5 GAMES THAT NEED TO BE MADE - DC Universe

(This new article series “Games that need to be made” is where I pitch 5 games that need to be made in a particular franchise, company, genre etc... If you enjoy and want more of these lists let me know in the comments on social media! Tell us which of these 5 was your favorite, and what franchise or theme you want to see next!)

At the time I started writing this installment of “5 Games” I had just started watching Zack Snyder’s Justic League. It is a film that reminded me once again how much I love DC in general, despite the missteps and flaws of the DCEU, I love it. I love the DC universe. Many of my all time favorite super heroes are on the DC side. Don’t get me wrong, I love Marvel too; I don’t get caught up in that debate. There might be 5 Marvel games article down the road. While we comic nerds can debate the highs and lows of the DCEU, one thing I feel is slightly less controversial is the potential and lack of quality games! For one thing, if you remove Batman, for a moment on the gaming side what really is left? DC is absolutely filled with so many amazing characters that I think it is an absolute waste to not have more DC games! There are two DC games coming up with the suicide squad and the bat family, and I just couldn’t be less excited. They continue to milk the batman circle and ignore all the many other heroes! If the joke of the DC universe, Aquaman can be turned in to a critically and commercially successful film, why is there no more room for DC games that aren’t batman?

Here are 5 Games, and their respective DC heroes, that need to be made in the DC universe. In this list, I thought it would be boring to go with purely and obviously Justice League characters and pitch some games with some smaller DC heroes to make it more instersting. Important to note, this article is not just about which heroes I like, but more specifically how and why they would make a great game protagonist. There are many heroes I like but don’t necessarily think they would make a great game.

5. Starfire

Starfire is probably my most unusual choice. There are plenty of more well known and more popular heroes I could have added to this list. On the surface, Starfire doesn’t seem like an obvious choice. She isn’t even the most well known female hero, let alone hero in general. She also, often is a part of the Teen Titans as an ensemble not a solo act.

However, I think Starfire has many qualities that would make her a likeavle protagonist. She is an alien, and has a loveable and somewhat naive innocence to her exploration of Earth. She is relatable like Clark Kent, but as if Clark had shown up recently instead of growing up here.

What really made me think of her as a great canidate was reading her comic. The comic really just sold me on her as powerful and likeable hero. She does well as a solo hero, and more importantly her powers would lend herself perfectly to gameplay. She has flight and offensive energy abilities.

In this game, she protects her Earth home of Hawaii as players fly her around the islands in a large tropical map, protecting civilians and fighting monsters. Her home lends itself perfectly to island gameplay, interesting weather systems, and her abilities would be a blast to play as. Given a quality story, fun gameplay, and good villian, this game could be a really underrated gem. I describe it as a "Far Cry" game with flight and super powers.

4. Constantine

Another more left field pick is Constantine. I absolutely love Keanue Reeves as Constantine, and I wouldn’t be against getting him to reprise his role for the game considering he’s obviously available for AAA game titles (Cyberpunk 2077) but even if not, I want a Constantine game.

One of the reasons I want this game is because I have a weird obsession with game depictions of hell and the underworld. They just make for fascinating game worlds. If games like Dante’s Inferno, Doom, Devil May Cry, or Darksiders tell us anything is that walking around shooting demons is some of the absolute best things that games have to offer. I want to walk around and fight demons as Constantine.

This game is a third person action adventure following the adventures of John Constantine as he fights demons in our world and in hell and it could be just absolutely amazing. One thing that it could do uniquly is a parallel world concept that is similar to (albeit hopefully better version) the recent game Medium, that showed flipping between realities. I want John Constantine fighting demons in New York, and be able to flip over to Hell, which would be an identical but not quite alternate version of New York, on fire and in disarray. This two maps in one could offer unique and challenging traversal and combat!

3. Green Lantern Corps RPG

Green Lantern is such a good character that it astonishs me how poorly he has been treated. He has an awful DC film hated by fans and critics. He has an even WORSE movie tie in game that SHALL NOT BE DISCUSSED FURTHER BECAUSE IT IS AN ABOMINATION...

