Few mediums lend themselves to video games as well as comics. Ripe with super-powered individuals capable of dispatching scores of criminals, swinging between high rises and through city streets, and soaring through the air, they allow people to see the impossible brought to life, and through games, they can take on the role of these heroes for themselves. Some games have done this better than others though, and these 10 superhero games stand as the best of all time.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
The Incredible Hulk is an embodiment of raw strength, so it’s no surprise one of his most successful video game outings saw players able to tear through cities, armies and mutated monsters alike. In a quest to gain control of his destructive tendencies, Bruce Banner secludes himself in the far-off wilderness until he is attacked by The Division, a special task force dedicated to the elimination of mutated humans. However, this proves a boon when he discovers their top of the line technology can allow him to tap into and control the strength of The Hulk. Tired of running, he decides to tackle this government force head-on, tearing through anything that stands in his way in the process.
Providing players with a veritable playground of destructible environments, enemies to crush and a story fitting of the green behemoth, Ultimate Destruction served as an example of what superhero games could be moving forward. Even with the more graphically impressive games available today, it still holds up as a game which allows players to step into the role of the hero perfectly and remains a blast even if you just want to trash a city for an hour or so.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
South Park: The Fractured But Whole
Leave it to the creators of South Park to make one of the best superhero games of all time through a parody of the genre. Set after the events of The Stick of Truth, The Fractured But Whole sees the cast of the long-running animated series take on superhero personas to put a stop to a rising pandemic of drunken and delirious behavior. As a created character, players join them and learn to harness their own superpower; time-bending farts which allow them to alter the course of battle, access restricted areas and uncover the events that led up to the town’s current predicament. Full of raunchy humor, cutting critiques of the genre and an imaginative design that makes you feel like a kid pretending to be a superhero, The Fractured But Whole is one of the more interesting superhero games out there and one that fans of the genre won’t want to pass up on.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
The Punisher
In this dark and gritty action title from 2005, players take the role of the titular antihero in his quest to clean up the streets of New York by any means necessary. Things quickly become more complicated, however, when his assault on a drug den and the crime family behind it uncovers a darker plot that threatens the fate of the city itself. To this end, players must track down and eliminate the masterminds behind the catastrophe, armed with an array of different firearms and a pension for creative methods of interrogating criminal leaders.
Easily one of the grimmest and violent superhero video games ever made, The Punisher nails its source material to a tee with a compelling crime-thriller story, well-realized characters and a wide variety of options for how players want to blast their way through the game. It may not be for everyone, but for fans of Marvel’s iconic antihero, it still manages to stand out as a title to remember.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
If the many heroes from across the history of Marvel’s pedigree teamed up to take on a world-ending threat in a Gauntlet styled title, how would it go? As Marvel: Ultimate Alliance shows, pretty darn well. Brought together in an effort to stop the latest plot by the Masters of Evil, a full roster of Marvel’s best and brightest are at the player’s disposal to level up and unleash on waves of villains and their minions. If they’d like to swing across levels and battlefields as Spider-Man, they can; or, if they’d like to rend their opponents to shreds as Wolverine, they can do that too. Different heroes offer different combination attacks and benefits based on which heroes they team up with as well, making for a title ripe with possibilities for experimentation and replayability. Best of all, it allows up to four players to take on the adventure together, making for a one of a kind co-op experience that shouldn’t be missed by any fans of superheroes or their video game offerings.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Few were expecting this title to be as good as it was after the lackluster film it was based on, but X-Men Origins: Wolverine proved itself to be a standout title among superhero games in general. As the iconic Wolverine, players must rend, tear and slice their way through waves of enemy soldiers in a mission to track down the man who kidnapped his girlfriend and has been imprisoning mutants on a remote island. This is all done through fast-paced hack and slash gameplay that can stand toe to toe with the likes of Devil May Cry, with flashy combos and attacks that do justice by the adamantine-clawed hero. Not only that, but the game offers plenty of references, cameos and easter eggs that pay homage to the long history of Wolverine, from his more iconic costumes to secret boss battles against past versions of the character. If you passed up on this title when it first released, consider tracking it down to see what it was really made of.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Viewtiful Joe
Joe’s life takes a turn for the outlandish when his girlfriend is kidnapped by the villain organization Jadow and drawn into the world of movie heroes and villains, held captive as part of their plot to escape into the human world and wreak havoc with their otherworldly powers. With no other way to save her, Joe enters the world of movies and adopts the mantle of Viewtiful Joe, a masked and costumed superhero capable of engaging in stylish combat with the evil denizens and nefarious criminals of the world. What follows is a wacky adventure of over-the-top heroics, insane set pieces and a story on par with even the most outlandish comic plot line.
