Yeah yeah the video was well made and you made some very nice points blah blah blah. More importantly: THE HADOUKEN AT THE END WAS AMAZING!

I agree with you on every part apart from in force unleashed, i thought that game did an awesome job of making you feel badass, especially the fact that you can just whip most enemy into a wall crushing them in a second and even impale them and electrocute them while doing so just for shits and giggles.

I really miss the old Jimquisition intro D:

This is one of the times i agree with you, Jim. Great Point!

I think that's one of the things that made Batman: AA great- it wasn't necessarily hard, because one would expect Batman to be able to kick the crap out of thugs

Infamous made me feel pretty super.

What about Dark Forces 3: Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast 1? That let yuo feel all Jedi like. I think Deus Ex 3 is going for this too, though I'm sure I personally will find it mega challenging even if it is balanced to a tee.

Actually you make a very good point. I mean if they're going to throw in a challenge in a game like the ones mentioned they shouldn't be too too overwhelming until probably close to the end of the game, if the point of the game is that you're an unstoppable bad ass.

In it's defense though Jim, even if I had to flee at times, [Prototype] did actually make me feel like said unstoppable bad ass just with how many enemies you could take out in any given encounter. Every other game you mentioned though it's spot on. I thought inFAMOUS was great but Cole was incredibly weak at times.

I loved the background music. It wasn't loud enough.

And if you ask the Tea Party, Obama has created socialist superpowers! ;)

I agree Jim. Super powers are sh*t with most games. You feel more badass in stuff like Just Cause 2 where you can reak havoc and not have to really be concerned with your life. Mostly agree with your Force Unleashed rant.

Good points, for sure. Pretty much the main thing that I thought was great about Crackdown was how even though you could get taken down by a bunch of guys with guns hiding behind dumpsters if they caught you at the wrong moment, you could easily pick that dumpster up and drop kick it into them, which never stopped being awesome.

This is why I love Bayonetta, Devil May Cry and the Warriors games. You're practically invincible, killing hundreds of monsters or whatever with crazy moves and lightning flying about everywhere. It's sad when you pick up a Superman game or Prototype and aren't even on-par with Xiao Qiao.

yeah thats one thing i really hated about infamous. the super sniper teenagers that shoot you from beyond your radar or physical view range.

and what about the Mario Bros? they aren't SUPER at all.

I'm pretty sure Nathan Drake is a superhuman at this point anyways.
Might as well be Spider-Man, the shit he climbs would scare the shit out of me.

I agree, but I enjoyed InFamous though. I think what you might be looking for Jim, is an "super easy casual" mode ;) No but seriously, I think inFamous 2 wasn't too challenging, and his weaknesses was logical (only game character EVER which has a reason not to swim).

But yeah, very few games make you feel like super awesome, but I think that going through a 8 hour single player without any difficulty would make the super hero thing kinda boring. I can't even enjoy an open sandbox game for too long without going bored, don't think having super powers would be that different.

I think having a bit of difficulty in inFamous made me feel more bad ass than it would without. With a challenge I feel like I'm actually helping, and I'm solving an issue in an awesome perfect way, not just "riding along". So I think that a challenge is essential for the best bad-ass feeling in gaming.

I miss "The Video Game Show What I`ve Done" =(

100% agree, especially about Infamous.

I do think that Prototype was a great superhero game because while they put you up against incredible odds (including those uneven boss fights), you had a wide variety of powers and means to eliminate a threat: beat them up with your bare hands, steal a bazooka and blow them up, hijack a helicopter and strafe them, call in an airstrike, or just find a shady spot and put on a disguise.

If I remember correctly, Spiderman 2 for PS2 was a pretty awesome superhero game. Challenging during some missions, but when you're swinging around in the city and beating up random thugs, you couldn't help but feeling awesome.

I disagree, if we were overpowered, than we would complain about that.

I prefer hard odds.

Eh, could've used another take. You tripped over your words a lot. And no wonder your mic is busted, the way you keep tossing it around.

Definitely a good point though.

Agreed Mr Sterling agreed I thought infamous was really good but Cole was very under powered and dude I swear I feel the exact same about X-men origins wolverine its kind of like GTA 4 and saints row 2 one is all about over the top chaos on the does the same but to a lesser extent...Okay maybe a bad comparison still good video :D

HADOUKEN

Wholeheartedly agree, Jim. I didn't even finish Prototype because I got tired of boss battles consisting of me running around in circles, stealing a quick shot or two on the boss then hoping to hell I get away before he connects with the first shot in a LOOOOOOOONG combo that I just have to take to the face with no defense.

