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Question of the Week: Overdue Videogame Comics?

by: Randy -
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Comic Game

Comic Con 2009 is in full swing, and with that, the sometimes-tense love affair between videogames and comic books continues traipsing about in a lusty, anatomically super-heroic dalliance.  Many comic book (and/or graphic novel) characters have already received the videogame treatment -- but many more have not.

Which comic book character (or team) is overdue for having a videogame made about them?

Sean Colleli:  I would be thrilled if an original Batman Beyond game were made. A futuristic free-roaming Gotham game has a great deal of appeal to me. I was a big fan of the show and would love to see it get the video game treatment it truly deserves. Both Kevin Conroy and Will Friedle are both still doing voice acting, and with this generation's console power, I think such a game would be both a possible title and popular hit.

Currently Playing:  The Conduit and an assortment of DS games (Moon is still a great game second time through).

Charles Husemann:  I know he's a bit old and nobody has heard of him but Rom the SpaceKnight could use his own game.  I wouldn't build the thing out to be a full featured $60 game but rather a DLC game that would have Rom blasting Wraiths for 4-5 hours.  Dude has some cool guns and some decent looking enemies to fight.

Currently Playing:  Punisher: No Mercy, Ratchet and Clank:Tools of Destruction, and Battlefield 1943.

Randy Kalista:  Back when Image Comics formed in 1992, I had ample opportunity to collect a grip of #1's.  My friends certainly took advantage.  But it wasn't until artist Sam Keith joined the circle with The Maxx series that I bought my very first comic book (I was a late bloomer at 14).  The coin-opposite worlds were nuts.  The Maxx was a hero of the Outback and protector of the Jungle Queen in one world, and a homeless bum bailed out of jail by social worker Julie Winters in the other.  The bad guy, Mr. Gone, was a serial murderer and rapist quoting T.S. Elliot's "Wasteland" while leading an endless army of sharp-toothed, vaguely-phallic, masters of disguise called "isz."  The Maxx comics were uncomfortably adult -- a heady cocktail of dimension-hopping and bipolar personalities, rife with physical, mental, and sexual abuse, and spotted with the kind of denial and acceptance that always appeared in the wrong form, the wrong time, the wrong place. O grand and benevolent gaming gods, give me the development team that can tackle that potentially-disastrous project.
 
Currently Playing:  S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (no no, thank you, 50% off THQ on D2D sale!) and Fallout 3.
 
Dan Keener:  I would love to see the 1960's WWII character Sgt. Rock brought to life in his own game.  He is slated to appear as a character in the upcoming DC Universe Online, but the man deserves his own game.  The complicated nature of his life and the 400+ comics that were produced should provide plenty of fodder for a game plot. He may well get it, as the long-running movie project is still floating around attached to Producer Joel Silver and director Guy Ritchie.
 
Currently Playing:  Dig Dug Remix (iPod Touch), Rock Band 2 (360) and various hardware items.

Nathan Murray
:  Justice League?  Wait no, um...Plastic Man?  No, that would be ridiculous.  Aquaman?  No, that would be terrible, again.  A superhero game I would like to play would be something featuring the Flash, however Sonic Team still hasn't gotten the 3D speedy platform game down yet so there isn't much hope for a good Flash game.  How about a DareDevil game where the screen is completely dark the entire time?  Seriously though, I can't think of many superheroes that I WANT to see in a videogame that isn't Marvel Ultimate Alliance or something in that vein.  Most all superhero video games are beat 'em ups at their heart and I would rather have my favorite heroes (most of them anyway) in the same game.  Wait I got it!  The Death of Superman the video game!  Too bad there would be no way to beat it without cheating, death that is.

Sean Nack:  Now, this is probably the easiest, cheapest answer in the world, but as I was playing Prototype over the last few weeks, I realized what i wanted from a game: a full-on superhero simulator. I don't really care which character: Prototype had this incredible ability to make traversing the city the most fun aspect of the game. But i realized later that it wasn't necessarily just the game mechanic that made it great, it was the concept of a living, breathing city where anything could be happening around any corner. So I propose a Fallout 3 style Punisher game (without the VATS, because that's just way too easy, and with the jack-a-vehicle mechanic of GTA): an open-world FPS set in New York, Chicago, or Boston, with dozens of customizable and realistic weapons, where a player can either drive around and just stop semi-random crimes or engage in side-missions (like helping a city block get rid of a particularly obnoxious drug dealer) for money/weapon upgrade points (and not weapon-upgrade points like "improve handgun accuracy," but that would allow you to buy a new holographic site or a match-grade barrel for this or that weapon), or go to specific locations and speak to snitches who guide you along a main story-line. The city would be interactive, allowing you to climb up to a roof to snipe or set claymores for an ambush, allowing the player to mete out his own brand of justice. The Punisher has gotten various games over the years, but while the games have captured the shoot-'em-up aspect of the character, they leave out the rest: the desperate justification of vengeance by a man on a mission, no matter the cost to himself or society.

Currently Playing:  Battlefield 1943 (fun, concentrated).

John Yan:  I always thought some more independent ones would be interesting such as Grips or Faust but those are probably a little too sadistic and can also be seen as Wolverine knock offs these days.  It's been a long time since I've even read comics so thinking of what character would be long overdue is a little difficult.  I think I wouldn't mind seeing a game based on DareDevil.  You can visually explore his "vision" pretty well and there are some great enemies you can go up against like Typhoid Mary and Bullseye.  I know there was a game that was cancelled so let's see the Man Without Fear finally get his due and get a good game. Just don't let Ben Affleck voice it.

Currently Playing:  Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Jake Wolfe:  Why no love for Marvel?  DC could definitely use some good comic book centered games, but the Avengers are overdue for a game.   Although I can't say Ultimate Alliance is particularly bad, an Avengers game is certainly in order.  It would be very interesting to see an Avengers game based on the comics, going through the Avengers history, battling select Marvel villains. The game would center around the group's mightiest members, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, and perhaps occasionally, Ant-Man, Wasp, and a few other Marvel heroes that worked with the Avengers for certain missions.  I.e., if the mission is to defeat the Green Goblin, Spider-Man would be the fourth member.  At any time, the player could switch characters to another member of the team.  This would make The Avengers a bit less crowded than its sister game, Ultimate Alliance. Or, Avengers could act as a spin-off game to Ultimate Alliance.  That's my two cents.

Currently Playing:  The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth.