Fans of Marvel comics have reason to hope that a top-tier video game may be in the cards after all. As part of their outline for Marvel’s official ‘Video Game’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 14, the company has confirmed that both High Moon Studios and Activision will be present to make an announcement they expect to go over well.
No further details have been provided other than Marvel’s claim that the announcement in question “is sure to be a hit!” Whether that’s a sign that the company really is set to make a big splash, or just trying to build some promotional hype is anyone’s guess, but the mere fact that High Moon has been signed to make some sort of game in the comic book universe may be reason for excitement.
Having produced one of the more surprisingly well-designed third-person action titles of the past few years with Transformers: War For Cybertron, the studio has more than enough talent to do a Marvel brand justice. Provided they’re not pressured into an accelerated development schedule for a movie tie-in, that is. The team seems to be back on form judging from what we saw of Fall of Cybertron at E3 2012, so hopefully the studio isn’t following an on-again, off-again pattern.
Now the only question to ask is exactly what the game will be. Could it be possible that a triple-A video game version of – dare we say it – The Avengers could be released after all? Our hopes were raised be the handing of the license to Ubisoft, only to be dashed when the Kinect/Wii project was completely unveiled. The Avengers and the high caliber of action gameplay shown by High Moon seem like a perfect match, but we won’t risk having our hearts broken all over again.
Marvel hasn’t had the best track record of movie tie-in games (we could supply evidence, but it’s still depressing to walk that road again) but cut ties with SEGA and THQ in the name of higher quality, as the company’s IP continued to grow thanks to stellar feature films. When announcing the end of the Marvel-SEGA relationship, the Disney-owned company indicated that not one, but several video game versions of The Avengers were being planned, but more details will be needed before evidence can be seen as conclusive.
The most likely candidates – or at least the ones most recently reported on – would be a video game version of ‘Big Hero 6,’ a superhero team set to star in the first Disney/Marvel animated feature. That film isn’t expected to release until 2014, which would grant enough time to deliver a polished title. While the property may seem too obscure for this kind of treatment, the same might’ve been said of its existence as a feature film altogether
The presence of Activision might also be telling, not only because the publishing giant now owns High Moon Studios. After years of struggling to publish massive titles, Disney signed a deal with Activision just days ago to bring video game installments of the upcoming film Wreck-It Ralph to three Nintendo platforms. Following an arcade character game-hopping through first-person shooters and JRPG’s might be just the type of premise that High Moon could truly bring to life. The development might not be the announcement that some will hope, for several reasons, but we won’t count anything out until the announcement is made.
Any theories of your own you’d like to share? Think a superhero property would be perfect for a studio like High Moon to tackle? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
Whatever High Moon and Marvel are up to, we’ll fill you in when the official announcement is made.
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A 4-player co-op Avenger game would be amazing! And if you don’t have 3 other players, then you can switch players, similar to the LEGO games. Make it open-world, next-gen for size and graphics. And every player plays a vital role in combat and scenarios. And not some half-ass movie game, a developer that can do to the Avengers what Rocksteady did to Batman would be epic!
I agree with everything you said and hope that comes true.
That’s my hope too. Playing a superhero game co-op online seems like a no-brainer.
I just want a rich non-tie-in game, sans motion control…voice is fine.
I just thought of something awesome, I don’t think it’s what they are doing at all…. just to be clear
An Action-RPG Avengers game, and borrow heavily from Mass Effect. Two ways to go about it would be either you create your own hero or you can control anyone on the roster but have Ironman, Captain America, or Thor (kind of classes essentially) be your main choice for whom you get to choose dialog options etc.
Have the Squadmate roster be Captain America, Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Black Panther, Black Widow/Hawkeye maybe, and Spiderman/Wolverine if they aren’t going MCU. Have The Helicarrier be the normandy equivalent, and have Fury, Maria Hill, and others remain on board for discussions. Even if you couldn’t save data to make the sequel unique it could be great. But imagine if you could, and when you went towards the end mission and say Widow dies at the fault of whomever your character is, then in the sequel it causes turmoil in the team and Hawkeye leaves….I don’t know just an example.
It’d be a tough, giant game to make….but if you started development now you could get it in for the first year of the next gen consoles maybe.
Yes, I love this idea. Always wanted this. Imagine instead of the Reaper invasion, a Chitauri or Skrull battle in New York.
Pretty cool, they should let the gamers pitch ideas. That’d be awesome.
Squad controls like in Mass Effect would work so well too. Telling the characters your not playing as where to fight, how to, and when to.
Too much Mass Effect influence, guys.
Iron Man 3
Ugh. That would completely destroy my excitement haha
They’re making Iron Man 3. It just hasn’t been unveiled yet.
Oh I don’t doubt they’ll beat that dead horse into a pulp. But slapping High Moon with development would be even lower than I expect from Activision these days.
I def agree with the action-RPG idea. The Avengers game def need to be squad based. none of this first-person shooter mo-jo like I saw in the cancelled Avengers Game YouTube videos. If they wanted to go that route I say incorporate single-hero missions (side missions) off the main story-line.
So happy we’re getting another Avengers game. Battle For Earth looked like some wretched abortion. I hope for either a Action RPG, or what THQ would’ve given us. Anyway, I have faith in High Moon.
I understand the X-Men Legends/Alliance games were well recieved but I was never a fan. I personally dont want a team/control multiple players at once sort of game. I want a 3rd person action (control 1 player at a time) with a rich story….I hate to say it, but akin to Arkham.
Marvel characters were represented great on the Mega drive/Genesis. As far as mor recent games go I really liked the X-Men 2 tie in game with wolverine. All three Spidey games from Beenox (not perfect but enjoyable) and Marvel v Capcom 3 are all a good play
How about a Guardians of the Galaxy game? A non-movie tie in, released before the movie to help generate buzz and acquaint people who may not be familiar with the mythos.