And Force Unleashed was cool, until you start regularly encountering waves of Storm Troopers with shields, because a shield automatically means you can't do shit to them with the force and must get close or find something that you CAN throw at them.

I know he really isn't technically "super", but Arkham Asylum made me feel incredibly badass. By the end of the game I was untouchable.

hahahaha that hadouken was so great. But in the case of Prototype, sure, if Alex stays on the ground in the middle of mutant/military chaos, he`ll be done in a short time, but then, you got his defensive powers and his devastator attacks can dispatch almost all enemies with one hit =P

The Force Unleashed was a huge disappointment for me and I'm a pretty big Star Wars fanboy. Towards the end every enemy is Force resistant. And! It doesn't feel like you're fighting with a lightsaber. It's just a glowy hitty stick.

Let me chop off a bunch of limbs while choking another storm trooper, then fling his crushed windpipe corpse through the canopy of an approaching Tie fighter, causing it to crash into the AT-ST that's trying to shoot me.

I was so excited for the "pull the Star Destroyer out of orbit" part, but when it turned out to be a lame boss fight, I almost quit right then.

Speakin of being badass, yeah, that happens in Bioshock

In the beggining to the middle of the game, you`re a weakling, the first Spider Splicers were hell, and you had to craft some tough strategies to take down big daddies. In end game, Jack is a walking tank, taking down Big Daddies within seconds xD

I agree with everything you said, except for the bit about Infamous. I really enjoyed that game, and I didn't find it challenging really. It was fun to just run around and blast the shit out of stuff with electricity. I'm looking forward to the second one where you'll be even stronger. =D

But yeah, Force Unleashed was pretty terrible. Here's hoping FU2 (lol what a hilarious acronym!) will be better.

Jim, I think you're forgetting that even the superheroes of comics are frequently pitted against difficult challenges they have to struggle through. It gives a great sense of tension and (in a game) that the moves you choose to make actually matter; That you aren't just playing a movie where you're occasionally required to mindlessly mash a button.

I was pondering how man games seem to want to be more complex instead using a simple twist these days, also brings me ideas to were to explore as well.

MIKEDOKEN

I actually feel that both Crysis and Prototype hit (or at least came close to) the perfect balance of empowerment and difficulty. In both I felt like a badass, yet challenged at the same time. You must be doing something wrong, Jim. :P

Did you get to play an early build of Crysis 2 or something? Or did you just mess up at the start and meant to say Crysis? Cause if you're telling me Crysis 2 is more of that restrictive bullshit then I'm gonna be a sad panda.

Hmmm...Crysis was hard indeed, But that didn't stop me from running out of bushes to hit the enemy in the face with my bare fists(only thing, that gave me the feeling of badass in Crysis). Crysis need tactics to master it, like using the jungle to sneak, but that indeed doesn't make me feel like an badass. Prototype on the other hand, was a piece of cake and that's why I love it too. Tanks? Helicopters? Mutants? Pfff, I have biological armor and and huge blades, I destroyed everything, if I was in the mood. Also, use disguise. Anyway, the Assassins Creed 2 should be called a "Superhero game", because it made me feel like a badass, the combat was so easy, I never died in battle. I rarely try to flee or turn down a good fight...if I'm in the mood for it. Assassins Creed 2 is a good example of easy games being fun.

Hmmm...Crysis was hard indeed, But that didn't stop me from running out of bushes to hit the enemy in the face with my bare fists(only thing, that gave me the feeling of badass in Crysis). Crysis need tactics to master it, like using the jungle to sneak, but that indeed doesn't make me feel like an badass. Prototype on the other hand, was a piece of cake and that's why I love it too. Tanks? Helicopters? Mutants? Pfff, I have biological armor and and huge blades, I destroyed everything, if I was in the mood. Also, use disguise. Anyway, the Assassins Creed 2 should be called a "Superhero game", because it made me feel like a badass, the combat was so easy, I never died in battle. I rarely try to flee or turn down a good fight...if I'm in the mood for it. Assassins Creed 2 is a good example of easy games being fun.

Agreed on all points especially with The Force Unleashed and Prototype.

