Video Games & Comics

There are two things that just about every video gamer has come to realize:

1. Games based on movies suck.
2. Most games based on comics suck.

The first has been a commonly-held belief since that ill-fated E.T. game doomed the Atari 2600, though it's one that's started to fall by the wayside in recent years. The ratio of good:suck is still heavily in favour of the suck though, so rent those tie-in games first!

The second belief isn't quite so entrenched, as comic-based games have generally not fared quite so poorly when compared to their movie-based counterpart. Without a firm 'must hit shelves by the movie premiere' date to hit, comic-based games can get that extra level of polish that movie tie-ins so often lack. They don't always get that level of polish, but that's more a matter of budgeting than a necessity of time.

Sure, there are some real stinkers on the comic-based side of things - Superman 64 should have flown into everyone's mind by this point, but if not it's probably because it failed to hit a ring on the flight in and had to start all over again - but relatively few compared to the parade of stinkers that movies have given us. For every Superman 64, there's a dozen Eragon-esque clunkers that nobody should play.

It seems like the best bet has been games based on movies based on comics. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, for example, or Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2. There are stinkers to be found there as well though - both Iron Man and X-Men both somehow avoided the benefits of that unique cross-pollination.

Still, it's obvious that there's business in the realm of comic-based games. These games continually do decent sales, even if of dubious quality. Just as movies have started to tap comics for big-budget projects in recent years (Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Watchmen, Daredevil, Wolverine, the upcoming Thor and Deadpool movies, etc...) there's room for video games to do the same.

The benefits are obvious. There's none of the risk involved with a new intellectual property (IP), you're launching a product that people already know. A Captain America game, for example, would be an immediately recognizable property to millions of current and former fans of the comics - maybe even one or two who remember the horrible movies.

no need to create a world to set the game in, that's already done for you. Similarly there's no need to create a rogue's gallery of enemies - chances are there'll be years of fodder to select from. A game based on the Flash, for example, could draw from 69 years of development and an amazing selection of enemies. Hell, base a game on a classic storyline from the past and even the plot is laid out for you!

Want an example of how great a comic-based game can be? Check out Batman: Arkham Asylum. It's the perfect example, really. No movie tie-in requiring it to hit stands on a certain date, which allowed for a level of polish that you've never seen in a comic-based game before. The developers remain true to the IP, with the biggest complaint I could think of on that front coming during a communication between Batman and Oracle when he says "They have your father."

Sounds like nitpicking, huh? Well, it is, but I still don't think Batman - with the history he's got of his communications being compromised - would ever give away someone's identity like that.Let's see more comic-based games, guys! Thor, X-Men, Deadpool, JLA, The Authority, Invincible, Captain America, Hercules, Hulk, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hellboy, The Tick, etc... The list is endless - just do it rig