Coming Soon
There are a number of comic book-inspired video games coming in 2005. A half-dozen of those are very close to being released. These are games we have solid information on and every reason to believe will be released on time.
The Punisher
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Volition
Systems: Xbox, PlayStation 2
Release Date: January 18, 2005
What you need to know: OK, so the movie wasn't so hot. We agree, and so did THQ. Which is why this game is hardly associated with it. Instead, what you've got is an original story starring a polygonal version of Frank Castle who looks great, tons of hard-hitting weapons, some funny one-liners, and interactive backgrounds. So, what's the big deal? Why should you care? If you've played Max Payne, you'll know of the visceral pleasure that game brings, and you should expect to experience it here, too. But The Punisher takes things to, like, 11. Using a simple arcade meter to interrogate enemies, the Punisher tortures and brutalizes enemies with ruthlessness and wonderfully unnecessary violence. The result is remarkably sinful fun. Fact is, once you start torturing enemies, you'll want to torture every single one in the game. Hard to top that.
Constantine
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Bits Studios
Systems: PS2, Xbox
Release Date: February 8, 2005
What you need to know: Based on the upcoming Warner Bros. film of the same name, Constantine won't be instantly familiar to fans of DC Comics' Hellblazer comic book. While John Constantine is indeed star of film, comic book, and video game, his gold locks have been dyed black, his nationality changed from Brit to Yank. Because the movie features a very American Keanu Reeves, the game must also deviate slightly from the comic book series. The good news is that once you get past the change in appearance, accent, and location, much of the series' wry wit appears to be intact. As Constantine, you must repel the forces of Hell in a third-person action adventure featuring unique weapons (such as the Crucifier shotgun) and a handful of spells. The imagery in Hell is pretty spectacular, enough to make this one to watch.
Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death
Publisher: Evolved Games
Developer: Rebellion
Systems: GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: February 8, 2005
What you need to know: The long-delayed first-person shooter appears to finally be coming out in the states. Having narrowly escaped cancellation on numerous occasions, Dredd Vs. Death is set to debut in just a few weeks. From what we've seen, 2000 AD's classic sci-fi comic book is being reproduced faithfully. Taking place throughout various areas of Mega City One, you play as Judge Dredd, battling criminals and a corrupt political system. With society on the verge of collapse, extreme measures are called for, so expect plenty of acts of brutality and more than 50 types of enemies to battle. We won't know if it's been worth the long wait for another few weeks, but since Dredd is inspired by the comic and not the Sly Stallone flick, there's at least hope that Mega City One will see some justice in February.
Predator: Concrete Jungle
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Developer: Eurocom
Systems: Xbox, PlayStation 2
Release Date: April 12, 2005
What you need to know: Introduced in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator in the 1980s, this mixture of B-movie action and horror ranks up there as one of the most fun and cool creature flicks of its time (second only to Alien). Another Eurocom team is working diligently on this one, and from our hands-on time with it at E3, it's got huge potential. The game packs an original story, excellent graphics, and awesome features such as stealth attacks, heat vision, the ability to skin enemies, and killer tracking abilities. It also comes replete with all of the Predator's sophisticated weapons and tools (Glaive, Combistick, Speargun, Wristblades, SmartDisc, Maul, and the Plasmacaster). The only thing holding it back is its ridiculously complex set of controls, which in May 2004, were awkward and unintuitive. Hopefully, we'll see another version soon, when we get to take a closer look.
The Incredible Hulk
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Systems: GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Summer 2005
What you need to know: Inspired by the comic book series of the same name, The Incredible Hulk offers an open world, where the big green can roam freely. Imagine playing as the Hulk and being able to walk throughout a city, causing destruction wherever you like, choosing how to complete missions, taking optional sub-missions, and leaping from rooftop to rooftop on the way to battle another villain. While details on the new Hulk title are scarce, it appears you play as the traditional green Hulk who only emerges when Bruce Banner becomes highly stressed or angry. With art from Bryan Hitch (The Ultimates), The Incredible Hulk should look markedly different than Vivendi's 2003 Hulk offering. This one shows a lot of promise.
