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| Super-Sock em! |
As I played that awful Batman Game y'all where talking about,
a thought started to grow on me: Superheroes videogames still have room to
grow.
Sure, we've outgrown summer movie license superhero games
universally sucking. We're even past the time a videogame based on Batman just
HAD to be terrible. But there's still
aspects of Superheroes that aren't being covered. This is a bit of a general
pitch, but it could apply to any number of franchises out there. Or a new one.
First up: why aren't secret identities ever a factor in this
games? Hardly ever does a new Superhero story begin in a new comic or a new
movie already decked up his or her supersuit. This applies as equally to Batman
Begins and Sailor Moon. And you know why? Because even the worst of super hero
stories still need to be stories. With identifiable characters. And conflicts
that aren't always physical.
But I guess videogames, that have been battling cancer
stricken critics for the self imposed and illusory title of "art",
can't be stories. They need to be actionous, right? Here, Spider-Man, go punch
the Skulls gang so you can learn a lesson about responsibility.
Now, you may balk. What
kind of gameplay would being Peter Parker, or Bruce Wayne or Barry Allen
entail? Well, the answer is already among us.
You could have like an adventure game, where you have to
figure out how to manage to keep a "real" life while still having to
kick the crap out of robots. The Secret Identity parts could be anything, from
quick timer events to minigames, to pretty much an RPG type of thing. The important part is that, instead of throwing
players into a sequence of action events, you could get the player involved in
the story, with supporting characters and love interests all playing a
significantly higher role than expositionary NPCs.
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| No follow-through, there, web-head. |
Picture a huge open city, where on one end is that date with
Mary Jane, and on the other, and attack by Mysterio. It'd be like the Sims
and Shenmue all rolled up into one. Only
you have to change out of view.
Speaking of which: as long as we're expanding the story, why
not give the titular hero a choice of love interests? I mean, most of the known
Superhero franchises have at least more than one, and romantic tension is one
of those elements of Superheroing that is missing from all this games. You got
your Gwen Stacy or your Mary Jane, your Lois or your Lana, your Catwoman or
your Talia, your Steve Trevor or...mumblemumblemumbble.
Of course, it doesn't have to be all dates. You could
investigate while on civilian mode, so
you can be more prepared to fight the threats. You could engineer better
crimefighting tech, if it's Batman or Ironman.
You could maybe try and work as a typical newspaper.
Another avenue that isn't often explored is choice. But I guess in Superhero games it's
kind of hard to put in that "light side", dark side" bar you
think I mean by "choice". No, what I mean is that, several of this
characters have been through enough phases that you could easily assign them a
type of reaction. Let's take Batman, trying to defeat a warehouse full of
goons. You could have the "Ninja master of the night" approach. You
could have the "drop out of a skylight" and announce yourself approach. You could even
have the "gun them down" approach.
Maybe each type of approach could earn you points towards being more
Silver Age, or more current age or more Issue 1 Batman. This eventually
morphing the character or the world more
to reflect that. Sort of like the original, crazy promises of Fable.
I don't want all this to be misconstrued as saying I don't
like action superhero games. I do. But
at the same time, with the focus on story that games like L.A. Noire and Heavy
Rain have proven can actually move units, why can't we have something like that
on other games? The superhero fantasy is more that just punching and huge chins
and brass heavy orchestra. Surely such a project would take a lot to get right
and on time and to sell. But if done right, it could be the greatest superhero
game in history and up the bar.
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