Crossover: Spawn The Video Game

Long before Spawn became the all-powerful badass that Todd McFarlane turned him into, he was one of those rather generic anti-heroes of the 1990s. Oh, trust me, I know this for a fact: I have the first 52 issues sitting in The Boxes which contain all my comics, and the guy was pretty generic for a good long while. Anyway, during the 1990s, generic action-platformers were all the rage and served as a fairly easy way to create a licensed game. So, a generic comic character combined with a generic game genre and generic programming equals what, boys and girls? That's right: it equals a generic and dull game.

Spawn: The Video Game was developed by Ukiyotei (also responsible for the entertaining-but-flawed Hook adaptation), and featured a plot that didn't really have much to do with the comics: a bunch of local children have gone missing and our titular hero has taken it upon himself to save them all. Because such declarations immediately come to the attention of all targeted villains, some anonymous jerk hires some generic goons to rough Spawn up while wearing increasingly absurd costumes. However, various bosses were actual characters from the comic series, like Angela, Redeemer, Overtkill, and the Violater, so their appearances were used to convince players that the game was actually set in the Spawn universe in spite of its pointless storyline.

Graphically, Spawn wasn't a bad-looking game for an SNES title in the mid-90s. It wasn't gorgeous, either, but it certainly wasn't bad. The characters themselves were decently animated, but the game's cut scenes are what stood out because they managed to capture the look and layout of the comic books. Other than that, though, there wasn't much that was really unique about this game. The gameplay itself is what makes it difficult for all but he most devoted of fans to play through because of its tedious and repetitive nature. Aside from combat that involves little more than basic button-mashing, Spawn also has to outrun the occasional crosshairs and jump around levels in order to escape from getting blown to smithereens. All in all, it makes for a rather dull and annoying play experience.

Sadly, Spawn's foray onto the SNES console was probably his most successful in terms of art style and gameplay. It's rather sad, seeing as how Al Simmons managed to evolve into a truly interesting character somewhere down the line, and certainly deserves better treatment than what he's been treated to since this game's release. Oh, and for the record: least satisfying ending ever.