Constant Gaming Syndicate on Gaming: The Superhero Game Stigma

Written by Cliff Wells

Last night the CGSyndicate was in chat talking about comic book based video games. One of our close friends on the matter suggested that any character could potentially have an awesome game due to the longevity of the characters story, since story matters. His example was Iron Man.

Now at the time I was really set against it. My argument was “he has flight, the gauntlets, Jarvis, his mind, which would eventually become stale and repetitive making it just a cool VR demo or game”. At the time I was solely thinking about the gameplay aspect, which is vital to gaming, but story matters and as an aspiring writer I should have picked up on what he was saying. So I slept on it and realized he was right, you can make an awesome Iron Man game and here’s how:

Character Summary: Due to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe I doubt Iron Man would need an introduction to anyone, but since the comics have a much richer lore let’s take the real look into the character: Tony Stark being a billionaire U.S. weapons manufacturer, learns the misuse of his technology after almost suffering a literal loss of heart from a land mine created by his own company at a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan.

He was then captured by a worker of the Mandarin. Fortunately for our character the shrapnel penetration was however averted by a fellow prisoner Yin Sen, a physicist who created what is known as the famous arc reactor to stop the shrapnel from entering his vital organ (which also has to be permanently attached to Stark to live). Tony then makes the first Iron Man armor, and successfully gets out making a promise to himself to rectify Stark Industries as Iron Man.

Game Concept:

Let’s take the statement above. Iron Man doesn’t have a secret identity the whole world knows he is Tony Stark. Tony personally wants repentance for the disaster his company has brought on most of the world through war. So let’s transition that to gameplay:

Perspective: To me Iron Man would have to be a third and first person game. You should be able to toggle between the two instantaneously, similar to Star Wars Battlefront. Gamers love customization and perspective is the easiest way to accomplish that. In first you are Iron Man, you see through the helmet Jarvis is constantly communicating with you while flying through New York. Third needs little to no explanation, you want to see your Iron Man suit! Or maybe you’re like me, and would be switching between the two, either way you’re set.

Objectives: I think New York should serve a sandbox for you to be Iron Man and Tony. Tony Stark is one of the smartest characters in Marvel and a brilliant inventor. You should be able to customize or craft each armor of your choosing for any task at hand, and the customization should be near limitless so no matter who plays that game no one has an Iron Man armor that is exactly the same.

Now transition that into boss battles, and let the players decide what to bring in for battle, and not given selections. Whatever you accomplish in game should only be unlocked when you face the boss. In addition let there be consequences for the highest difficulty if you lose a battle there is no Game Over or Restart, you face the consequences as Tony Stark and have to go on damage control, which would bring in Nick Fury, and Shield as well as Captain America into play in the story

As Iron Man you should be able to go to three countries that are sandboxes of their own, Russia, China and Afghanistan. Go on missions to rescue or liberate people, give clean or running water, set up a Stark Tower in other countries that would promote free energy through an arc reactor. Go on diplomatic side missions.

Cameos and Appearances