Hey, we got a ton of superhero games, and the most of the newer ones are quite awesome. “The Infamous,” “The Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “The Spider-Man” games. However, there were many superhero video games that were worth discussing, flaws and all, before comic book characters and superheroes became popular. Now that we have ten great games to discuss, let’s begin with number 10.
Hey, we have plenty of superhero games, and most modern ones are considered great. “The Spider-Man” games, “The Guardians of the Galaxy” game, “The Infamous” games. But before comic book superheroes and stories went mainstream, there were plenty of superhero games worth talking about, flaws and all. We’ve got 10 cool games to talk about today, so let’s get started with number 10.
10. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
We’re starting with an obvious one. If you watch Game Ranks, you know we love this one. We’ve talked about it a lot, and among Spider-Man fans, it is notorious. But with mainstream audiences, “Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” is kind of forgotten. It got middling reviews and was released in a pretty poor state. The game didn’t look very good and performed poorly, but it was awesome. This game was incredible, switching between regular Spidey and Symbiote Spidey, fighting off a bunch of villains. Venom tries to take over New York City.
You meet up with other Marvel characters like Wolverine and Luke Cage. You could choose to be a good Spider-Man or a bad Spider-Man. You could infect Wolverine with the Symbiote, turning him into an evil Symbiote Wolverine with a cool design. There were a lot of creative elements to this game.
When people play the new “Spider-Man 2” game, centered around Venom trying to take over New York City, they don’t realize it’s kind of like “Web of Shadows.” It had some compelling aerial combat and a New York City that got progressively worse as the game went on. There were a lot of good ideas behind this one. “Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” will forever be considered one of the better games by some Spider-Man fans, despite its flaws.
9. X2: Wolverine’s Revenge
This game went crazy mode. It was a spinoff movie tie-in game. Remember those? When every movie had a weird spinoff video game, and every superhero movie had a weird spinoff game that was usually crappy? I’m thinking about the Thor video game. But with “X2: Wolverine’s Revenge,” they didn’t just try to recreate the movie and make a messy half-ass thing.
They made a Wolverine game. Very vaguely connected to the “X2” movie, it felt more like something ripped out of the pages of a comic book with cool characters you would never see in an X-Men movie. You got to play as Wolverine, going out for revenge, but also different periods of his life, like in the Weapon X program, escaping. Sometimes you have an X-Men outfit, sometimes you’re doing plain clothes Logan stuff. It got progressively more over the top as the game went on, and it was cool.
Also, Mark Hamill, the voice actor for Luke Skywalker and the Joker, did the voice for Wolverine in this game. And you know what? It works. It’s actually pretty cool. Is it a little cheesy? Yes. But this was a cheesy comic book video game. It didn’t play the best, but we still look back and appreciate it.
8. Iron Man VR
Jumping back just a few years to 2020 with “Iron Man VR.” There’s a new Iron Man game in the works from EA and Motive, a big AAA Iron Man game. People are very excited about that. But with that announcement, people quickly forgot about the pretty good “Iron Man VR” game. It released for PSVR and was then ported to other platforms like Meta Quest.
It’s actually a really good Iron Man experience. It sounds corny, but it does make you feel like Iron Man. You’re controlling flight with your hands, with thrusters, saving people falling out of an airplane, flying around three-dimensional spaces. Yes, it tried hard to copy the Robert Downey Jr. Iron Man vibe, but the actual gameplay, the experience of blowing up robots with Repulsor blasts, was very cool.
I did the Before You Buy review video on this game and walked away really enjoying it. It had some issues, and graphically it didn’t look the greatest, but the feeling was there. It gave me the superhero feel, but unfortunately, it feels like this one quickly came and went.
7. Guardians of the Galaxy (Telltale Series)
Not the one from Square Enix, but the Telltale series one. This one is completely forgotten by a lot of people, but I played it, and it was okay. It’s hard not to compare it to the newer game, but it’s very much a Telltale game. It’s simple, straightforward, and about telling a story of your classic “Guardians of the Galaxy” characters.
It’s not completely aping the James Gunn MCU thing, but it kind of is. It had a decent soundtrack, but the character designs, especially Star-Lord, always rubbed me the wrong way. He just looks kind of weird. This wasn’t necessarily a bad game, but it was also when Telltale was pumping out all kinds of stuff, and it was hard to keep track.
With the closure of the original Telltale studios and licensing issues, this game is kind of lost to time. If you own it, you can still access it, but it’s not out there for anyone to buy, at least not digitally as far as I know.
6. Captain America: Super Soldier
A game releasing in the early humble beginnings of the MCU. This was based loosely on the first Captain America movie, “Captain America: The First Avenger.” It released in 2011, and despite being a movie tie-in game, it did its own thing. You were World War II era Captain America in Nazi Germany, in Hydra’s Castle, running around doing Captain America stuff. It’s got a bit of a Metroidvania style with you exploring open areas and punching dudes.
