Yet another awesome nugget of DC Comics Video Game news as Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Adventure has been announced for the Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC.
Described as a “DC Comics Encyclopedia” by the developers, 5th Cell, the game boasts over 2000 unique DC Comics superheroes and supervillains! In addition to the usual Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman offerings we’ve already seen a glimpse of members of the Flash Family (with cool props like the Cosmic Treadmill), Captain Cold and reportedly we will be able to play as 130 different Green Lanterns!
While I’m not that familiar with Scribblenauts and it’s style of play, the concept is pretty simple; If you can spell it, you can use it. I’m sure some of the more colorful executions of this playstyle have obviously been omitted seeing as the game is rated “E10″.
In this side-scrolling puzzle-actioner you play as Maxwell who is tasked with collecting objects known as “Starites” of which a certain number are required to advance to the next level. In the vein of old school graphic adventure point and click games (like Monkey Island) just about every object in the game can be interacted with by clicking on it which opens up a myriad of options depending on what you are actively doing in the game. The key part of the gameplay however is the ability to utilize Maxwell’s magic notebook to summon items (or other characters) into the game to help you solve puzzles by writing the name of the object or character on the screen. Usually you are limited to 3 to 4 summons in order to solve a puzzle and the games “emergent” play style really requires you to exercise and hone your mental agility and think outside of the box.
Honestly it sounds like one of those games that sounds more fun than it seems, but the reviews don’t lie; this is the fifth in a series of an extremely well-received and award-winning franchise. I remember being intrigued by the studios first effort in this genre, Drawn to Life, but never really following up on it due to a lack of a Nintendo Wii or DS. Unfortunately I still have yet to pick up either of those systems (or their next-gen counterparts) so it will really depend on just how cool this game ends up being (and how much in price these consoles drop) before I decide to take the plunge.
While I’ve noticed a fair bit of New 52 pandering, from the looks of it I think we can also expect some traditional DCU love as well. Just in the Flash-themed picture from above we have the traditional Golden Age Flash, Kid Flash, Professor Zoom and Black Flash! With 2000 or so characters I think we can expect a lot more variety to come.
Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure is due out sometime this Fall and needless to say, Speed Force will be keeping a close eye on the development of this title. In the meantime you can check out the official trailer, HERE.
So who is already a big fan of Scribblenauts and can testify to it’s greatness? Anyone plan on picking up the games for the first time due to the presence of the DC Universe? Please let us know in the comments below.
Blaze into battle with the blazing speed of Flash, The Fastest Man Alive! This former police scientist is a blur on the battlefield, dashing through obstacles and enemies with devastating effect. Striking with lightning speed, The Flash is the consummate assassin — in and out before you even realize he was there.
Infinite Crisis is currently in beta. You can sign up for a beta key at the game website.
Artist Justin Murray has posted a bunch of concept art from Injustice: Gods Among Us, including this piece showing a Flash design for the video game. He explains, “It was the best thing in the world to be given the chance to redesign some of the worlds most badass superheroes and villains. They wanted us to go in a live action summer blockbuster movie direction with these designs. Hope you like them!”
Flash fans rejoice! Another playable Flash in a fighting game appears, this time in Injustice: Gods Among Us. But is he done well, or is it an… injustice?
Pictured above: The Flash striking a pose with the DC Trinity, with Solomon Grundy photobombing.
For quick reference, here is a video of the Flash fighting Shazam. You can see the Flash do some super-speed combos, slow down time, and perform his Super Move where he runs entirely around the world just because why not. If you practice with him for a few minutes, you will discover he’s very different in play-style from his appearance in MKvDC. He will seem generally slower, with no ability to zip around the stage with impunity. But he may grow on you.
Let’s talk about the ideal Flash game. The ideal game, basically.
There is one thing that haunts my dreams more than anything. No, it’s not that I never cleared my father’s name for the murder of my mother (tasteless Barry Allen joke).
It’s this obscure 1-minute long video I found by accident on YouTube. It’s the thought that a GTA-style, next-gen, sandbox Flash game was in the works and then disappeared into the Speed Force/Development Hell/Development Speed Force.
