Kick-Ass, based on Mark Millar’s hilarious-but-brutal comic book, turns the superhero genre on its head. Nobody in Kick-Ass is technically a ‘super’ hero because it’s set in our world. Therefore the ‘super’ heroes are nothing more than costumed vigilantes who withstand a bullet as well as a bowl of fruit. It’s great to see an ordinary kid aspire to be more than a witness to crime though, and it’s even greater to see a hero take some damage, especially in a genre where money can buy you immortality (looking at you, Ironman!)
Here are 5 reasons why Kick-Ass: The Videogame should be a real thing*.
The Character Arc
At its heart, Kick-Ass is about someone who witnesses crime but ignores it growing into someone who wants to do something about it. How many of us would break up a fight between two meatheads or chase a mugger down the street? I know most of us would like to think we would rise to the challenge but in reality we would shrug our shoulders and let the police deal with it.
Videogames are about performance and improvement. Kick-Ass: The Videogame would give us cowards the chance to become a superhero grounded in reality. You would start off as the average high-schooler who decides to dress up and fight crime. Start at the bottom and work your way up the criminal food chain. Sure, start off saving cats from burning buildings, but if you want to prove yourself to the world you will have to take down the region’s drug lord. Only then will you be a hero!
Weapons and Gadgets
Kick-Ass uses batons and a Taser at first because his intentions aren’t to kill anybody, but to rescue people by putting bad guys in their place. However, Hit-Girl isn’t shy of using firearms, and towards the end of the story neither is Kick-Ass.
Kick-Ass: The Videogame would naturally adopt the use of both melee and long-range weapons. Like all other action games, weapons are a necessity. Players start off with batons and a Taser, and are incapable of killing. As the enemies become stronger and deadlier so do the weapons. Eventually the player can use more advanced weapons, like bazookas.
One thing the game would do better than the movie would be the use of gadgets. The game would let you use night-vision and the jetpack much more efficiently, and a lot more too. Imagine zipping around skyscrapers projecting proximity mines through the windows. BOOM!
Combat and Acrobatics
The movie has some classic fight scenes, from Kick-Ass’ first gang fight to Big Daddy annihilating an entire room of armed men. The combat is important. It’s what puts these heroes in peril and lets us know they’re not immortal. It raises the stakes and gives us a chance to see what the characters are made of.
Combat is important in games but for another reason. Having to fight your way from Point A to Point B is the interactive part of the game, and the reason you’re playing. Kick-Ass: The Videogame would have various modes of fighting. There would be a training mode where players punch sandbags, wrestle, race against the clock, and test their balance on wires. Actual gameplay fights would either be one-on-one like a typical boss fight, or gang-based like Assassin’s Creed.
An open world videogame, and more inspiration plucked from the Assassin’s Creed franchise, would let players free-run around the city. Scale buildings to scout the streets, or chase your enemies across rooftops!
Costumes
The look of the costume is important. It defines who the hero is. It becomes a symbol. Once Kick-Ass commits to having green and yellow there is no going back. The costume can always be improved though. Not even Spider-Man kept his prototype, and Batman was constantly altering his cowl and cape (and codpiece).
In Kick-Ass: The Videogame you would start off with nothing more than a prototype suit. The basics would be enough at first, as long as your face is covered. As the game progresses more resources become available. Stronger materials, padding and armoured pieces can be added as layers, increasing your health along the way. However, in the game you don’t have to commit to a colour-scheme. Enter your bedroom and repaint your costume. Tired of cat ears? Turn them into horns instead!
Superhero Recruitment
Kick-Ass 2, which will be in cinemas in August, pits a group of superheroes against a group of supervillians. Kick-Ass 2 introduces a host of new characters with their individual style, and this is something the first film didn’t do. Kick-Ass did team up with Hit-Girl, Big Daddy and Red Mist, but Kick-Ass 2 takes teaming up to a new level.
Kick-Ass: The Videogame would give players the chance to recruit other superheroes to drop by and help them in their battles. Every side quest that gets completed would increase the Inspiration meter. The more you make a difference in society the more NPC’s you inspire, and as your reputation increases so does the likelihood of inspiring new heroes. The incentive is that the more of the game you complete, and the more heroic tasks you do, the more you are rewarded by receiving your own band of vigilante brothers!
*iPhone game doesn’t count
– Lee Chesnalavage