RipTen Videogame Blog » superhero

Superhero Game Marathon Raising for Clean Water Projects

Sam Naylor — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:43:51 +0000

A group of Australian philanthropists have begun a 72-hour superhero game marathon to raise money for water aid.

You can join in and donate here. At the time of writing they’re torturing themselves by playing Superman 64, but there are loads of games that they plan to play through in the next 72 hours.

100% of public donations directly fund water projects by charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

If we reach our goal of $5,000, we’ll be providing clean and sustainable drinking water to 1 whole community (about 250 people!)

It’s all good fun and for a good cause, so why not click through here and help them out?

X-Men Destiny Launches September

Justin Carter — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:56:30 +0000

Too Human developer Silicon Knights, now realizing that the Duke Nukem approach to releasing games is bad for business, has a final release date for X-Men: Destiny. A recent trailer has put a September 27 release date on the superhero action game. This comes just a week before Spider-Man: Edge of Time hits, so start saving if you want to grab this superhero double whammy.

The game will be playable at San Diego Comic-Con, if you are attending. If not, you can wait for the game to come out and fulfill your mutant destiny.

Lex Luthor Suits Up to Kick-Ass in DC Universe Online (Screenshots)

Garrett Hartman — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 21:17:19 +0000

Is it really a surprise that Superman’s Arch-Nemesis and leader of the Legion of Doom is in DC Universe Online? Hell no, but it’s good to see it confirmed.

While he’s been holding his own against Superman’s brawn with his brain for a better part of half a century, he’s never been in such a stylized and impressive suit.

While it may be true that clothes do make the man, Lex’s purple armor suit makes the man more ready to kick superhero ass. Suck it Superman!

360 Review – Batman: Arkham Asylum

Brian Albert — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:53:40 +0000

Hey, it’s time to create another superhero game! Well, go ahead and bring on the mediocre plot. Oh, and don’t forget the crappy voice work and pointless challenges. Oh yeah, I almost forgot – make sure to completely disregard everything that makes this character unique and interesting. Perfect!

Unfortunately for superhero fans, the recipe above seems to be utilized far too often. It would be an understatement to say that comic book heroes don’t receive much love in the gaming world – as is evidenced by…well…pretty much every superhero game. For this reason, I could not be happier to announce that Batman: Arkham Asylum has sidestepped video game disaster. Not only is this the best superhero game of all time, it’s one of the best action games ever.

Now, I hate it when reviewers feel like they need to spill the game’s story – so here’s what you need to know. The opening cinematic shows that the Dark Knight has just captured the Joker and is rushing him back to Arkham Asylum to spend some time behind bars – again. Upon arrival, the Joker is restrained and transported deeper into the penitentiary. You follow him for quite some time, and the clown makes it aware that he is accustomed to life in the asylum. He even refers to some of the guards by their first names. Once a checkpoint is reached where Batman is not allowed to pass, the Joker makes his move and assaults the guards who were escorting him to his cell. With a little help from fellow criminal Harley Quinn, the Joker assumes control of the asylum and releases all the inmates. Bad news for Batman. This sets up the rest of the game in which you will explore the asylum and take down opponents Batman style.

One thing instantly recognizable about Arkham Asylum is that it is a very dark and menacing place. Criminals are on the loose, dead bodies are strewn about, and the environment is in general disarray. In short, Arkham won’t be featured on the back of postcards anytime soon. The overall vibe is exactly what you’d expect from a maximum security prison – very humbling and borderline depressing — even for a bad ass like Batman.

Luckily, the creators at Rocksteady realized that too much Arkham, interesting as it may be, could be detrimental to the game’s overall fun factor. As you progress, you’ll gain access to various locations such has the exterior prison grounds and a few other cool spots we won’t give away here. Suffice it to say, Batman: Arkham Asylum does a truly phenomenal job with pacing, as the title seems to almost always introduce a refreshing change of scenery at just the right moment.

Though the story is pretty straightforward and linear, you do have the option to explore when you see fit. However, certain parts of the penitentiary will remain unreachable until Batman obtains a new ability or gadget (think Metroid or Shadow Complex). These spots usually contain hidden collectibles, like Riddler riddles and interview tapes, offering you incentive to revisit them at a later point in time when you’re more adequately equipped. The end result is a confined setting that still manages to feel open and interesting … which is a very good thing considering the amount of time you’ll be spending there.

The combat aspects of this title were handled excellently. Rocksteady makes sure you feel tough but not invincible. Animations are fluid, and Batman’s punches and kicks hit home with extremely satisfying thunks. Fighting techniques are simple to grasp, and you’ll find yourself attacking and countering enemies in no time. As you progress through the game, you’ll be given opportunities to spend your experience points on upgrades to your suit and abilities, making for even more varied and spectacular skirmishes. The mob encounters remain fresh as well, as enemies range from bare fist brawlers and knife wielders to gun packing baddies and stun happy baton beaters. These foes force you to switch up your tactics and begin using some of Batman’s tools of the trade to defeat them.

In addition to a fluid combat system, Batman: Arkham Asylum sports a slick and highly-functional radial menu that allows seamless switching between an arsenal of weapons and gadgets. This is where you’ll find tried-and-true favorites such as the batarang and the batclaw, but it’s also the home of “Detective Mode”.