Why? I can only imagine that it was too awesome for human consumption. That playing just this demo build filled the average person’s soul with so much joy, the human heart exploded instantly from rainbow and chocolate unicorn overload. Read the rest of this entry »
In continuing anticipation of Injustice: Gods Among Us coming next month, let’s have a look at the Flash’s appearance in 2 more tournament fighting games, Mortal Kombat v. DC Universe (“MKvDC”) on Xbox360 and PS3, and the fan-made MUGEN on PC.
Pictured above: The Flash punching out Quan Chi with the psychic aid of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat v. DC Universe. The story that just had to be told.
As you will see there, the Flash is super cool in Mortal Kombat v. DC Universe. All of his moves have a beautiful motion blur and multiple hits. This makes him a blast to play, as you can rack up big combos effortlessly and dash around the screen instantaneously to really make it look like you’re toying with your opponent. Speed is the Flash’s thing, in both his normal attacks and special moves, which sets him apart from something like his appearance in Justice League Task Force. For once, a speedster character is done right in a tournament fighting game. I would even call it monumental.
In anticipation of Injustice: Gods Among Us coming out next month, let’s revisit the Flash’s video game appearances of choice: the Flash in fighting games. Today: Justice League Task Force (“JLTF”), basically Injustice on the SNES or Genesis from 1995.
Pictured Above: What’s you favorite Blizzard game? Justice League Task Force? Mine too!
Initial blanket criticism: The Flash doesn’t belong in fighting games. Unless he’s fighting another speedster or he’s massively depowered, no opponent should have a chance against him. A modest iteration of the Flash is a guy that punches really fast and dodges bullets. Anything above that, he’s a guy that steals the speed of the opponent, freezes time, and executes punches with infinite mass. As Agnes would put it, “He’ll kill you five times before you hit the ground.” Did you lose Round 1? Why not run backward in time for a redo?
Blanket criticism aside, let’s turn to JLTF.
As far as I can tell, both the SNES and Genesis version of JLTF are despised equally, even though they are slightly different from one another. It’s commonly ranked as one of the worst fighting games of all time and Cracked even has a standalone article about it.
The major criticism of both iterations is just “Why would you play this and not a technically sound game like Street Fighter?” To that, I say, “Because you can play as the Justice League, stupid.” It’s easier to justify today though, as these games are just up for emulation or available at a garage sale for 50 cents, so there’s not much investment involved. Back in the day, if you forked over $60 for one of them, you’d probably be pretty mad at how they limited they are. The day you bought JLTF instead of Street Fighter II would probably haunt you the rest of your life. It’s not Shaq Fu-bad though, because nothing but Shaq Fu is as bad as Shaq Fu. It’s fun to say Shaq Fu.
We are running right along, looking at the appearances of the Flash in video games, as rare as they are. In review from Part 1, the Flash does not get to appear as the titular character in games anymore. He’s lucky if he’s even mentioned by name as a member of the Justice League. See this travesty.
Today we are looking at the Flash in Justice League: Earth’s Final Defense, available on iOS and Android.
Pictured Above: He even made it on the title screen! I’m so proud.
I highly recommend Justice League: EFD for all you Android or iOS gamers out there looking for more Flash-action on their phone, perhaps in between your digital comic reading app and your digital copy of The Flash: Stop Motion. Read the rest of this entry »
I am a simple man, and there are two things I love in life. This exhaustive list includes the following: 1) video games and 2) the Flash. If you understand these two Flash-facts about me, you pretty much know me as well as any human being can know another in one lifetime.
Pictured above: The Lego Flash in 2012’s Lego Batman 2, the apotheosis of everything I ever wanted in a video game. And no, I’m not writing this blog post from an elementary school computer lab.
Unfortunately, this makes me very much a “niche” gamer, someone video game developers do not really cater to. The gaming market is not exactly saturated with Flash solo-titles, let alone appearances of the Flash in general. The Flash as a video game character, programmed correctly, is as rare as a Shiny in Pokemon, a Gold Chocobo in Final Fantasy 7, or perhaps an original copy of Earthbound on amazon.com. (Act quick! There’s one left, and it’s only $19,995.50!)
