While not as hidden as superhero comic books, movies, and live-action TV shows, the biggest superhero video games have been given a recognizable formula. 3D action games like the Batman: Arkham trilogy and Marvel’s Spider-Man have showcased the best translations of iconic comic book characters to video games. Even less successful games like Marvel’s Avengers and Guardians of the Universe follow a similar path.
What makes Marvel’s Midnight Sun is so exciting that it brings something else to the table. midnight Sun puts a supernatural spin on the well-known Marvel team, with a story based on the company’s horror-like roster of 90s heroes. Fans are also excited about the turn-based tactical gameplay. midnight Sun is being developed by Firaxis Games, the studio behind the beloved XCOM reboot and continue. While making that link midnight Sun resembling “Marvel’s XCOM,” Firaxis strays from his winning formula.
firaxis’ XCOM games have updated the classic PC series for a modern audience, starting with 2012 XCOM: enemy unknown. The flesh and potatoes of the first three XCOM games developed by Firaxis are turn-based battles. Those skirmishes between human soldiers and alien enemies are so compelling because they let players feel the thrill of fighting an enemy who has outmatched them, outsmarted them, and has the element of surprise on their side.
The map is covered in a “war fog” and is slowly revealed as players’ troops progress through it. It’s easy to run into enemies and end up in a compromising position if players aren’t careful. Being careful and using cover is necessary to keep them alive, but not always enough. The cover is destructible and can explode in the case of cars, which will take out player soldiers if they don’t get out of the blast radius in time.
The tension created by playing carefully enough to keep the soldiers alive, but being brutal enough to defeat the alien forces is what makes XCOM‘s fight so great. Seizing the opportunity to flank and attack an alien leads to elation when it works and dejection when a 99% chance of hitting an enemy widens. Although they are vastly different properties, the nuts and bolts of XCOM‘s gameplay to a Marvel game is doable.
However, Firaxis has opted for a different approach for: midnight Sun. While the battles are still turn-based, actions are decided through a card-based system rather than XCOM‘s use of commands and hit rates. That combination is more reminiscent of the cult favorite Baten Kaitos games than what people like about the XCOM spell. Fans who expected a literal Marvel XCOM let Firaxis know that they are displeased with the change. The fact that the game’s creative director, Jake Solomon, acknowledged that the game’s combat would be “completely different” from XCOM‘s did little to prepare them.
Although it is a more drastic change, midnight Sun is not the first time the developer has modified its formula in a strategy game. The PC Exclusive XCOM game, chimera squad, received generally favorable reviews from critics, but they found flaws in the fight. Instead of soldiers being leveled up in one of the four classes, Chimera Squad‘s 11 characters have unique abilities that combine different attributes. Those skills made Chimera Squad‘s soldiers more powerful than the grunts of previous games, eliminating the tension that was so crucial to those games’ appeal.
Even though they have different game mechanics, Chimera Squad can be a good guide to how midnight Sun will differ from the XCOM spell. Characters like Iron Man will probably be overpowered even more than Chimera Squad‘s cast. That will certainly have its own pleasures, especially with midnight Sunheroes who take on demon-possessed enemies such as the Hulk and Venom. Still, it’s disappointing to see the most viscerally exciting parts of the XCOM experience omitted from midnight Sun. It would have been interesting to see if Firaxis could have translated XCOM‘s exciting, edge-of-your-seat play to a Marvel title.
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