MANUAL TRANSITION:
4 COMICS WORTHY OF THEIR OWN VIDEO GAME.
With the Batman Arkham series showing that we can have good
video game adaptations of comic book heroes, Alex Spencer thinks
we’ve only just scratched the surface in terms of potential.
HEROES FOR HIRE
They’re not exactly household names, but Luke ‘Power Man’ Cage and
Danny ‘Iron Fist’ Rand both have TV shows landing on Netflix in the
next 18 months, so a video game adaptation is the logical next step.
Kung fu master Iron Fist is already basically the blonde guy from Double Dragon, with powers granted by an actual literal dragon. Luke Cage
is Harlem’s most invincible son, a point he proved by spending most of
the ‘70s rocking a tiara and open-chested yellow silk shirt.
Together they are Heroes for Hire, an odd couple seemingly tailor made
for co-op brawling. Throw in frequent allies Misty Knight and White
Tiger, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a four-player side-scrolling
beat-’em-up in the vein of arcade classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
EARTH 2’s CRIME SYNDICATE
If superhero games are going to get darker, why not ditch all that ‘great
power, great responsibility’ nonsense and embrace outright supervillainy?
JLA: Earth 2, another Morrison/Quitely comic, is set in an alternate universe ruled over by an evil Justice League.
Imagine a GTA-style open world game where you terrorise a city as the
Crime Syndicate of Amerika, disintegrating civilians from the sky using
the laser vision of Superman doppelgänger Ultraman.
Add destructible scenery so you can finally throw your opponent through
nearby buildings, à la Man of Steel’s climactic action scenes, and you’ve
got an irresistible power fantasy.
Crackdown and Saint’s Row: The Third brought superpowers to open
world crime games, but why not take that to its logical extreme?
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