We're in a golden age of superhero games, believe it or not. Yes, the recent Marvel's Wolverine hasn't quite landed the way many hoped it would, but Insomniac's other games, not to mention the likes of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Rivals, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, prove that the subgenre is still healthy.
It wasn't always like this, though, especially before the Batman: Arkham games raised the bar for superheroes in the gaming medium. Indeed, the "bad old days" certainly played host to plenty of underwhelming and mediocre hero-centric games, often manifested as obligatory tie-ins for the films of the era. Unfortunately, even titles that were well-received have crumbled under the test of time, and are nearly unplayable today as a result of dated mechanics, terrible visuals, bad performance, or questionable design choices.
Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk film gets a bad rap, and I see why. For many, it was a boring, impenetrable movie with none of the joy or excitement associated with superheroes. Perhaps this is why its associated game, which deviates quite significantly from the movie's plot, was received warmly by many critics at the time, with IGN even granting it an 8/10.
بۆ سوڕاندنی چەکێک پەنجە بنێ یان لە کاتی ڕاکێشاندا R داگرە.
Revisiting it today, it's obvious that the years haven't been kind to this interactive iteration of Hulk. Despite some interesting ideas, Hulk is ultimately a repetitive and shallow beat-em-up bogged down by various pacing issues courtesy of some ham-fisted Bruce Banner levels. Having been released in the same five-year window as superhero classics like Spider-Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Hulk (2003) is hard to revisit, even as a retro throwback.
For a long time, the physics-based, charmingly unserious Spider-Man 2 video game adaptation was considered the best 3D superhero game ever made. Its successor, Spider-Man 3, therefore had some big shoes to fill; it didn't quite rise to the occasion.
Like the Sam Raimi film it was based on, the Spider-Man 3 game boasts the familiar trappings of its beloved predecessor, but without the precision and confidence. Web-swinging is still solid, but considerably slowed down to compensate for more demanding graphics, the art style is muddy, slick, and ugly, and none of Spider-Man 2's weaker aspects were appropriately elevated or addressed. The result is a follow-up game that's boring at best, and frustrating at worst, especially when you remember how much better things could be.
This is a tough one. Like a lot of people my age, I have many fond childhood memories of playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance with friends. I always remembered the 4-player beat-em-up as an exciting, constantly unfolding, and whimsical arcade experience, until I decided to replay Ultimate Alliance a few years ago. I should have let the game remain a memory.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/classic-superhero-video-games-that-aged-poorly-painful-to-play/