The force resistant enemies mad no fucking sense other than a balance mechanic. What? Did the Empire decide to cut funding for force resistant shields for stormtroopers in a budget meeting to increase profits? Stupid.

And Prototype was even more annoying because in the beginning you were a badass killing everything in your path... until around 60% into the game. Then it became a game of runlikeabitch/runlikeabitch/swallowsoliderforhealth/massivetentatclerape/runlikeabitch/runlikeabitch/repeat.

*made

And the cut funding rant is obviously a reference to the start of the Original Trilogy when force shields apparently never existed.

I need to proofread more when I rant.

This was stupid Jim. All these games have difficulty settings and all the games are piss easy on these. In Infamous you weren't the only "super" hero so no wonder the enemies are tough.

Playing stupidly easy games where I can be a super hero is fucking boring. Look at God of War for example. You definately have super hero powers and the game is from the difficulty settings from laughable to fucking absurd.

TLDR
L2P

i know it's been said in the comments already, but goddamn -- by the end of Arkham Asylum i'd learned the fight system so well that i was pinballing between enemies with such ease i totally did feel like Batman. after the initial clumsiness of hammering buttons, when you get down pressing buttons in a more calculated manner, man that game is empowering.
another good one would be spider-man: web of shadows. even though the game was pretty broken and glitchy, the combo system and air combat was effing awesome. totally made me appreciate spidey more.

Jim - you so have to play Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast - after you get the lightsaber and all these Jedi powers, you feel more badass than the guy from Old Spice commercials. No idea why they didn't do a sequel to Jedi Academy (which, in my opinion, was shit - we need a game which os more like JO), maybe because there is some problem of 'this generation' which is nothing more than a limit of fun and great games per every year.

Kirby is always a great example of everything awesome.

Superstar ultra was fucking impossible in True Arena trying to beat it with the snowman though. Fucking useless douche water monster.

@Enzi he wasn't talking about the bosses in Infamous. He was talking about normal bad guys who are as the game calls them "gang members and addicts." It's ridiculous that they were all expert marksmen that could shoot farther than your lightning could.

Twenty foot tall story buildings, I lold I could also throw a marshmallow that distance.

Awesome video as usual, Hadouken was lol.

In The Darkness it all made sense. Everyone was scared the shit out of you because you are a demon summoner with demon tentacles that eats hearts. No one stands a chance.

Solution: have a badass mode and a hardcore mode =D

Fuck. Now it's clear why you thought the Dante redo was a good idea. You're a fat clown with tragic thalidomide flippers instead of hands who can only look at gamers who enjoy a game that challenges them as some kind of othergroup that doesn't include yourself. Why are you a game blogger If you have such scorn for "the hardcore gamer"? What kind of person do you think goes out on the net to read sites like Destructoid, then?

Lemme break it down to something simple for you. There are many kinds of fun. Kirby games are the sort of fun you have petting your puppy and talking goo goo voice at it. Crysis is the kind of fun you have from creatively overcoming difficult tasks that (unlike difficult tasks of reality)involve interesting things like lasers or exosuits. It's also the kind of fun you have defeating these challenges knowing that a fuck on the internet with undiagnosed fetal alchohol syndrome couldn't match.

Agreed. Would have liked more examples of when people have pulled it off, but right on all points. I feel like these games should at least let you feel like a mega-badass for most of the game and then if they want to really challenge you they can toss some lame enemies in at the end. I would argue that another problem is that it's still a young genre. There are exceptions to the rule (Spiderman64, etc), but on the whole, I would say that developers are still finding their way around this genre.

umm ur kinda right about the force unleashed and especially crysis, but i think you were powerfull ennough in prototype lol, there was a good half of game where you were incredibly overpowered and could run arround obliterating everything without problem, game got hard in the second half and i think it was good, i had ennough of just being overpowered, that gets old kinda fast.

I agrre with you Jim, but if a games is to easy then it would get old pretty fast. I think DMC3 is a perfect example on how to do challenge, sure the enimies can turn you into confeti, but if you're good at said game they won't be able to touch you and you feel like a bad ass.

On another note. I finally figured out why you thought DMC fans were freacking out over nothing when we saw the new Dante. It's not the fact that we hate the design but that some think that it is enough to make the game suck. Am I right?

Force Unleashed for the Wii. That is exactly what you're looking for.

Jim, why you so right?