With E3 2014 less than a week away, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the games we know we’ll see there, but especially about the unannounced games we might see there. There are of course the more likely ones like the next The Legend of Zelda game, Mass Effect, or even The Last Guardian. However, today I wanted to talk about a game that I pretty much know more than likely won’t be announced, but I feel could be made into a fantastic game, Arrow.
After years of many abysmal superhero based games, Rocksteady Studios managed to take Batman and turn him into a powerhouse game franchise. The Green Arrow is not as popular with the masses as Batman obviously, but thanks to his appearance in Smallville and then Arrow, majorly in part due to Stephen Amell’s portrayal in the latter, the character is as popular as it has ever been.
Following the ending of Smallville a few years ago, DC did not have much in the realm of their comic properties on television, until the debut of Arrow in the fall of 2012. Since then, it has grabbed a major following, helped by the fast-paced story movement and social media presence of the extremely likeable cast. The show itself is getting a spinoff with The Flash in the fall and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down with many preferring the DC TV universe to the current movieverse.
With excellently grounded action and a wide range of villains to throw into the mix from the show, Arrow is just asking to be made into a game. This is especially the case in an era where using a bow as a weapon in a game is very popular, with critically acclaimed games like Tomb Raider, Far Cry 3, and The Last of Us doing it very well among some others. Combining the bow gameplay with the melee combat and use of gadgets, in this case trick arrows, seen in games like the Batman: Arkham series would seemingly be a perfect fit.
The question of course is whether to take the events of the show so far and put them into game form, such as the intense Season 2 finale, or craft a completely original story that could either fit into continuity or provide a tangent to the show’s continuity. The show has done an excellent job of creating season long arcs across the first two seasons with the excellent Malcolm Merlyn and Slade Wilson as villains thus far. We could see a Batman: Arkham type scenario with a major villain like that along with plenty of side villains along the way like the Clock King, Deadshot, China White, and more.
The recent season finale even hinted at the possibility of a Super Max storyline in the future, but if the producers do not intend to do so, this could also be an excellent plot for a game. For those that do not know, Green Arrow: Escape From Super Max was a movie that was in the early stages of development at one point from David Goyer. Ollie is framed and thrown in prison, where he must fight off his worst adversaries while trying to stay alive and escape. This could provide a self-contained story that could fit in the TV universe and still work. The game wouldn’t be coming for awhile anyways, so it could utilize characters from the first few seasons.
Even if not a game completely based on the show, I would love to see a Green Arrow with the feel of the show. We already got a special skin in Injustice: Gods Among Us based on the show’s costume, complete with Amell’s voiceover, so maybe he could still voice the character in a non-TV show related Green Arrow game. To me, the game would lose a lot with someone else voicing the character, as he is synonymous with the current iteration of the Emerald Archer. The chances of a non-Arrow related Green Arrow game is probably more likely due to continuity constraints, but it would be great to see some characters like the loveable Felicity and Diggle be involved.
Perhaps while Rocksteady is working on the conclusion to their Arkham trilogy, Warner Bros. Montreal could get their crack at another superhero game after the very enjoyable Batman: Arkham Origins. There are of course plenty of games that would make me go crazy during E3, including the reveal of the inevitable The Legend of Zelda Wii U, but this one would be on another level for me, due to my love for the show and the sheer potential of the property in game form.
