After Arkham City, Rocksteady May Fly With Superman

[Fox242]

What makes Batman great are two things: he has no powers and he has the greatest rogues gallery in the history of all media. Arkham Asylum worked because Bats had to face so many of his foes at once with only his gadgets, martial arts, and detective skills to guide him. Arkham City will be even better because it adds even more gadgets and villains.

Superman is too superpowered and doesn't have as many recognizable villains to be able to translate into something as great as Rocksteady's Batman games.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I just can't see a superman game working. It's all or nothing with him. Either he's unstoppable and it's no fun because there's no challenge, or someone has kryptonite and you may aswell just play as Joe Average.

 

[Forsvaine]

I have to admit, the thought of a Superman game with tight controls kind of baffles me. You've got to be able to switch to flying and picking up cars and zapping villains with your heat vision seamlessly. Superman does kind of spread himself thin with superpowers, so it's kind of reasonable to see why the Superman curse exists.

That's the thing: Superman is also too powerful. Playing him leaves you with (ironically) way too many choices. He'd be a pretty boring character to play because once you can do everything, there really isn't much anything else to do, if you understand. There's not much to work for unless the writers can make the villains very convincing.

I wouldn't fault Rocksteady if they didn't want to do a Superman game, and frankly although I trust them more than any other studio, I think they'd have better luck making Aquaman look good.

Green Lantern would probably be their best bet. That setting in particular is probably the most flexible of the three suggested (I say probably because I really don't know much about Captain Marvel). But if they want to go the lazy route, Nightwing (Dick Grayson).

But on the other hand, if they can get a license from Marvel, they've got a lot to work with.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I have to admit, the thought of a Superman game with tight controls kind of baffles me. You've got to be able to switch to flying and picking up cars and zapping villains with your heat vision seamlessly. Superman does kind of spread himself thin with superpowers, so it's kind of reasonable to see why the Superman curse exists.

That's the thing: Superman is also too powerful. Playing him leaves you with (ironically) way too many choices. He'd be a pretty boring character to play because once you can do everything, there really isn't much anything else to do, if you understand. There's not much to work for unless the writers can make the villains very convincing.

I wouldn't fault Rocksteady if they didn't want to do a Superman game, and frankly although I trust them more than any other studio, I think they'd have better luck making Aquaman look good.

Green Lantern would probably be their best bet. That setting in particular is probably the most flexible of the three suggested (I say probably because I really don't know much about Captain Marvel). But if they want to go the lazy route, Nightwing (Dick Grayson).

But on the other hand, if they can get a license from Marvel, they've got a lot to work with.

this, only longer then i was planning XD

but why not a wonder woman game, just to throw people

 

[Buizel91]

Beast Boy or Cyborg would be quite fun.

Hell what about Starfire? (Sorry just watched Teen Titans xD)

 

[Saltyk]

Okay, if anyone could do a good Superman game, it would be Rocksteady. But there would be a few big problems in a Superman game. In Arkham Asylum, you could find new areas in earlier areas by using new gadgets. However, Superman doesn't have that issue and making him gain his powers would be stupid. So, the game couldn't really have the same design as Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

Then we have the combat mechanic. One of the fundamental things is that when Batman battles goons, he uses his martial arts superiority and counter attacks to beat them senseless. Superman counterattacking like Batman wouldn't seem right because he's not got the same training as Batman. On top of that Superman, a nigh immortal, super strong, super fast, invulnerable, god among men fighting goons wouldn't work. Because either they could actually hurt him (think about that) or they couldn't even phase him.

And there would be similar issues with other characters, like Green Lantern.

With some work, and in the right environment, Superman could make a good game. And if there's a developer that even has a chance of making a good game that wouldn't piss off fans, it's Rocksteady.

However, I think Wonder Woman could work much better. Yes, she has superpowers, but she also has serious combat training. So Wonder Woman fighting similar to Batman and preforming counters would work out well. And she could gain combat abilities similar to the way Batman did in Arkham Asylum. She also has a nice assortment of powers and equipment that could work well in gameplay, like her lasso and bracelets. She's not the most famous of the DC superheroes, but people know her. And I think it would be an interesting twist.

 

[AnotherAvatar]

I was just thinking a Flash game might be cool, kudos to anyone else who said so. It would be nice to get a good superman game as there is potential there but... and maybe this is a side effect of reading Seven Soldiers recently, but couldn't we have a game with multiple comic characters who each play very differently and a subtly woven plot. Okay, I'll come out and say it, SEVEN SOLDIERS PLEASE!!! You could satisfy everyone: Crazy trippy magic sequences with Zatanna, strange adventures from a unique perspective with Klarion, epic action scenes with Frankenstein and The Guardian, comic misadventures with Bulleteer, the bizarre confusion and deeply trying adventure of The Shining Knight, and last but not least we can have some kind of crazy escape based game mechanic for Mister Miracle. All converging on the biggest crisis that the big guys all missed out on! Think of the potential!!!

