When it comes to works of fiction, I have three great passions: Star Wars, the High Fantasy genre, and the Superhero genre. As I have played a fair number of video games from each of these three categories, I thought it only right to list them all. This first list is of course, the superhero games. They are listed in order of least favorite to most favorite. For those wondering why greats like Spider-Man PS4 and X-Men Legends II aren't here, its because they're games I (sadly) haven't played yet. I also won't be counting LEGO superhero games, as I think of those more as LEGO games first, and superhero games second. I similarly will not include Future Revolution, because that game got shut down before I could play anything but the opening and the Spider-Man prologue.
So happy Superman '64 is nowhere on this list ;)
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GBA version, which to be honest I had basically completely forgotten about, and even now that I remember playing it I don't remember any of the gameplay at all. Whether it was fun, tedious, so-so, nothing. Only that one level near the end was so insanely hard I never finished the game. But as to whether or not it was a good game, I can't rightly say. Hence, why it's the first one here.
Technically I only played a very little bit of this game, but I figured that was enough to have it count for this list. Also means I didn't have to put any games I actually liked as the worst entry here. In all fairness, the game IS better than the movie its based on, and is one of the better movie tie-in video games to boot, but it's still far from the best that superhero video games have to offer.
This is a game I had actually completely forgotten I had even played. I only just recently remembered that I had played it and so have belatedly added it. But the fact that I completely forgot I'd ever played it is telling. Not saying it's an awful game. No, if it had been awful I probably would have remembered it better. No, it's just kind of...there. I appreciate that there's a Versus mode that lets you play as a host of characters from the series (including Red X!), but on the whole this game is one I struggle to remember much about. So like the GBA Incredibles, I have to rank it near the bottom due to just not remembering it well.
Yes, the combat is rather mindless, button-mashing type fare, but I nevertheless sunk quite a few hours into this one and had fun with it. So basically, it's not a great game objectively, but I have a soft spot for it. With that said, I definitely can't rightly rank this one high. Still think Gold Shredder is awesome though.
I feel like this is a game that everyone hates on. For my part, I do think the graphics and character models show their age some, and I also really dislike the (so far as I could tell), absence of a dedicated "Single Player Vs. AI" mode. But as a sucker for crossovers, I honestly was onboard with the premise, and also liked some of the character endings (particularly Sub-Zero becoming more like Batman in his). This game also has my favorite design for Kitana, which is a weird thing to note or praise, but it is my honest opinion. So in sum, I don't hate this game anywhere near as much as most people seem to, but having said that it is definitely overall weaker than both the MK games that would follow it, and also the dedicated DC fighting game franchise that would also follow it.
I love the huge cast of characters and alternate skins/costumes this game offers, and I really do think its impressive just how many faces from Marvel Comics, the MCU, and elsewhere it pulls in. But, it's also a Freemium mobile game, which seriously diminishes its appeal for me (especially given that my phone usually doesn't have the storage to play it anyway).
This is the Batman game that crawled so that the Arkham games could run. And that's exactly its problem: taken on its own, it's an adequate Batman game, but it's completely overshadowed by the Arkham games that would follow. Arkham Asylum alone (to say nothing for its even better sequels), just do all of the best things about this game so much better such that there's little to no practical reason to go back to this game except as a history lesson. Tragically, Batman: Arkham Asylum just rendered this one obsolete. Though if nothing else, I did really like the feature in the game where named representatives of generic enemies (including League of Shadows Ninjas!) could be visited in prison cells where you get bios on them. Kind of wish more games and other fictional works did that, as its one of those little things that appeals to me. The return of most of the movie's cast (except Gary Oldman) is also appreciated.
While I'd still say it's an overall better experience than the movie it's based on, the graphics have aged pretty poorly in my view, as have the quick-time events (one of the first of these leading to the infamous "I'm going to die" scene that became a meme). The combat I also think is a bit clunky, or at least it felt like it the last time I tried to play this game again, though perhaps I was just rusty. It's not all bad though. I do at least like that you get to play as New Goblin, as I think more Spider-Man games should let you play as a Goblin given how perfectly suited for a video game the Goblin's arsenal is. Rage-Mode in the Black Suit is fun, and I like that you can take pictures in this game, but I never did figure out how to look at the pictures I took later on, so that was a bummer. It also has an honestly pretty solid take on Scorpion in both design and backstory, AND gave us something the actual Raimi films didn't: Connors becomes Lizard. And this is a minor point, but I also like that the gangs you fight all have their own unique look and flavor to them (something Ultimate Spider-Man also did). So on the whole, I can't really call this a terrible video game, but it isn't a great one either. Among the plethora of open-world Spider-Man games (because there have been a ton of them), this one isn't really a stand-out entry .
Based off of Season 3 of the 2003 show, I just don't like this game as much as the first two. Which isn't to say that I think it's BAD. I don't. But the gameplay of the first two entries has been altered into what feels like a pseudo-dungeon crawler. And while the idea of a TMNT-themed dungeon crawler is an interesting one, I don't think I prefer it to a more conventional action-adventure beat-em-up, which is a format that suits the Ninja Turtles much better. Also, I confess I was never able to beat this game without enabling the invincibility cheat code. So in all, a decent Turtles game, but not my favorite one by any stretch.
I feel kind of guilty ranking this one as low as I have. It's rightly regarded as a classic of the Nintendo 64/PS1 era, and is based off of Spider-Man's world as it was in the late 90s, which as a lover of Marvel Comics history is something I can appreciate. Plus, Black Cat is in it (once again voiced by Jennifer Hale, which is always nice). There's also a nice number of alternate costumes and comic covers to collect. Pretty bare-bones by today's standards, but by the standards of 2000, pretty solid. But... ...the graphics have aged as poorly as you'd expect, the camera can be a pain, and if there's a coherent save system to this one, I never did discover it (meaning that if I ever had to stop playing before I'd won the whole game, I would have to start from the beginning all over again. Not exactly a fun notion). Honestly, Spider-Man 3, Batman Begins, TMTN 3, and even Future Fight both have things about them that I like more, and so I really only ranked this one above those two because of its status as a classic.