Batman Begins
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Eurocom
Systems: Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube
Release Date: June 2005
What you need to know: Forget everything you know about previous Batman games. You know, the simplistic, arcade-style one-two punch action titles? EA and Eurocom want to make Batman Begins like Splinter Cell, with an emphasis on stealth and full use of Bat's cool gadgets. As a young Bruce Wayne, you'll learn the ropes using hand-to-hand combat and stealth techniques, you'll perform detective work, and you'll earn a reputation scaring the crap out of increasingly dangerous foes. That's what Eurocom hopes to do, anyway. We've yet to see any Batman game do justice equal to that of The Dark Knight, Frank Miller's revolutionary re-interpretation of Batman, so we're not holding our collective breath.
Spider Trio
Spider-Man has been very, very good to Activision. The two most recent web-slinger games (based on the feature films) were big hits. Thanks to that success, Activision has committed to at least three more Spidey projects over the next few years.
Ultimate Spider-Man
Publisher: Activision
Developer: TBA
Systems: GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Late 2005
Based on Marvel's popular Ultimate Spider-Man series, Activision's next Spidey game puts you in the role of a very young Peter Parker. Uncertain about his role as a superhero and featuring the kind of acerbic wit not seen in the movie versions, this is a very "human" Spider-Man. With Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man, Powers) set to script Spidey's ultimate adventure, this should be quite a unique title in the web-head's video game collection. Villains are unknown, but if the game follows the comic in any way, expect every evil-doer who meets the wall-crawler to figure out Spider-Man is really Peter Parker. We should learn a lot more at E3 2005.
Spider-Man Classic
Publisher: Activision
Developer: TBD
Systems: GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: TBA 2006
Though the title may be deceiving (and will likely see a change long before release), this is not a collection of classic Spider-Man videogames. Instead, Spider-Man Classic puts you in the role of the traditional Spider-Man. This has no association with the Sony Pictures films, though it's not clear what significant difference will be seen (aside from Spidey having to build his own web shooters). Villains and allies have yet to be announced, but we're certain it takes place in Manhattan. At least that's something.
Spider-Man 3
Publisher: Activision
Developer: TBA
Systems: PC, PS3, Xbox 2
Release Date: May 2007
Based on the third movie, which is set to release in mid-May of 2007, Spider-Man 3 will likely offer a similar design to 2004's Spider-Man 2, with a wide-open New York City to explore. Rumors peg the Lizard and the Green Goblin (this time Harry Osborn) as the villains of the film, which would in turn make them the baddies in the video game. Don't expect to hear anything on this one for a long, long time, but it has been confirmed so start saving now.
The Distant Horizon
Along with the above-mentioned titles, there are a number of significant games that should hit in late 2005 and early 2006. Little is known about these titles so far, but information should begin flowing in starting at E3 2005.
Fantastic Four
Publisher: Activision
Developer: 7 Studios
Systems: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: July 2005
Long in development, 7 Studios' FF game is about to become a reality. We spotted a teaser trailer for the game at the San Diego Comic-Con last August, meaning a full-blown preview for the media can't be too far off. Planned to coincide with the release of the feature film, Fantastic Four can finally wash away the icky taste left by the deplorable PlayStation FF game. Just thinking about it makes... oh... oh, not feeling well at all...
X-Men Legends 2
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Raven Software
Systems: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Late 2005
Shortly after the release of X-Men Legends, Activision announced a sequel. Likely to come out later this year, Legends 2 uses the same engine as the original, but introduces new characters not seen in the first game. This time around, development is expected to focus on four-player gameplay, alleviating the issues of the original Legends, which sometimes forced gamer's to play solo. The storyline and further details remain a secret for now, but look for news later this spring.
Marvel Vs. EA
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
Systems: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Late 2005/Early 2006
Almost nothing is known about EA's upcoming fighter. What we can tell you is that it will feature a variety of characters from the Marvel Universe and numerous original characters created by EA specifically for this fighting game. Considering the current standard for fighters, it's likely that Marvel Vs. EA will be playable online on Xbox and PS2. It's also a safe bet that some familiar EA characters are set to make an appearance. Final Boss: Madden? Dare to dream.
Superman
Publisher: EA
Developer: TBA
Systems: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Summer 2006
EA picked up the license some time back and now it's finally paying off. With the Man of Steel movie flying into theatres in 2006, EA's Superman can have its day in the yellow sun. With the title so far off and few movie details known, it may be some time before this one is revealed to the public. However, our bet is that gamers are finally going to experience a fully-realized free-roaming Metropolis. Up, up, and away!