A masterful blending of both Japanese and western takes on the superhero genre, Capcom’s zany action title stands as a testament to superhero games while also taking them in a new direction. Give it a look not only if you love superhero games, but if you want to see something new and interesting done with their archetypes and cliches.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Infamous 2
Sucker Punch Productions proved they could pull off an original superhero game with the first Infamous, but they proved they could make an exceptional superhero game with Infamous 2. Set after the events of the first game, players return to the role of Cole McGrath as he travels to a new city in search of ways to enhance his powers. Time is of the essence though, as a powerful adversary known only as The Beast is hot on his trail, laying waste and carnage in his wake. To this end, Cole teams up with other conduits, secretive government agencies and old friends to find a way to stop this monster, even if it means changing the world as they know it in the process.
Full of missions to take on, enemies to beat down and a whole new array of powers to collect and use, Infamous 2 set a high bar for the rest of the series that continues to hold up to this day. It may not be the ideal jumping-on point for new players, but it is the point where most will say it can’t get any better than this.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Injustice 2
The follow-up to NetherRealm Studios’ first entry in the fighting game franchise, Injustice 2 expands on the multiverse brawler with a continuation of the first game’s events. Following the defeat of the evil Superman and his organization of all-powerful superhero overlords, a new threat emerges in the form of Gorilla Grodd and his compatriots in The Society, an organization of evil villains looking to rule the world themselves. Batman and his allies stand steadfast against them, and with their combined might, they fight to put a stop to this new groups plans before it’s too late.
In addition to a great superhero story, Injustice 2 also offers a tight refined fighting game mechanics with combos that flow like water, interactive environments, and top notch matchmaking that will have you playing for hours on end. This is to say nothing of the game’s roster, which includes heroes from across the DC universe all with their own combos and fighting styles to master. It may not have been the series people were expecting to be a mainstay, but it’s one that’s welcome all the same.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Spider-Man
Insomniac Games’ latest title provides not one of the best video game interpretations of the web-slinger to date, but one of the greatest superhero video game experiences of all time. Following the defeat and arrest of Wilson Fisk, aka King Pin, Spider-Man finds himself up against a powerful new adversary in the form of Mr. Negative, a secretive crime lord with the ability to corrupt everyone he touches. Not only that, but he’s enlisted the help of several other villains to his cause, making for an imposing threat not only to Spider-Man, but to the city of New York. To stop them, players have to enlist the best of the iconic hero’s techniques and abilities, webbing and punching their way through whatever obstacles stand in their way. Or at least, that’s what the main storyline entails; along the way, players are free to swing through the perfectly recreated city, track down collectibles, snap photos and meet with fans along streets and subway lines. It’s an undeniably open world experience, and one any discerning fan of comics or superheroes should check out.
Top 10 Best Superhero Games of All Time
Batman: Arkham City
Rocksteady Studios turned heads with the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a title that captured the speed, power, and personality of the dark knight and his rogue’s gallery to a tee with impressive gameplay, a world player’s couldn’t help but explore and a story that was fittingly full of intrigue. For the follow-up, they took all of these elements to the next level, dropping players into a quarantined section of Gotham City filled with madmen and criminals courtesy of an experiment by the mad doctor Hugo Strange. Uneasy about the hidden intentions of this experiment, Batman makes his way through all manner of criminal strongholds, murder attempts and untold horrors to uncover the truth, and players join him for the whole ride down.
Boasting refinements not only to the addictive combat system but also the stealth and exploration elements of the first game, Arkham City is an improvement in every regard and easily the strongest entry in the series to date. It set the bar for what superhero video games could be, and still stands as the pinnacle all future titles should strive to reach.
What is your personal best for superhero video games? Let us know in the comments section below, and check out some of our other superhero game lists on topics like six games you should play if you’re looking for something similar to the new Spider-Man.
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