In this mode, the Caped Crusader essentially gains an x-ray vision of sorts, allowing him you to see weak points in walls, locate hidden items, and determine which enemies are armed. There are also sequences where you have to use it to locate fingerprints and scents. It’s admittedly a pretty bad ass component in the Dark Knight’s arsenal. Unfortunately, detective mode is very easy to abuse and can turn the game into a less threatening experience. Detective mode turns you into a nearly unstoppable stealth killing machine with a complete and accurate profile of your enemies. It’s effective and fun, just be prepared for the challenge factor to diminish if you spam the hell out of it.

Batman: Arkham Asylum gives plenty of nods to hardcore Batman fans including detailed character bios, authentic voice acting, and references to some rather overlooked villains. Yes, I’m talking about you – Calendar Man. The trailer below gives you a great look at some of the baddies Arkham has to offer.

It’s nice to finally see a developer that knows how to cater to the fans rather than make a mockery of their beloved hero in the name of the almighty buck. What’s great is that none of the extra content is forced on the player, meaning you don’t need to read the character bios, nor do you need to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Dark Knight to understand this game. True, those who do will appreciate some of the game’s lore-related subtleties more than the average player, but that is to be expected.

Overall, Batman: Arkham Asylum is a blast. The characters are skillfully voiced and animated, the environment is alive with villainous danger, and the combat is always fluid and fun. Detective mode can be a bit overpowered if abused, but it’s undeniably enjoyable. Rocksteady’s take on Batman unquestionably sets the bar for all future superhero action games, and I’d certainly recommend it to fans of the Dark Knight without reservation. If stealth based action is what you crave, Batman: Arkham Asylum will not do you wrong.

Review: Iron Man

David Osbon — Fri, 09 May 2008 21:17:11 +0000

Comic book hero games are a curious thing. Tied in more often than not with a summer blockbuster movie release, these games normally suffer from being an afterthought, made to cash in on the whole summer blockbuster experience.

Although Iron Man does struggle under its own weight, it’s Sega who must be kicking themselves, for missing a great opportunity to release a polished game built around a genuinely great gaming idea– a hero in an iron-clad, rocket-booted suit of destruction.

OK, It’s not all bad. The game does a reasonable job of representing the various historical versions of Tony Stark’s pride and joy, the Iron Man suit. And yes, you do spend the majority of game time in one these guises or another, but the experience is offset by the poor combat structure, unwieldy flight mechanics, and unimaginative cutscene sequences that do little to develop the poorly executed storyline.

The first of these cutscenes show Tony Stark already a captive to the terrorists, but with no backstory of why he was out in Afghanistan in the first place, and with him already finishing his first Iron Man suit ready to plan his escape! This lack of tension in the story does nothing for the players association with Tony Stark, and is a criminal mistake that pans out throughout the entire game.

Combat, from the earthbound first level to flying combat later in the game, is hindered by a badly-managed set of controls. Flying as Iron Man is made frustrating by the overly sensitive reaction to each pitch or yaw action made, with the suit itself supplying very little in the way of a center of gravity. While Iron Man does fly, he reacts more like a helium balloon than weighty weapon of destruction.

Missions are one of the games biggest disappointments. They are far too linear, with repetitive goals of the seek and destroy kind. Faint rewards come in the guise of new Iron Man suits from the history of comic, or suit upgrades that can modify certain weapon and defensive mechanics. But this still allows you to have very little advantage over the faceless enemies while you’re engaged on yet another average mission.

The gloss of the franchise takes a hit from this Iron Man game. There are no two ways about it. Too much has been seemingly rushed through in this game to meet the demands of the movie release date, which is a real shame.

We should remember that comic book heroes are held close to the heart, by many of the gamer generation. Comic books and video games have held hands on numerous outings previous, with many mistakes being made in the process of this ongoing courtship. Sega and Secret Level have to some degree ignored the past mistakes made, only to repeat them again.

Although I can’t speak for all those who love both games and comic books, the Iron Man game I would have loved to see on the shelves right now would have been sounded out with these focal points in mind: the utilization of all the aspects of the numerous Iron Man suits, a multiplayer element and at least a co-op mode that could feature War Machine, a strong storyline (via cut scenes) that could be held up transparently to the movie/comic book story lines, and enough diverse missions so to feel part of a complete Iron Man gaming experience.

These points, if they ever were considered while Iron Man was in development, seemed to have been lost somewhere in translation. Instead the Iron Man game we get only delivers a shell of an idea that no self respecting hero would ever want to wear.

What does this score mean? Check out our review scoring breakdown.

Champions Online Trailer – Marvel MMO’s Replacement From Cryptic Studios

Dan Landis — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:30:06 +0000

Most of us have heard by now that the much-anticipated Marvel Universe Online game for the PC and Xbox 360 has been canceled. Cryptic Studios was understandably upset, but they’ve taken their work on the superhero game in an exciting new direction. Check out this new trailer for proof that change is sometimes a very good thing.

[youtube width="480" height="378"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD1buYCITJs[/youtube]