Superheroes [NON-PC]

[Eagle of Fire]

I have an old issue of Pc Gamer dating from April '96 with a preview about a game named "Superheroes". In the review it says that it should be a summer hit so I guess it got out in Summer '96 or '97.

The preview claim it is a super hero Xcom clone. Basically, you have super heroes and super powers and you use them to fight crime and 3 super villain leagues.

Superheroes

Think of SimTex's Superheroes as "X-COM with superheroes," and you have some idea of what SimTex has in store. The idea is simple: it's a short time in the future, and super-heroes are commonplace. At the beginning of the game, you start your own superhero league, recruiting or creating superheroes to battle the three super-villain leagues. Missions and superheroes can ge generated randomly, giving a high replayibility as you tackle the bad guys with different heroes who have different powers.

You start off with fifteen ready-made superheroes to chose from, such as Nightshade, Hunter, Photon, and others. Each has his or her own powers, such as the ability to shapeshift or fire mind blasts. If you don't like any of these heroes, you can make your own by creating a unique set of character properties.

Each hero has eight base characteristics, such as intelligence, dexterity, strenght, and so on. They also have skills, ranging from computer technology, to martial arts, occult studies, high finance, and beyond. There are fifty superpowers altogether to choose from, including physical blast, mental blast, energy blast, direct missile attacks, telekinesis, and so on, as well as over thirty "modifier" ratings, such as armor strenght, automatic weapons, and other values.

Similar in desing to the paper-game, Champions, (which itself has become a computer vaporware legend), Superheroes is equal parts Syndicate and X-COM. It's divided into two main sections: a global view and an angled 3D tactical combat view. When you create your league, you get a superhero base, with training, computer, deployment, and medical facilities, which can all be expanded. In the global view, you get missions much as in the original X-COM, then send your superheroes into battle. These missions are randomly generated with an overall strategy behind them as you work to destroy the three super-villain leagues and the leaders. A wide variety of landscapes ensures a high degree of mission diversity and replayability, with battles across a mix of city views, enemy headquarters, forests, frozen tundras, and other locations.

Any kind of missions the designers can think of will be included: free-for-all fights, crime stopping, super-hero deathtraps, goverment subversion, recovery of an imprisoned hero, and more. Plus, each time you play, the members of the super-villain league will have different skills and properties, adding even more to the replay factor. With Superheroes set to ship with multi-player support, as well as its wide array of heroes and missions, this looks like it could be a summertime hit. No one has managed to effectively pull off a superhero game yet, but if anyone can do it it's the folks at SimTex.

Since I never heard of that game ever, you can bet it makes me extremely curious. I did a fast search on the net and found nada. Either it never shipped or it got out on another name, or was not popular enough to be mentionned anywhere.

Does someone know anything about this title?

[wormpaul]

Sounds like an intresting game to me :ok:

[Wael]

I believe I´ve read that it never got out-/

[Eagle of Fire]

A shame really, it really sound great. :w00t:

[Tom Henrik]

That is correct. SimTex abandoned the Superheroes project, but it was picked up by the Australian company Irrational Games and released under the title Freedom Force in 2002.

[Wael]

And the name was "Agents of Justice"

And what it evolved to,
Freedom Force (http://www.mobygames.com/game/shots/p,3/gameId,6047/)

Article (http://pc.ign.com/articles/084/084085p1.html?fromint=1) of the curse of Superhero games-/

/Edit/ Freedom Force was a success-/

[Eagle of Fire]

A success maybe, but was it any good? I reckon 3D graphics on the snapshots, and that just can't be a good omen.

That's definitely not a game I would buy only by the looks. That's pretty much the opposite!

[Borodin]

Agents of Justice was an attempt to use the XCOM concept in a new setting, but it got bogged down in the move to a new graphics engine (which was never Simtex's strong point). What they showed each year at E3 was great, but they did that 3 years running. Freedom Force doesn't have the same scope as the original, but it's a reasonably good if limited RPG/strategy hybrid.

