Superhero video games don’t exactly have a stellar reputation once you get past the Batman Arkham series. There are a few good titles here and there, certainly, but for the most part superhero gaming has taken a deep back seat to the cinematic content that Marvel and DC would evidently prefer to focus on.
Still, there are a few instances in which a superhero video game has actually been more enjoyable than its accompanying film, either because the game was particularly good, the movie was particularly bad, or sometimes, a little bit of both. In any case, if you’ve ever found yourself wishing there were more good superhero games out there, these are worth a look—at least by comparison to their accompanying movies!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine might genuinely be the worst superhero film of the modern era, not counting Spider-Man 3, which some will argue is the worst film period in the modern era. This movie bastardized Deadpool, glossed over Gambit, and somehow turned action and special effects content that included a one-on-one fight between Wolverine and a helicopter into an overall dull affair. Watch it again and, as Dave White of Movies.com put it, you’re going to be heavily underwhelmed. But the video game of the same name was freaking awesome. Released by Activision in 2009 for all major consoles and PC, it was an action-packed, hack-and-slash adventure that let you kick unlimited amounts of ass as Wolverine. The plot ties in a little bit with the movie but ultimately branches off, helping the game to stand alone as the vastly superior experience.
Spider-Man Unlimited
Gameloft created this game in 2014, and it’s not directly related to any particular Spider-Man film. However, its release wasn’t long after Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, so it’s not even close if that’s the comparison. I’m actually in the camp that kind of liked Andrew Garfield’s take on Peter Parker, but nothing could save The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from the ridiculousness of Jamie Foxx’s Electro (and Foxx is usually terrific). And that means that your best Spider-Man entertainment in 2014 came not from the film, but from this little app game. It’s essentially Temple Run on steroids—an endless runner (and, um, swinger) that’s overflowing with visual goodies for Spider-Man fans. It’s really a terrific app game, enhanced greatly by the comic book style graphics.
Fantastic Four Jackpots
Like Spider-Man Unlimited, this game isn’t tied specifically to an individual movie release, so much as a franchise that has now struggled on screen twice. Hosted at Betfair, the game is a slot machine designed around the iconic images of the Fantastic Four. So why is a relatively simple game better, to me, than several films’ worth of cinematic content? Well, the main reason is that both Fantastic Four series, including the one that debuted this summer, have been massive disappointments and insults to the comic characters. Its gameplay is fairly traditional for an online casino, but the Fantastic Four Jackpots game is at least faithful to the comic imagery without turning it into a hokey, overproduced mess.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
The 2003 Hulk movie is some of our most definitive proof that great directors can do terrible things. Ang Lee has proved his capabilities enough to be considered one of the best in the business, but with this early comic book flick he whiffed pretty disastrously. It was cheesy, over-scripted, and failed to delight us with the Hulk’s monstrous action potential. By contrast, the 2004 video game The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction from Radical Entertainment was overtly ridiculous, under-scripted (which can be good for video games), and entirely focused on action. This is a game whose developers fully realized that players just want to go on a rampage and destroy things as the Hulk, and that’s pretty much what the game amounts to. The visuals aren’t bad for the era in which it was produced, and the movement and fighting mechanics are surprisingly varied.
Give any of these a shot and you’ll wonder why you ever wasted time on the movies they came along with.
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