There was a lot of cool stuff in it. More Hydra, Hydra’s Castle is the whole thing. Arnim Zola shows up, Iron Cross, and the characters from the movies, like Steve Rogers, voiced by Chris Evans. Sure, it was a little dull and bland, but as a Captain America fan, I was happy to have this. It was at least fairly decent. You could do all the famous Steve Rogers flips and jumps and punches, and that made me happy. You could throw a shield sometimes, and that’s all you need.
5. Batman Begins (2005)
Remember this one? This was essentially the end of a long dark period, a period where all we got were mediocre Batman games. There are tons littering the graveyards, but “Batman Begins” was like an upward trajectory. It was okay, still kind of mediocre, but it was one of the last things before “Batman: Arkham Asylum” changed everything.
“Batman Begins: The Game” had the benefit of being based on “Batman Begins,” the movie, one of my favorite movies ever. But it didn’t really capture the feel of that movie at all. Batman in this game moves around and looks like a total goofball. Graphically, some of it looked pretty good at the time, and that helped.
Also, some really cool tumbler Batmobile sequences. But unfortunately, this released when movie tie-in games were usually considered really bad. So even if “Batman Begins” wasn’t the worst, it was quickly written off.
4. Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
This one is forgotten because it only released on Switch. The other two Ultimate Alliance games were incredible, awesome multi-platform Marvel brawler games. But when it finally came back around years later, in 2019, it was a Nintendo Switch exclusive. It got a lighter, brighter art style, and it was actually a pretty good game. I don’t know if I loved it as much as the originals, but it was still a good time and underrated.
But it’s wild when you look at the gaming world, the gaming conversations, even top 10 gaming lists like this, you never hear about “Ultimate Alliance 3,” and that’s a shame because it is good. I just really want more Ultimate Alliance games. I’m still holding out hope for an “Ultimate Alliance 4.” Are we ever gonna see it? I don’t know, but at least we got these three.
3. Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects
This was a time when I think video game executives were doing a ton of cocaine and flying too close to the sun. This 2005 game was EA’s big Marvel thing, and it ended up being considered mostly a disaster. It was a good idea on paper. It was a darker-tinged Marvel game, which made sense at the time, going for an edgy impact.
It had brawler fighter mechanics that could have been fun. But the game released to middling reviews, and I don’t think many reviews gave it more than a 5 out of 10. The story was goofy. The new story elements and characters felt over-hyped. Even the characters made for this game, like the EA characters, have never shown up in anything else. They made a comic book spinoff written by Greg Pak, a famous comic book author.
It was a big deal, but it didn’t mesh with the story in the game. It was a big mess. Did EA learn their lesson? I don’t know, but this is one of those weird games that some people still have nostalgia for. Some people got the PSP version when they were young and have fond memories. I respect that, but this is a superhero game often forgotten, and it may be for good reason. Still, it’s an interesting video game industry story.
2. The Punisher
This game was published by THQ and developed by Volition, the team behind Saints Row and Red Faction. “The Punisher” game was absolutely awesome. It came out around the time of the Thomas Jane Punisher movie and featured Thomas Jane as the voice of Frank Castle. But it was very much rooted in the comic books. This was a comic book Frank Castle, doing comic book stuff. You encounter OG Nick Fury, Tony Stark, Iron Man, and get into all sorts of hijinks with a simple but fun third-person shooter.
It was pretty brutal. There was a torture mechanic where you could grab anyone and torture them. You could push their face in a bowl of hot soup, hold them over a dock where a shark tries to eat them, shove a guy’s head in a car door, and more. You could push the analog stick to see how far you could go to get information, and it was a cool mechanic. This game was just awesome. I still look back on it with fond memories. Some people really have a lot of reverence for this one, like myself. But if you ask a lot of people who love the Punisher today, they don’t even know this game exists.
1. Deadpool
We figured we’d mention this one because there’s a movie coming out soon. “The Deadpool” game released way back in 2013 and was actually pretty good. Nolan North did the voice of Deadpool, and it had some good Deadpool energy before the movies took the world by storm. This game had all kinds of bits with famous Marvel characters, including Cable and Wolverine. It was made by High Moon Studios, so they knew what they were doing.
They made a fun, simple third-person shooter brawler adventure with a lot of variety, creativity, and good jokes. Yes, the jokes were very early 2000s goofy stuff, but it was a solid Deadpool adventure. I would totally recommend it if you’re a fan of Deadpool. Even with the new movies, this game would probably satisfy you. Unfortunately, it’s been removed from all digital stores because Activision lost its license, but it was a really cool, good Marvel superhero time. Because of licensing and our digital future, it’s kind of been erased from history.
Those are 10 superhero games that some people tend to forget. We wanted to talk about some different ones today. We’re used to always talking about the same old games, so let me know what you think. Did we miss some games?
There are plenty more we could talk about. Are you like me?
Did you play “Captain America: Super Soldier”?
Did you play “Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects”?
Do you have fond memories of torturing people in “The Punisher” game?
Let’s talk about any of this stuff down in the comments. We talk games every single day. Thanks for watching. See you next time!