Why Can't Anybody Make a Good Superhero Video Game?

Okay, I know, but forget about Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, those are actually the exceptions to the rule.  I guess the Spider-Man 2 game is also okay...but whatever, I'm talking about making the complete experience of a superhero interactive.  Most superhero games are pretty freakin' linear, having barely moved beyond the arcade-style side-scroller stuff.  I mean, okay, the graphics are better, and it's not exactly side-scroller, but you know what I mean: a lot of times it's just kind of like Army of Two, you play as the Ninja Turtles or something, but you just kind of go straight ahead and meet up with planned boss fights.

I'm talking about something really unique.  I'm talking about where you get to play as the Joker, perhaps, as in Grand Theft Auto-style, just committing crimes, murders, and starting general mayhem across Gotham City using the same engine as GTA, and, yep, you guessed it, when you get five stars, the Batman himself comes after you.  If you happen to be in an helicopter, he comes after you in the Batwing or Batcopter.  If you're out in the water, the Batboat.  In the streets, the Batmobile or Batcycle.  Your job is to RUN Gotham, intimidate the other bad guys, maybe even set them up so that Batman catches them and not you.

Or, what if you're Batman, but it's Mass Effect-style, where you get to inquire, investigate, delve deeper into the interactive story with a "conversation wheel"?  Or, better yet, you get to be Bruce Wayne whenever you want, dealing with corporate sharks trying to do a hostile takeover of Wayne Enterprises, which could have a sinister plot that overlaps an investigation that Batman is conducting.  Give the game a day and night cycle--by day, you're Bruce, completing "party missions" and going to Policeman's Balls and chatting it up with wealthy folks and Commissioner Gordon, garnering info that could help your investigations as Batman when the night cycle comes around.

What about Superman?  Why not work as Clark Kent and do some actual investigative journalism L.A. Noir-style, but then, if you detect a crime nearby that must be stopped, or you and Lois happen to be driving by a burning building...that's right, mothergrabber!  You have to find some way to dash away, and find a safe place to change into Superman so that nobody sees you, then go and save the day, then return to Lois later as Clark and explain your sudden disappearance using a "conversation wheel."

What about a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that's sort of like Skyrim--you could do with just half as big as that world, but it could still be open-world and you could play as any character you please, leveling them up according to their unique character traits, with a variegated assortment of missions.  Raph is the tough guy of the brotherhood, so he'd be better suited for fighting missions.  Donny might be more interested in careful investigations.  Leo would be doing sneaky-sneaky infiltration missions.  And Mikey...well, he's the wild card, a jack of all trades, but master of none.  Great training sessions with Master Splinter could discuss the many benefits of the Bushido Code, of Buddhism, or whatever the hell the old guy wants to discuss.  Admit it, when is the last time you felt truly MOVED by a training sequence in a video game.  They should at least strive to be more like Yoda teaching Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

Also, if you have to go linear with the story and gameplay, then give us something like The Last of Us, where the struggle is as much internal as external.  Superheroes are drowning in drama, both internal and external, you're telling me no one's thought of turning any of these superheroes into an ongoing franchise (excluding the Arkham series, of course)?

Game companies only make a superhero game when it's a friggin' lame-ass movie tie-in, and those ALWAYS suck.  It's about as hard to get a good superhero game as it is to...well, as it is to get a good movie based on a video game.  Looking at you Resident Evil.

Why is it so hard to get us a superhero game that brings to life the actual superhero experience?  To me, it seems that most times game designers are sort of assigned superheroes they don't care about, the way some directors just take on a movie project because they need the work, not because they have a passion for the character(s), such as, say, a TMNT flick.  It's just a paycheck, so we don't get the love that Arkham City so obviously had poured into it.

Those are my thoughts, feel free to comment below on what you think should be done to give us more awesome superhero video games, or give your opinion on what franchise ought to be delved into in the video game world.

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