When you said Superheroes, at first I thought you meant Superheroes of Hoboken: an extremely funny RPG/adventure hybrid. :D

[Wael]

I meant-/
A success in my eyes,
a good game,
in my eyes-/

[Fawfulhasfury]

Looks good to me. :ok:

[Wael]

T´is...
Demo (http://www.megagames.com/news/show.cgi?&idtype=demos&database=349&section=downloads&) can be found here -/

It however is only the beginning,
and therefore doesn´t scratch beyond the surface -/

[Eagle of Fire]

Too much ad screens... :crazy:

Managed to get it tough. Will try later.

[PrejudiceSucks]

Yep. Superheroes got canned. On the other hand, Freedom Force is great. It's funny and although some of the levels are just tedious, it's a very good game, especially in the way that you can create your own powers.

A sequel is coming out next year, and is set in WW2 and (much like comics from that era) contains the heroes winning the war against the Germans.

[Eagle of Fire]

That's far from being a superheroes game Prejudice, in fact it sounds just like another stupid FPS... :not_ok:

[Havell]

Nope, it's not an FPS, you have to build your superheros, giving them different powers and weaknesses, the better a superhero the more prestige you need to get them on your team, you gain prestige by saving people, completing missions and defeating enemies. In the game you control your team in real time (with lots of pauses, like Baldurs Gate or something) and tell them to use their powers against the enemies.

[Eagle of Fire]

Why the WW2 theme then? If anything else, a Superheroes game should be set in a fantasy theme, not into an historic war...

[JJXB]

i just happen to have a friend who owns freedom force and it rocks!

[Eagle of Fire]

I just noticed Freedom Force in my local Wallmart... At first I was seriously unimpressed by the demo, but then again when the game is 6,97$ you can hardly argue! I just bought it. :)

[Red Diablo]

Eagle: Give us a verdict after you've played it a while, I'm seriously thinking of tracking it down.

[Eagle of Fire]

An early judgement would lead me to give 3.5 on 5 on FF right now.

It's interesting, but nothing new here and it sure doesn't bring the SuperHeroes genre to a high.

I still have some options to explore tough, I only finished the first 2 missions and the first mission was in the demo.

[dishwasherlove]

Yeah, it gets hard quick. I stated getting caned in that ant mission D:

It is pretty fun though

[MasterGrazzt]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Dec 27 2004, 11:51 PM
Why the WW2 theme then? If anything else, a Superheroes game should be set in a fantasy theme, not into an historic war...
Well, as Prejudice said, pretty much every superhero comic in the 40s had something to do with the war...

Let me elaborate.

In the Golden Age, what we comic fans call the 40s, nearly every superhero was either in the war, or protecting the homefront from spies and saboteurs. It's a big superhero setting.

Oh, but how come Superman didn't just stop Hitler right away, you ask?

Well, DC Comics changed the past (called retconning) to say that Hitler had the Spear of Destiny (the one that pierced Jesus' side, and yes the same one from the Wolfenstein 3D sequel) and used it to keep superheroes at bay. In the Marvel Universe, the heroes that were about then interfered. Hell, Captain America punched Hitler in the face.

Anyway, Freedom Force was quite a game. It was fun to play, funny as hell, and a great tribute to the Silver Age, or 60s. Hell, the box art (inside the flap, the one that shows all the characters) is a tribute to Jack "The King" Kirby's art. You could tell Irrational loved superheroes as much as say, I :D do. In addition, it is heavily moddable. It was great playing the melee mode as Superman, the Martian Manhunter, Starman or Spider-Man, for example. Also, this site: Alex's Freedom Fortress (http://www.alexff.com) offers a Justice League of America mod.

I'm looking forward to Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich.

