VIDEO GAMES: The story of EA's ill-fated MARVEL figthing game
Polygon recently spoke to several team members from the now closed EA Chicago studios to speak about the MARVEL fighting game that never was.
By Blair Farrell - 3/5/2013
At the start of the most recent generation of consoles, it was difficult to find a title that would justify the purchase of a brand new Xbox 360 back in the Fall of 2005 and into early 2006. Sure, there were hits like Call of Duty 2, but a slew of ports from Xbox and PS2 titles and lackluster software didn't scream "next-gen" to a lot of gamers.
All of that changed with the release of Fight Night: Round 3, a continuation of the popular boxing series from the previous generation of consoles. The game would go on to become a hit and show off exactly what the Xbox 360 was capable of. Coming off of their success from Fight Night, EA Chicago would start production on two titles: Def Jam: Icon, a rhythm based fighter starring talent from the Def Jam label, and a fighting game simply known as "Marvel" starring the heroes and villains from the comic company. As of today, only one of those games was ever released.
Team members from the now closed EA Chicago spoke to Polygon about how the ambitious fighter led to the closing of the studio, what was completed and what didn't work. Some of the highlights include:
- Voice actors for the game included Married...With Children's David Faustino as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Steve Blum as Captain America and Gregg Henry as Wolverine.
- The game's mechanics borrowed the analog stick set up of Fight Night, but the team had a difficult time incorporating movement due to the games open nature.
- The character designs did not translate well from the concept art; Hulk looked like a "really big, fat guy", Spider-Man appeared anorexic, and Dr. Doom was almost tank like.
- One of the ideas would've had a crane operator trying to shake the Hulk off, demonstrating how the public would affect the fight.
- The team struggled with creating a story that would link the fights.
You can read the full interview at the link below.
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