Marvel Comicshas put out a lot of videogames over the years. Some, like Insomniac’sSpider-Man,Square Enix’sGuardians of the Galaxy, andLEGOMarvel Superheroes 2have garnered a lot of praise and attention for their color, personality, and gameplay. However, praise and attention are not guaranteed in the video game sphere, even if your game is good.
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Games based onMarvelproperties are not immune to this rule. There have been manyMarvel gamesthat just didn’t get that much attention in their day despite being fundamentally fun and enjoyable. These games have been condemned to the dust bin of history, even when they don’t deserve it.
6The Deadpool Game Was A Quickly Forgotten Spectacle Fighter
Deadpoolwas a spectacle fighter developed by High Moon Studiosthat was released onXbox360 andPlayStation3 in 2013, with a PC port developed by Mercenary Technology. This game allows fans to take the role of Deadpool as he murders and snarks his way into helping theX-Menstop Mister Sinister.
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Deadpoolwas shorter (and actually cost $10 USD less for the effort) and didn’t do anything particularly revolutionary. However, it was still a fun game with a few good one-liners. It was aptly violent and actually made a few funny jokes at the expense of game design conventions too.
5Neversoft’s Spider-Man Was An Exciting Spidey Adventure
Neversoft’sSpider-Manhas received some renewed attention in recent years, but that doesn’t change the fact that the game was mostly forgotten for the decade that followed its release. It came out in 2000 and was released on PlayStation, GameBoy Color,Nintendo64,SegaDreamcast, and PC.
It was a third-person action game that allowed fans to play as the eponymous Wall-Crawler as they take on the likes of Scorpion, Rhino, Mysterio, Venom, Doctor Octopus, and Carnage.It also had cameos from other Marvel heroeslike Captain America, Human Torch, Black Cat, and Daredevil. It was an all-around fun game and shows how Spider-Man games could still work even if they weren’t sandbox titles.
4Ultimate Spider-Man Was Overshadowed By Spider-Man 2
Ultimate Spider-Manwas another fantastic Spider-Man game that has largely been forgotten. It doesn’t help that it came out around the same time asSpider-Man 2, arguably the greatest superhero movie tie-in game ever designed.Ultimate Spider-Manwas developed byTreyarchand released on GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, with Beenox handling the PC port and Vicarious Visions developing for GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS.
The game was released in 2005 and allowed the player to take the role of Spider-Man and Venom as they uncover a conspiracy that ultimately results in the creation of Carnage. Other villains such as Green Goblin, Shocker, and Beetle show up too. It used the cell-shading graphic format that many games were using around that time. Though the graphics are fairly dated,Ultimate Spider-Manlooked fantastic at the time.
3X-Men Legends Let You Build Your Own X-Men Team
X-Men Legendswas the first major superhero titlethat introduced aDiablo-style dungeon-crawling action role-playing format to superheroes. It allows the player to build and use their own X-Men team of four as they take on Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in their latest ploy to establish global mutant supremacy. The sequel was just as good and saw the X-Men and Brotherhood teaming up to stop Apocalypse.
The games were released in 2004 and 2005 and developed by Raven Software for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PSP, and, surprisingly, mobile and the N-Gage (though Barking Lizard developed the first game for the N-Gage). These games paved the way forMarvel: Ultimate Allianceand the oft-forgottenJustice League Heroes.
2Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction Is An All-Time Great Sandbox Game
Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destructionis still one of the all-time greatest superhero video games. It was developed by Radical Entertainment and was released on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox in 2005. The player took the role of the Hulk in a sandbox environment that spanned a small New Mexico town and a dense metropolitan city.
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Villains in the game included the likes of the Abomination, the Devil Hulk, Mercy, and General Thunderbolt Ross. The game also used aGrand Theft Auto-like notoriety system that steadily increased the law enforcement and military response whenever the Hulk starts doing the smashing thing.Ultimate Destructionallowed players to use ultimate attacks that would destroy all opposition within the area, and it truly made them feel as powerful as the Incredible Hulk.
1Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 & 2 Are A Marvel Geek’s Dream Games
TheMarvel: Ultimate Alliancegames, likeX-Men Legends, are not perfect titles. The games have a lot of problems, particularly with their difficulty curves and how grindy the combat can get, particularly in boss battles. However, they are a Marvel fan’s dream, as they allow you tobuild your own team of heroes from a vast offering of Marvel icons.
The first game, developed by Raven Software, was released in 2006 for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo Wii, PSP, GameBoy Advance, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3, with a remaster coming out for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It presents a Marvel crossover-style plot whereinDoctor Doom assembles a new Masters of Evilwith the intent of stealing the power of a god from Odin himself.
The sequel, developed by Vicarious Visions, n-Space, and Savage Entertainment, was released in 2009 for the PlayStation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC. This one also received a remastering for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2was inspired by the Marvel ComicsCivil Warstory, with Captain America and Iron Man facing off with armies of heroes over the Super Hero Registration Act. The gameplay is actually more polished and streamlined in this game, but it was still buggy like its predecessor. Regardless, both present a superhero nerd’s dream of building and using their favorite Marvel heroes inhigh-stakes life-or-death adventures across the Marvel Universe.
The recent sequel,Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Ordertries but struggles to capture the magic of the first two, unfortunately.