[Omuletzu]

Originally posted by Red Diablo@Jan 6 2005, 12:44 AM
Eagle: Give us a verdict after you've played it a while, I'm seriously thinking of tracking it down.
It's a good game Diablo.It's not excellent, but for 7 dollars i think it's a bargain

[Wael]

Originally posted by Red Diablo@Jan 5 2005, 10:44 PM
Eagle: Give us a verdict after you've played it a while, I'm seriously thinking of tracking it down.
Gamerankings, 'Freedom Force (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/340353.asp?q=freedom%20force)
A very, very good game /-

[wormpaul]

That game looks great :w00t: :w00t:

[Eagle of Fire]

It is extremely far from 93%, I would go more around 80%... But like I said and been mentioned earlier, for 7 bucks you just can't complain! Especially since it's the second successfull SuperHeroes game after that online game, I think it is named "City of Heroes"... And it's only multiplayer.

[Wael]

@Eagle
How much of the game have you even played?
For the Quality of the game doesn´t even show itself in the first six or seven levels /-

[MasterGrazzt]

Ignore this post, I was stupid and didn't read the whole article.

[Eagle of Fire]

So far I played only 5 missions, but unless some incredible and really hidden engine wonders appear in the next missions you can bet I will most likely lower my appreciation instead of raising it...

Ever played Baldur's Gate? Well take that and make the characters SuperHeroes instead, and you have Freedom Force.

At least the story is entertaining even if it's slightly cheesy since taken from an old UK (or American) comic.

[Wael]

The Point of the game are the superheroes & evolving them...
How much you have now?
exactly, merely four...

Baldur´s gates?
Played, liked etc etc...
But they belong to a totally different genre /-

And you just began the game,
so try to make a superhero of a level one thief from baldur & tell me if you succeed... /-

[Red Diablo]

Well it seems like a good game for that measely 7$, I'll just have to get it and try it out for myself.

[MasterGrazzt]

Originally posted by Eagle of Fire@Jan 7 2005, 02:16 AM
At least the story is entertaining even if it's slightly cheesy since taken from an old UK (or American) comic.
Sorry, it's not actually taken from an old comic. It's a tribute Irrational created themselves, to the entire 60s of comics, the Silver Age. This is why, like I said, the box art in the section under the flap looks exactly like Jack Kirby drew it. Kirby was a big, influential artist. Along with his partner Stan Lee, he was basically the Tolkien of superhero comics.

All of the characters are tributes to Marvel, mostly. Marvel Comics was the biggest in the 60s, and they breathed a breath of fresh air into what was then (and I know you're going to argue is now, but I'm going to ignore you) a stale genre. A few DC influences are there, but definately not as many. I'm somewhat a bigger fan of DC Comics, and since the 40s was DC's time, expect to see more references to them in Vs The Third Reich.

Minute Man = Any patriotic, America themed hero, in particular Captain America (Marvel)
El Diablo = Human Torch (Marvel)
Alche-Miss = Dr. Strange (Marvel)
Mentor = Mentor makes me think of a superheroic version of the Watcher (Marvel)
Man-Bot = Iron Man (Marvel)
Order = Thor (Marvel)
Microwave = The Vision (Marvel)
Man'O War = He's like a combination of Aquaman (DC) and Namor the Sub-Mariner (Marvel)
Sea Urchin = Aqualad (DC)
The Bullet = The Flash (DC) and Quicksilver (Marvel)
Eve = Wonder Woman (DC)
The Ant = Spider-Man (Marvel)
Law = Also reminds me of Thor (Marvel)
Liberty Lad = Bucky, Captain America's dead partner (Marvel)


About the cheese... The biggest strength of the comics of the 60s was that they were pure fun. They're not Wuthering Heights, and they don't try to be. They're just fun.

If anyone cares about what I've done here, please say it. I don't want to think I'm wasting my time. I know I can go on and on, but this is a subject near and dear to my heart. :bleh:

[Eagle of Fire]

Wael, Baldur's Gate is exactly the same thing than Freedom Force if you just get the fantasy setting out and change the levelling system. It's not because you can grab objects or because the buildings can be destroyed that you can call the game innovative or new.

A played a lot more missions now and I got Minuteman kidnapped. I'm now on a mission which some kind of disguised mecreants are casting super spells which knockdown Liberty Lad in one shot... The trick is that he need to survive the battle, so it's extremely boring from this point since I need to keep him out of the action and usually while I'm busy fighting with the other 3 characters some ennemies (who seems to be attracted to Liberty Lad like a magnet or aiming missile) get to him and kill him in one shot... Extremely boring. I called it a day since I been playing for so long when restarting about 4 times that mission.

