As more games get comics, more obscure comics are jumping into games. Small-press sensation Scott Pilgrim, a series written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley that already has afilm adaptationon the way, isspreading into the next logical medium. Though it wasn't shown, many are anticipating a very retro vibe for the title based on the comic you should be reading.
The story of the comics - and apparently the game - centers on Canadian slacker Scott Pilgrim's attempts to get his life, his band and his love life together after meeting his dream girl. Unfortunately, he has to beat up her seven evil exes in order to date her. The assumed retro-osity of the game is based on the fact that the Scott Pilgrim series is bathed in old-school gaming references.
Aside from Scott and co. often being seen playing games, Scott’s band - Sex Bob-Omb – is a game reference, as are rival bands The Clash at Demonhead and Crash ‘n The Boys. Game logic and references drive the story as well; a beaten foe turns into spare change like in River City Ransom, Scott levels up at important moments in his life and one book’s opening mirrors the Sonic the Hedgehog start screen. It’ll be pretty hard to screw up a series so perfectly suited to a game adaptation, but given the sad history of comic-based games, we'll give it a 50-50 chance.
3. Iron Man 2: The Game might not suck
Iron Man: the movie rocked our collective socks off back in 2008, as the perfectly cast, heavy-metal hero repulsor-rayed into all our hearts. Iron Man: the movie: the game?Not so much. So when the game tie-in for the sequel was announced earlier this year, we let out a collective groan and braced for more trash to get shoveled our way.
However, an announcement at Comic-Con had us partly regretting our knee-jerk reactions. Sega, developer of the new title – and also publisher of the first game - announced that Matt Fraction, current writer for Marvel Comics’ main Iron Man series, is writing the story for the film tie-in. Though it takes more than a writer to make a good game, it can lay a good foundation.
Fraction is one of the rising stars at Marvel, as he writes not only Invincible Iron Man, but also the X-Men, the Punisher and his trippy original series Casanova. Readers of Invincible Iron Man know that he really gets Tony Stark, and the characters in the book are pretty similar to their film counterparts. And in aninterview, Fraction seems pretty into writing it and also looks to be a legit gamer, so perhaps this is step one in Sega's plan to make up for previous mistakes. We can dream, can't we?
