Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage (SNES/Mega Drive, 1994)
In part, that’s what made this third person action adventure such a joy to play it really made you feel like a super powerful, rage-induced killing machine – and Wolverine’s feral nature has possibly never been better presented in video game form than in this loose movie adaptation. It’s almost comical how over the top it is in terms of its gore – especially when you consider the film it’s based on. It seems that the creators of X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t get the memo about toning down the violence, however – this 18-rated adaptation of the movie goes all out to show copious amounts of blood and limbs flying all over the place, right from the start of the game. Of course, the story itself was an absolute mess – so it wasn’t just the lack of violence that dulled its effectiveness. Talking of violence, X-Men Origins: Wolverine the movie suffered in part due to its sanitised, family-friendly approach to the mutant carnage it depicted, securing itself a PG-13 rating in the US and a 12 in the UK. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (PS2/PS3/Xbox 360/Wii) It was a great adaptation of the character, which more than earns it a place on the Best Marvel Games list.
Nevertheless, this was still a pretty violent game – at a time when there was a bit of a moral panic about video game violence, thanks in part to Rockstar’s GTA and Manhunt games causing mostly media-led controversy. In this suitably violent third person shooter, The Punisher can interrogate criminals at specified ‘hot spots’ – leading to cut scenes so graphic and gory that they were featured in black and white, with even more changes to reduce their impact in the UK versions. Thomas Jane also voiced the character in this video game adaptation, which was co-written by one of the most popular Punisher writers of all time – Garth Ennis. Though created in the 70s, The Punisher’s popularity as a character truly exploded in the 80s, thanks initially to the dark, unusually mature comic book mini-series The Punisher: Circle of Blood – published in 1986.įrom there on, the gun-toting, violent killer Frank Castle – who took out criminals by shooting first and rarely bothering to ask questions – became so popular that a movie was made starring Dolph Lundgren as Castle (in 1989), with two more following in the 2000s (with Thomas Jane playing the character in the 2004 version and Ray Stevenson as Castle in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone).
Which ones are the best though? Let’s find out as we take a look at the Best Marvel Games of All Time! If you’re a more recent fan of the Marvel superheroes, you may have missed some of the excellent titles that have been released over the years – sometimes even crossing over into other universes, such as in Capcom’s fighting games (though we’ll be sticking to Marvel only games for this list – and mostly staying away from film adaptations too). There have been countless Marvel titles over the years, ever since the very first of them – Spider-Man on the Atari 2600 – appeared in 1982.
Though of course films and TV shows based on Marvel comics have existed for decades, it wasn’t until Marvel began building up their shared comic book universe on the big screen that they truly saw consistent and long lasting success on our screens – and the characters have never been more popular. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has dominated cinema screens since the release of the first Iron Man film in 2008. It’s time to pull on a mask and take to the streets to protect the world from supervillains – as we check out the Best Marvel Games of All Time!