Seriously though, That’s not the GL I’m talking about. That’s not the bad ass John Stewert GL I remember watching as a kid in the animated Justice League cartoons. That GL is awesome. More importantly, the abilities of a Green Lantern could make for absolutely amazing gameplay. Imagine having combat where there are dozens of constructs, each with beautiful animations.

My GL game is also unique in that this a fully blown action RPG. The Lantern corps lends itself so obviously to a character creators that I don’t know why I am the first person to point it out.

In my game, the opening level is an action sequence where a GL is fighting the games big bad. However, plot twist, the hero you are playing dies to the hand of this big bad and we see them fall to the ground. Their rings shoots of to the distant universe. At that point you create a character. Could be a human or have dozens of options for aliens. Female, male, robot? You create your own Lantern and go on a journey across multiple planets before a final confrontation with the big bad. Someone please transport me to the alternate universe where this game is please!

2. Wonder Woman

Batman has gotten 1627362636 games, and I think a character with arguably even more “gamification” than Batman deserves a game based on abilities alone. She literally has a sword and shield! The ability to translate Wonder Woman’s moves into a game seems obvious to me. Perhaps, even more importantly though, she has brand recognition. She would sell games She is the most well known female DC hero and would be an abvious pick if they wanted a female lead game. Not to mention, Wonder Woman is a beloved hit in the DCEU proving she has a fan base.

Imagine if there was a game with the quality of say, God of War or Spider-man, but with Wonder Woman? If you got a really talented female actor to play her, (I’d be fine with Gal Gadot reprising) and you had an excellent writing team and development staff she could be amazing. Her fast fluid movements combined with awesome weapons could make her not just an amazing game protagonist to play, but the greatest super hero game to date! If you told a mature, gripping narrative, nailed the acting, and executed on fast, fluid, dynamic gameplay, this could be phenomenal.

1. Superman / Supergirl Multi-planet "Open Universe" Action RPG

Man of freaking Steel. I know that I am far from the only one who wants this game, but as a huge Superman fan I just had to place it as number 1! Now, whenever I have presented the idea of how much I want a new Superman game, I always get detractors who are quick to refute. Many people are quick to point out how powerful Superman is and attempt to claim that he “cant” make for a good superman game. The fact that so far the multiple attempts at Superman in gaming have been admittedly bad, however, does NOT prove that to be true.

In my pitch, you have a main open city map as Metropolis, with frequent trips to other locations across the world. At the start of the game, you get to choose to play as either Clark Kent or Kara Kent, and your choice has impacts on the story. You can fly around Metropolis or other maps, fighting villains, saving civilians, and facing massive world ending events. Superman has enough cosmic level villains that the game could easily have a powerful main villain like Zod, Darkseid, Lex Luthor, or Brainiac. I picture much of the game to feel like Insomniac's Spider-man but with flight, a larger scope, and larger villains.

BONUS? Lead up to a Justice League Game?

Unlike, The Avenger's Game, unlike the DCEU, there is one thing that DC could do after having a successful Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Superman/girl game. Well then and only then would I want them to make a Justice League game. I think that jumping to quickly to an ensemble is what our the DCEU, and was a contributing factor to why the Avenger's game failed. The best example of doing this well is the MCU. They took their time and crafted a universe. I would absolutely love a Justice League game. Give me an advanced villain, deep well written characters, and a vastly diverse cast of characters. However, I want them to not rush this. In fact, I want a connected universe of DC games with a multi-year build up to JL. I'm ok with all 5 of my games being connected and Justice League coming out 5-10 years from now. It could even feature importing of player choices so that their versions of Green Lantern, their choice between Kara or Clark all matter and help shape their Justice League. It is too good of a possibility to squander and repeat the mistakes of the DCEU. A Justice League game needs to happen, but I want them to learn and do it right.

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