Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Trailer

I’m amazed at how well they’ve brought McGuinness art style to the screen. Marvel & DC have both promised in the DTV movies that they will bring us adaptations of our favorite comic book artists style to the screen. Disregarding the creative merits of that promise for a moment, this certainly seems like the closest they’ve come to delivering on that promise.

Iron Man: Aerial Assault

Easily the most robust super-hero game currently available for the iPhone. Fans play as the big screen incarnation of ‘ol Shell Head, on an airborne mission, using his signature armor to take out drones, missiles, and aerial bases. The graphics on this game rival any console game I have – and when you are comparing a mobile game favorably to a next gen console title, you have a good idea of how powerful these devices are.

The controls on this game took quite some time for me to master, but once I figured out how to use the iPhone’s motion and touch functions to control Iron Man, and effectively utilize his repulsor blasts, missiles and chest unibeam, I became severely addicted to this game. Each of the twelve levels introduced more planes, missiles and drones for me to combat, by the time I reached the final level the melee of opponents was almost dizzying. But that didn’t stop me from obsessively replaying this game until I had conquered all.

Iron Man: Aerial Assault from Paramount Digital Entertainment is currently on sale at the iTunes App store for $0.99 – a big discount from the $5.99 I paid for it. At that price, you’d be silly not to get it.

The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game

This game gets a lot of flack from mobile gamers, mostly for what the game isn’t: a full out driving experience. But for what the game is, I greatly enjoy it.

A rather quick play, The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game puts you behind the wheel (in a third person view) of The Tumbler – Batman’s big screen ride, as you use the motion control of your iPhone or iPod Touch to weave in and out of traffic in Gotham City. Touching the exhaust of The Tumbler, when prompted, gives you a speed boost. Touching at the wrong time stalls you out.

While people complain that you aren’t in full control of The Tumbler – the vehicle is on “auto-pilot” – you simply move left or right, and control your trajectory during jumps – that never took away from the enjoyment of this game for me. After all – it’s a mobile game, not Grand Theft Auto. Again, the graphics are mind-blowing, and this quick tour through Gotham has kept me entertained during many a train ride or long wait at the pharmacy.

The Dark Knight: Batmobile Game from Warner Bros. Entertainment is available at the iTunes App store for $0.99

LEGO Batman: Gotham City Games

A companion game for the console version of LEGO Batman – designed exclusively for the iPhone and iPod Touch. LEGO Batman: Gotham City Games has a series of classic mini-games, stylized for the LEGO Batman world, which are tied together with impressively rendered comic-book style cut scenes.

Fans expecting a port of the LEGO Batman console game might be disappointed, and the game is geared towards younger players, but I did enjoy some of the mini-games more then others – Penguin Pinball would make a perfectly good pinball game, even without the Batman theme – and I especially like LEGO Batman wallpapers that are unlocked as you complete each game.

At $4.99, it is a little pricey, but its important to keep in mind that on most cell phones, $4.99 would get you an 8-bit version of Pac Man to play.

Once you’ve conquered the Story Mode, which is breeze, it’s on to the Arcade Mode, or Online game play, which is the meat and potatoes of the game. Mortal Kombat VS. DC Universe is the first truly satisfying super-hero fighting game, since unlike previous spandex button mashers such as Marvel vs. Capcom, you are actually fighting the way these characters would fight. After you spend some time perfecting some pretty precise button combos, you’ll have a blast when you finally get the timing down to blast a foe with Superman’s Heat Vision, or grab a baddie with Green Lantern’s ring and slam him or her to the ground. I actually cheered out loud when I dispatched a major boss character by having The Joker shock him to death with his joy-buzzer.

The fight arenas, which looked gorgeous on my PS3, are evenly split between significant DC and Mortal Kombat locales. I’m not familiar enough with the MK world to comment on their settings, but I sure got a kick out of fighting in such DC turf as the Batcave, The Fortress of Solitude, or Themyscira.

The Mortal Kombat franchise is known for its signature violence, especially for the characters’ vicious “Fatality” finishing moves. While the inclusion of DC’s signature heroes have forced this latest game to tone down some of the graphic gore, the game is still over-the-top to the point of laughter. Mortal Kombat characters, and DC Villains, still have Fatalities as their finishing moves, while the DC Heroes have “Heroic Brutalities.” It’s a pretty fine line when you see The Flash step on someone’s spine 4,000 times, but I was laughing too hard to nitpick.

I was surprised at the level of re-playability on this title, with so many characters and unique super-moves to perfect, I find myself firing this up quite often, to see if I can finally beat an online opponent by having Batman take them down with an exploding Batarang. Midway Games have hinted that they may offer downloadable characters in the future. I haven’t heard much about this since they first teased it, but if they offer Nightwing or Green Arrow for download, I’ll be bruising my fingers trying to learn the button combo for the boxing glove arrow.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is available for all major gaming consoles.

However, the opening sequence pulls no punches in immersing you in the horrors of war, featuring graphic footage of warfare, and even mass graves. The cut scenes in the game are equally captivating and grotesque. At times I wondered if a video game earned the right to exploit such footage in the name of immersive gameplay.

The single player campaign is fast paced, as you are dropped into battlegrounds, moving from checkpoint to checkpoint with speed. COD:WAW does a tremendous job of capturing the tension of war, as you’re never quite sure when the next enemy is going to spring a trap on you and your battalion. While things start off in a darkened, jungle setting, the game places you front and center in a variety of different battle situations, including massive fights with tanks, planes, and flame-throwers.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the multiplayer sections of the game, but the overwhelming options lead me to believe that re-playability is high on this title, I’m especially looking forward to the co-op mode called Nacht der Untoten or Night of the Undead, which is basically a last stand against waves of Nazi Zombies. I love Zombie movies, and Nazi Zombies are pretty much the best target you could possibly have in a video game!

Fans of first-person shooters would do well to pick up Call of Duty: World at War. The game is rated "M" for Mature, so make sure you have a strong stomach, and a good sound system connected to your PS3, X-Box 360, Wii or PS2 and give ‘em hell!

Goyer, who also co-wrote several JSA arcs with Geoff Johns, is known for his ability to keep comic book characters intact, something that is almost an afterthought on the many DC properties annouced lately (Catwoman, Wonder Woman, Superman).

Let’s hope that this is one that actually does make it to the big screen.