Edit: To expand on my statement about the potential of a superman game as not a lot of people are seeing how one could threaten superman. That's simple, what's the one comic premise (aside from kryptonite, which is just cheap) that has always threatened superman?: Time. He's always racing against time to save everyone (and no, he can't rewind time, that was absurd), so you need to make a game that is about speed, moving fast enough to save lois, the full tram that's about to fall onto a crowded city street, while fighting a massive robot and stopping bits of debris from hurting nearby children watching in awe, all with plenty of time to stop Lex Luthor's escape attempt and expose his plan to bring the world banks under his control.

So, yeah, A Supes game shouldn't be about fighting (though it totally shouldn't ignore it and there will have to be some epic bosses), it should be about speed and heroics.

 

[Infernai]

Superman Game!?


STOP! CEASE! GET OUT OF THERE ROCKSTEADY! GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU STILL HAVE A CHAAAANNCCCEEEE!

Seriously, don't they realize that fucking character is cursed!? I love rocksteady for what they did with Arkham Asylum and i don't want to see the superman curse get them.

 

[Stevo92]

Superman would be pure meh

How about Batman Beyond since there hasn't been a game based on that....it may still be Batman but it's a way different Batman with loads of different villains aswell they could use especially Blight, Spellbinder, Mad Stan, Curare etc etc. Plus a new story based in that universe would be great and can easily get the dark edge like the Arkham games since it has been given the dark edge when the movie came out which they had the cut some stuff out for the edited versions (Batman Beyond: Return of The Joker)

 

[fulano]

It wouldn't be that hard to come up with something for Supes, I think. A mold for a superman-like game already exists in--yes--Zone of The Enders: The Second Runner. Where the player faces hordes of oncoming enemies that he/she has to dispatch from all directions.

The only issue I see with it is that that would mean constricting the storyline to the more fanatstical sci-fi approaches of the Superman mythology and eschew the notion of him fighting anything lesser than rivals that are comparable in strength; that means more Darksyde and less Lex Luthor, unless the latter spits out a robot army, or something.

 

[VanTesla]

I would love to see a mature take on a Wonder Woman game that is deep into greek mythos and current events. Her abilities should be down played to the WW animated movie with no flying, can deflect projectiles with her wrist, can use her lasso, and can use her magic sword later for non-human battles.

 

[jaketaz]

Frankly, I say to hell with Supes and Green Lantern. Superman is not an interesting character, and Green Lantern doesn't have enough of an identity in the public mind to warrant a good-selling game. The Rocksteady people did, in my opinion, a seriously good job with Arkham Asylum (with Arkham City looking like a lot of fun, judging by the trailers). Let's bring Frank Miller together with Rocksteady, and get a freaking Sin City game in the works. It's been long enough since the novels came out, plus all of the actors from the movie are still in fine shape to do voices. It could be a ton of fun.

 

[NotSoLoneWanderer]

If he is the consummate super hero with a wide variety of powers and unwavering code of justice then I don't see how a game could be made if he could literally blow on a group of enemies and freeze them. A superhero game like Arkham Asylum needs a hero that is incredibly powerful but still human. If you were to replace Superman with Batman in Arkham Asylum the game would be over in five minutes plus all the riddler puzzles and completed.

 

[mjc0961]

Is it even possible to make a good Superman game? Isn't he kind of overpowered? It'd be like playing with all the cheats on all the time and no way to turn them off. That'd get boring after a while.

 

[Jaebird]

.emag ydaetskcoR a ni raeppa ot yppah eb dluow annataZ erus m'I

Deerga. Tub uoy dluohs wonk taht reh secnetnes t'nera nekops sdrawkcab; ylno eht sdrow.

/dren

 

[Jaebird]

Is it even possible to make a good Superman game? Isn't he kind of overpowered? It'd be like playing with all the cheats on all the time and no way to turn them off. That'd get boring after a while.

He's as powerful as the writer makes him out to be. If in the right hands, Superman can still have his super-strength, but won't be able to knock out someone like, say, Mongul in one punch. Or, while he's bullet-proof, being knock around by a steel girder can give him a bruise, and maybe draw some blood.

 

[The Random One]

Ah, yes, I see where you're trying to get at...

A Zatanna game for the Kinect! It would work just like Scribblenauts, only you'd have to speak everything backwards. Game of the year!

 

[drh1975]

If anyone can make a decent game starring the Man of Steel, it's Rocksteady. That said, I'd like to see their take on lesser-known characters, like Orion and Hawkman.