Aside from some obscure handheld games, the Flash is just not a titular character in gaming. He probably had his chance with his TV series to hit the big-time, but our beloved Scarlet Speedster’s show was defeated by the combined might of The Simpsons and The Cosby Show, a veritable Rogues Gallery of television. And thus the doors to true mainstream appeal in movies and games, widespread as love of Batman and Spider-Man, were probably shut for a while.
From this long forgotten time, which archaeologists sometimes refer to as the 90s, we got some strange Flash releases. Why anybody thought handheld platforms were the ideal way to show off the Flash’s super-speed, I have no idea, but we were gifted with two handheld releases: The Flash on Game Boy in 1991 and The Flash on the Sega Master System in 1993, two years after the TV series was cancelled oddly enough.
In my opinion, the Flash’s solo adventures, which are all about multi-tasking and fighting the combined might of many different Rogues at once through the gift of super-speed, just aren’t captured through handheld and the limitations of a B&W Game Boy. You can’t accurately simulate fighting an illusion conjuring madman, a wizard from the future, and a mind-controlling gorilla all at the same time in such a little screen. Anything less than that, and you’ve just got a generic platformer/brawler, and that tiny sprite with the winged mask might as well be Captain America.
Pictured above: The Flash on Game Boy. Just not scratching the itch for some reason.
If you watch footage from these games on YouTube, emulate them, or track them down in a garage sale, a very clear principle reveals itself within seconds: the Flash and 2D platforming do not mix. To run at super-speed, it seems, you need to see more than 5-feet in front of yourself at all times, a luxury a handheld screen will not afford you. Because these vision-impaired Flashes are constantly struggling against this primitive camera, they run into a pit, a spike, or a flame trap every step they take.
Additionally, why is the Flash’s super-speed limited to movement? Why does the Flash have to stop and duck to dodge a bullet? Why does he have to use trampolines to reach the tops of building when he could just run up their sides? When he runs full speed into a generic thug, why does the Flash stop like he hit a wall? Why are the Flash’s punches weaker and slower than Batmans? Why isn’t the slightest contact with the Fastest Man Alive causing these mere mortals to explode in pixelated messes of gore?! I could go on forever.
Pictured above: Artist’s rendition of playing as the Flash on the Sega Master System.
Perhaps as a result of these poor showings, the Flash is relegated to auxiliary roles in Justice League games today. For instance, he’s a playable character in Justice League Heroes on Xbox and PS2, Justice League: Earth’s Final Defense on Google Play and iTunes, and Lego Batman 2 on PS3 and Xbox360. All of these require some work on the part of the player, however, in order to unlock him. It’s neat that the Flash is a “reward” in and of himself, I suppose. I still wish he got more solo exposure though. His last solo appearance, in which he gets second billing even in his own title (Justice League Heroes: The Flash) was met with mixed critical response, and was probably the last we’ll see of him as the star of his own game.
But you know what? That’s okay. If you’re a Flash fan, you’re probably used to being a “niche” fan. You’re probably used to going out of your way to find Flash appearances, Flash comics, Flash merchandise, etc. The most illusive, and most rewarding, Flash appearance in my opinion is when he’s programmed well in a video game. In the coming weeks, I hope to walk through some appearances of the Flash in gaming, done well and not so well.
For my first Flash Pro-Tip, I leave you with this: stay away from the Flash titles in the 90’s. The Flash, like we learned from Spider-Man and Batman’s successes in games, belongs in the Third Dimension.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Colin Crebs is a third-year law student at S.J. Quinney College of Law in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was born with a SNES controller in his hands. Contact with questions and comments at colin.crebs@law.utah.edu.
So I’ve been following DC Comic’s latest foray into fighting games, Injustice: Gods Among Us extremely closely. Albeit flawed I enjoyed Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe a decent amount and always hoped for a sequel (preferably without any Mortal Kombat characters). Thankfully I got both of my wishes and Netherrealm Studios (a reshuffled Midway) will be bringing this game to us in April of 2013 for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii U (Just in time for my birthday *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*).
Welcome to SpeedForce.org, a blog focusing on DC Comics' super-hero, The Flash. It's a companion site to Flash: Those Who Ride the Lightning, a fan reference site for the Fastest Man Alive.
