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Following on from the continual Marvel news, the latest is Tom Holland’s opinions on portraying Spider-Man, and the previous Four of a Kind edition, detailing top Marvel retro games, this week’s list will turn the page on the comic book franchise’s terrible gaming history.
1. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES)
Side scrolling beat ‘em ups were a popular gaming genre in the 1990s and many Marvel games capitalised on the trend. Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage continues this genre but also offers nothing new with SNES version being poor, in comparison to the Sega Megadrive port. The graphics, though bright, are awful and control scheme is frustrating due to a repetitive nature and limited selection of character moves.
Also, unlike other side scrolling beat ‘em ups, there are little objects to interact with and most enemies lack variety in appearance further emphasising a dull experience. Lastly the game’s difficulty setting is high meaning the dull enemies are hard to defeat and the final boss fight against Venom proves difficult.
2. Marvel: Rise of the Imperfects (Playstation, Xbox, Gamecube, PSP)
In 2004 Marvel and Electronic Arts formed a partnership which produced only this game and a six issue comic book miniseries of the same name. The partnership dissolved four years later and many believed it is due to many aspects of Marvel: Rise of the Imperfects. One of the main criticism from critics and fans is the fact that EX created original characters, the titular Imperfects, who had the ability to easily defeat any of the Marvel characters presented in the game.
Essentially it evoked a sense of favouritism from EA and resulted in their created characters never featuring in the Marvel universe following the game/comic series. Another complaint stems from the use of fatality moves, which can be triggered after a characters health drops below 25%, as AI opponents can chain-abuse projectile special moves.
This deals considerable damage meaning an immediate triggering of the fatality move attack and an unfair tactic against human controlled players. Lastly the gameplay is very mundane as every mission involves players fighting their way through stages in a manner similar to a constant 3D beat ‘em up set within a linear style.
3. The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga (Playstation)
Published Eidos Interactive and released in 1996, The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga video game is loose adaptation of some storylines featured in early 1990s Hulk comic books. As a result the game remains reasonably faithful to its comic book roots however this is the only positive aspect of the whole experience. The graphics are blocky and ugly meaning well-known characters are terrible pixelated, ugly depictions far from familiarity.
Gameplay is overly simplistic and highly repetitive as Hulk punches boxes and robots. Negatives continue in areas such as; each location design as they are bland and uninteresting, the awful fixed camera, bad cutscenes, a confusing storyline and poor animations.
4. Fantastic Four (Playstation)
Similar to the aforementioned games presented on the list, Fantastic Four video game maintains a strong connection with the comics of the time however also remains consistent with other titles published by Acclaim Entertainment. Though the graphics are impressive and the control scheme is easy to adapt to the game’s plot lacks substance, each mission is short and the various enemies are equally difficult to defeat.
Fantastic Four is inspired from retro games such as Final Fights, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage but acts more as an overt rip off, exchanging side scrolling for a 3D context.
That concludes this week’s Four of a Kind. As always feel free to comment on the games presented above and or begin a discussion regarding any titles that have been omitted.
Honourable mentions: Captain America in: The Doom Tube of Dr. Megalomann (Atari, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) Spiderman: Return of the Sinister Six (NES), Silver Surfer (NES), Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge (SNES, Sega Megadrive), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (Playstation 2) and Ultimate Spider-Man (Playstation 2, Xbox, Gamecube, PC, Gameboy Advance).