The Darkness
Publisher: TBA
Developer: Starbreeze AB
Systems: Nintendo Revolution, PS3, Xbox 2
Release Date: Late 2006
The Hollywood Reporter revealed the development of The Darkness for next-gen consoles and no one has disputed the claim. The popular Top Cow title, developed by Mark Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl, features Jackie Estacado, a mob man who discovers an unfortunate ancestral power on his 21st birthday. Gifted with the ability to control and extend shadow matter, Estacado battles the mob and his own inner demons. It will be interesting to see how The Darkness manifests itself in video game form. Sadly, we won't likely know till late in the year.
X-Men by Z-Axis
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Z-Axis
Systems: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
Release Date: Late 2006
Z-Axis has been hard at work on a new X-Men game for some time. Untitled, rumor has it this is an action game more like the X-Men classics of the Genesis era. With X-Men Legends 2 the next X-title slated to ship, don't look for Z-Axis' game until at least 2006.
Marvelous Future
Marvel is really starting to pump out the licensed games. Along with the numerous games already mentioned above, Marvel has intentions of publishing even more games based on both popular and obscure characters.
Iron Man
This one's happening and Z-Axis is at the helm. Don't expect it anytime soon, as it is should coincide with the release of the Iron Man movie in 2006.
Ghost Rider
A movie starring Nic Cage is happening, so a video game is an almost certainty. Who owns the license is another matter, as THQ didn't grab it when it bought the Marvel Knights license.
And the rest...
- Captain America
- Nick Fury
- Black Widow
- Luke Cage
- Blade
- Namor the Submariner
From the Ashes
Some games just don't have what it takes to see release. A number of promised titles have either disappeared off the radar or been outright cancelled. For those wondering what ever happened to the likes of Lobo or 100 Bullets, we've got the latest status report.
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Status: Once in development with Encore and 5000ft, this game based on the lackluster movie endeavor never came to fruition. Hopefully, another talented publisher can pick it up and do the comic franchise justice. The first video showed promise, but alas, nothing ever happened.
Elektra
Status: The game starring the female comic book assassin Elektra, which was supposed to run on the same basic engine as Daredevil, was scrapped. We haven't heard of any other interested publisher yet, so for all intents and purposes, it's DBA (dead before arrival).
Justice League of America
Status: Midway picked up the rights to publish Justice League of America back in July 2003, but within a year, it quietly acknowledged that it had stopped pursuing development. The game was canned, and though Midway may still have the rights to publish this game, we wouldn't bet any money on it anytime soon.
Lobo
Status: Kemco has the rights to the DC comic book bounty hunter Lobo, and it's been on the backburner forever. There might still be a chance for this game to emerge at some later time, but to our knowledge, its current status is nada, zip, nothing.
100 Bullets
Status: This one looked quite good, to be honest. But like Red Star, it was also in development by Acclaim's Austin Studios, which is kaput. Our best hope is that a smart publisher like THQ has picked up that particular license, or perhaps the entire Valiant Comic Book license (the most hopeful possibility), giving all of these comics new life.
Red Star
Status: After Acclaim went belly up in fall 2004, it sold its properties via auction, and Red Star was among them. What has happened to the game since then? There is the distinct possibility some publisher picked up the license. If so, nobody has announced it yet. If not, it's dead. The big problem was that Acclaim's Austin Studio was developing it, and that team no longer exists. The most recent rumor we've heard is that Majesco might have picked up those rights. Who knows? The Turok videogame creator, David Dienstbier, is working with Majesco, so he might have a hand in its development.
Shadowman 3
Status: The third in this series was never officially announced, but Acclaim was about to announce its development when the company suddenly called it quits. We always had big hopes for this comic line, but the results never lived up to the license's potential.
Turok 5
Status: Acclaim's Turok: Evolution was so badly handled by Acclaim's corporate honchos and its development team (which clearly needed more time to polish it) that this sore spot of a title must have given every single Acclaim executive a pinch in the nards every time he thought about how much money was lost over it. Despite Evolution's failure, there were initial plans for another Turok. But certainly Acclaim won't be publishing this game any time soon (since it doesn't exist anymore), and unless some daring publisher wants to resurrect a series that really only had one standout game to its name, we doubt you'll ever see a Turok game again.
'Nuff Said
That does it for IGN's look at comic book-licensed video games. With more comic books finding their way to the big screen and with so many successful licensed games, it seems inevitable that this list will grow significantly in the coming year. Of course, we'll keep you updated on all the latest news for each game.
Be sure to check out all the latest comic book movie news at IGN FilmForce.
Excelsior!
Sorry, had to be done.