This summer is going to see some iconic heroes make their way to the big screen for the first time and with that comes corresponding video games. Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern will star in their own movies and video games, but unfortunately when a game is based off a movie that was based off a comic book, by the time it reaches video game form it becomes watered down in quality. So we’re going to try to beat them to the punch and give our ideas for some heroes that could have a video game made about them.
Today, I’m going to highlight the Emerald Archer and see how we can bring Green Arrow into the video game world.
My inspiration for this was the Justice League Heroes action RPG from the last generation of consoles. Although not playable from the start, Green Arrow was your first unlockable character and simply dominated my gameplay from that point onward. At first, I was thinking that we could make this a first-person shooter similar to the Turok games for the N64, but realized that would limit a lot of what we could do with Green Arrow in terms of acrobatics and melee combat and so this game would have to be done from the third-person perspective in a sandbox similar to Spider-Man 2, but take combat elements from Batman: Arkham Asylum. == TEASER ==
Set in the urban landscape of Star City, you would have a basic compliment of abilities to start the game, but would of course unlock new arrows and learn new abilities as the game goes on. You’d start with some basic punch and kick combos and an unlimited amount of regular arrows and grappling hook arrows for offense and to get around, but could unlock electric, glue, exploding, and knockout gas arrows as the game progresses as well as combo extending maneuvers and even Ollie’s sword.
Now the interesting part of this game would be to help get across Ollie’s new anti-hero willingness to put down his enemies for good. So I would institute two bars into the game besides your standard health bar. The first bar would be a focus bar that fills up as Ollie defeats enemies and when activated would allow Ollie to do some bullet time arrow shots and pick off enemies with his archer’s precision. Being a hero still, most of the time Ollie will only be allowed to use incapacitating shots in this mode (shots to the limbs) or pin foes against walls with some extra precise shots (bonus xp awarded for those to spend on upgrades).
Green Arrow has an infamous temper though and so he’ll also have a rage bar that fills up as he defeats enemies or takes damage. When this is activated, the Emerald Archer may see red and could let a couple arrows slip…right into a thug’s throat. It wouldn’t be the first time Green Arrow has killed someone, but it could set up some really sweet effects combining the focus bar with the rage bar.
There would be your basic gameplay elements, but what about the story? The game will be broken down into five acts, with a boss battle set up at the end of each one. Green Arrow is known for trying to keep the streets of Star City clean and it looks like drugs and guns are becoming abundant again so it’ll be up to the Emerald Archer to figure out just who is making a move and to try to clean it up again.
Taking a lot of influence from more recent storylines, the final boss and mastermind of the gun and drug running will be crime lord Brick (Act 5). Along the way, you’ll have to take down Brick’s hired help in Constantine Drakon (Act 1) and Deathstroke (Act 4). In between, crazed stalker Cupid (Act 2) and classic Green Arrow nemesis Merlyn (Act 3) will cause trouble for the Emerald Archer.
And to help make the boss battles worth it, you’ll earn special attributes and weapons while each one will have special twists to them. For example, against Drakon, you can’t use your arrows because Drakon will simply catch them all and throw them back at you. Thus, you’ll have to use your fists and feet and at the end you’ll learn a new combo. Or Deathstroke’s battle can end in a swordfight that has you unlock Ollie’s sword.
On top of all this, the game will feature a local co-op mode that allows you to take over as Roy Harper, Speedy or Black Canary and lend a hand, but this will primarily be a single player oriented game.
So what do you guys think? If done properly, could you see yourselves getting behind a Green Arrow video game? Would you try something else in regards to the bow and arrow dynamics? Let us know below!