Crossover: Iron Man & XO Manowar
Before I begin, I feel obligated to explain something: for this week's Crossover, I was unable to find a suitable image of the Acclaim game described below. I apologize. I offer up this image of X-O Manowar in an effort to make up for it.
Long ago, back when Valiant Comics was still an independent comic company and wasn't owned/operated/having their franchises butchered by Acclaim, X-O Manowar was one of the comics which helped build up their reputation for mature, gorgeous, and intelligent titles. It featured the story of Aric, a 5th Century Visigoth who -thanks to an alien abduction and a little bit of lightspeed- winds up in our time with the most powerful weapon in the known universe. Wearing a sentient suit of armor which evolves over time, Aric goes around trouncing creepy aliens and other threats to mankind while still remaining one of the most primitive men on the planet.
So, anyway, X-O Manowar ended up appearing in an early Playstation action game known as Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal. My guess is that Iron Man needs no introduction. As comic-based games go, this one featured a reasonable enough plot about a group of supervillains trying to gain control of a cosmic cube, which serves as a nice excuse of the two comic universes crossing over. The two playable heroes then go through a bunch of two-dimensional levels, fighting generic enemies until they reach a B-list boss or two, and occasionally gain powerups along the way.
As comic-based games of the 90s went, this wasn't a terrible one by any standard. The music was a little tinny, the early 3D graphics were definitely passable (at the time, they looked pretty damn shiny, though), and as 2D action games went the gameplay was actually surprisingly well-done, though it did get repetitive after a while. Still, for two characters without the popularity of Batman, Spider-Man, or the X-Men, Heavy Metal was a great send-up to its protagonists, and it was certainly better than any of the Spawn games released at the time... actually, that list bit probably isn't saying much.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Comics on 19 September 2007
Other stuff like this: acclaim, crossover, iron man, marvel comics, valiant comics, x-o manowar