I still say 80% is good for the game. It's a good game, it would translate to 4 on 5.

[Eagle of Fire]

Alright, I finished the game by now. My rating is going down to 70%. Several visual gaming bugs along with an obscure and fast ending going along the lines of "beat all the bosses you've met from the beginning of the game" mood got the rating down by 10%.

This game is one of the best I ever played, but I am strongly biased because I just loved superheroes comics in my youth. To an average gamer who is not biased in this way, I beleive that the 70% might even be a little too high still. However, taking into account that this is the second successfull superhero PC game which got out and thus it's extremely original, it's sure worth a try even if you are not interested in the heroes gimmick.

Another pro of the game is that it really mannaged to make me feel (at some sparse points in the game) as a true superhero leader. At times I sure did not know where to throw myself in some heavy action fights (or more to the points, the 4 heroes you control in the game :D) and this really add to the realism of being a "leader". Another good point goes in the realism and background of the "default" heroes. You could swear they really come out from a well thought out old comic like the Legion of Superheroes. A lot of work been put in their background, and they are really balanced in such a way that they both complement and need the other heroes to survive and fight well.

On the cons tough, while the graphics are quite nice to the eye and the camera is set into a kind of isometric view (which I just love, tough there is an option to unlock it), several graphic glitches and/or bugs really bothered me thru the course of the game. The most annoying glitche I ran across is when ennemies are throw away either by an explosion or one of your heroes power and "enter" an object or a building. This is extremely infuriating when the ennemy happen to be someone you need to interogate to continue the plot, and it actually happened to me more than once.
There was several minor glitches too, like when you pick up an object with a character and end up with a minor case of out of synch animation, or like "entering" building or walking thru not moving cars simply by walking thru them like if they did not exist (tough I could still pick them up). Nothing to hinder play, but graphically ugly.

Another gripe is the slowdown I experimented in the game when there is a lot of vegetation on the screen. While it may be system dependant (even tough I do have a nice gaming machine here) and that the same happened when I played Halo, I do feel like giving so much CPU power only to render vegetation a complete waste of game resource.

More to the point of the game itself, I really hated the ending. Like aforementioned, the last few fights get you to fight all the "big" bosses from the beginning of the game until you get to the real threat you need to take care of. While the beginning of the game is really well made and the story really stick together, the few last missions are part of the worst I ever ran thru in a game like this. It is extremely clear that it been really butched (a la Diablo II 4th act) and only been pieced together for the sake of having an ending. Not only does the game end without you having your final fight with your real nemesis, but I feel like the game been cut in two, just when I was enjoying levelling my last late heroes. While I should have seen this coming since you are always sending teams of 4 heroes to fight and thus leave you to fight more often with the heroes you prefer most, the ending was really too abrupt to really allow me to get the feeling it could have been way better. Moreso that the game simply stop there with no option to have some random missions with your ending heroes... If you want to play with them again, load an old mission or start again... :not_ok:

Also, on one mission in particular at the beginning of the game, you end up splitting your team to react to an emergency and cover more ground at the same time. Being one of my most liked mission at the beginning, I expected to have a few more missions like these... But to no avail.

My personnal oppinion of this game would be that it had a lot more potential than what I seen and played. It is a first of it's kind and I would not be surprised to see a sequel or other games trying to copy and improve this game. In fact, I would be quite glad...

However, I been wrongly biased by the price of the game, since it seems it been 2 years already that it got out. It came to my attention by friends of mine that the game was selling as high as 70$(Can) when it got out, which is a utterly steal of good earned money. The game is really not worth as much, I would never pay more than 30$ for it now that I know what it is all about. This is another reason why I lowered my rating, since I now know better on that aspect.


Bottom line: if you dig superheroes comics and/or cartoons, you must get this game! If you are not, then it would still be a very good purchase if it is at a low price. Considering I bought mine 7$, it's a bargain! :ok: