who has only had 1 or 2 bad games) or the new Darkness game (it's gonna be great. Accept it). However if you're DC fan you're screwed. There is a big but though. Next year Lego Batman is to be released. If it's even half as good as Lego Star Wars then this could easily return Batman back to where he should be.

Well that's it for my look at comic book games. It was hard work but I had a lot of fun doing it. If you have any questions or comments then let me know. Next time I'll be reviewing Tomb Raider 2 for the PS1.