Spider-Man 2 brought the Grand Theft Auto-style cityscape and open-ended missions to Spidey's gaming career, but it was 2005's Ultimate Spider-Man that finally married the open-ended city with a comic book-style presentation.
The game emits a constant sense of fun, from the bright colors to the thick black lines etched over everything on the horizon. Most of Manhattan Island has been recreated, including the Empire State Building and neighboring Queens. Spidey's sticky powers let you explore
Comic books are one of the hottest licenses out there right now. All you have to do is slap Spider-Man on a bag of socks and boom! It's out the door. The same goes with games based on comics - no matter their quality, they tend to sell like crazy. With so many lackluster heroes running around, it's hard to pinpoint which games are worth playing and which need to hang up the spandex. Well, that's precisely why we've hand-picked the best, most authentic comic book games of all time.
The five
In 1983 you, like us, would have played a Commodore 64. It was also the year you could have picked up a copy of 2000AD in the UK, to read it for Skizz written by a young Alan Moore. Twenty-five years later, the worlds of comics and games have definitively separated in terms of experience - so why do we see so many of our favorite comic creator names appearing in the credits of certain games? Rebellion bought 2000AD and Judge Dredd Magazine, Top Cow is half-owned by Eidos and Rockstars marketers
From throwaway ideas tacked onto games that aren't much to begin with, to genuine labors of love - gifts from the developers to you - the world of the bonus minigame is wide, varied and rarely more than a couple of minutes long. Here're a bunch of our favorites.
Mario vs. Luigi in New Super Mario Bros
An insanely intense two-player battle that turns the classic Mario platforming action into a feat of endurance. The aim is to be first to collect up to 10 stars, but if the players decide to
Now that we're almost midway through this gloriously lazy season, you've settled into the groove of either summer school, some lame-ass job or sleeping in until 3pm. But c'mon, we know you're seriously missing the countless hours of free entertainment your second best friend - the internet - provides. We've compiled a few more for your viewing pleasure. Feast your eyes.
Guitar Hero II: Trippolette perfection
Either Jimmy Hendrix has risen from the dead to play Guitar Hero or this fellow has
Detective Conan brings one of Japans most popular anime series to Wii this month - peep the review here. And weve already had the obvious fighting games based on Naruto and Bleach, as well as a swashbuckling adventures with the pirates of the popular One Piece and, uh, a Fist of the North Star pachinko game.
These games got us thinking about other classic pieces of Japanese animation that wed love to see in videogame form, and how they might work. Whether or not any of them ever turn up, its
In general, we think you've got pretty good taste in games. You've made massive successes of stellar franchises like Ratchet & Clank, The Elder Scrolls and Katamari Damacy. You tend to like the things we like, and that's part of why we enjoy writing for you and telling you about all the cool games we think you'll get excited about playing.
Sometimes, though, you ignore our advice, which breaks our hearts a little. It's bad enough when you do it by passing up kickass experiences like Okami or
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Alma - as seen in F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point
Most action games owe a debt to Hollywood, but this scary little girl with long black hair was a particularly blatant borrowing from Japanese horror. Still, a spectral tween who could murder entire platoons of crack soldiers in the blink of an eye, and a foe that can never be defeated? Damn.
Anna Navarre - as seen in Deus Ex
Deus Exs supporting cast was full of great characters, but fellow cyborg agent Anna was the standout. Initial
The view from above always makes the most sense. With Medal of Honor: Airborne, industry veteran Patrick Gilmore has looked back over years of virtual war to figure out how, in this golden age of AI and physics, EAs troubled series can reinvent itself. He could be the ideal candidate for the job. Hes associated as much with Disney as D-Day, having produced over a dozen games starring Mickey and co, he brings a fresh perspective to a series thats long been considered stale. And despite Airbornes
Not all the characters are available in the main game, but any standard cheat disc like Action Replay Max will open up a host of classic Simpsons folk to play with. Heres a selection of favorites and rare people from around Springfield:
See… Cletus Spuckler
The slack-jawed yokel is an homage to rednecks all over the US. Hes the proud father of over 20 children and lists his hobbies as collecting “flat-meat” - roadkill, in other
