Text Based Comic Book Hero Goodness

This guy makes a pretty good wrestling and MMA text based simulation game, so there is hope that this could turn out interesting

Grey Dog Software Announces "Comic Book Hero: The Greatest Cape"

Published By: Arlie Rahn- Saturday, April 16 2011

Grey Dog Software is pleased to announce that 2011 will see the launch of a brand new title, "Comic Book Hero: The Greatest Cape". Designed and developed by Adam Ryland, the creator of the popular TEW and WMMA series of games, CBH will see the player take control of a super hero and guide them through their career as a costumed crime fighter, dealing not only with the ongoing threat of villains but also relationships with other characters and the expectations of the cities you are sworn to protect!

As with my previous games, CBH is a text-based simulation with a heavy emphasis on strategy, planning, and heavy attention to detail; it's not an arcade "button basher"

http://www.greydogsoftware.com
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
403
Location
The Hudson Valley, NY
This could actually be cool.
 
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
5,749
This game was just released a couple of days ago. Its basically a text based sim type thing, kind of along the lines of, say, King of Dragon Pass. Im just starting up the demo now so I can't give to much of an impression, but it looks pretty cool for something alittle different.

The concept of the game is that you take control of a hero (or anti-hero) comic book character and are responsible for leading him through his career. At the same time, you also play as the writer of the character - this allows the game to be framed in terms of issues, and gives a reason for you to hear about everything else that is going on within the game world. There is no 'end game' as such, you can keep playing for as long as you want, although if permanent deaths are enabled then eventually the game world could become unplayable due to all your potential opponents being deceased.

It should be noted that you play within a specific 'time frame'. This means that although time clearly moves forward (allowing you to go on missions, heal, make new relationships, etc), the characters do not age or evolve (except the user's own character, the protagonist). This is to simulate the way comic books work, in that in most cases time is not really a factor that is taken into consideration.

Here is a screenshot of a character sheet:

CBHBaseScreen.bmp
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
403
Location
The Hudson Valley, NY
I tried the demo, I'm not really sure what to make of it. I went on patrol a few times and didn't find anything, helped the community which gave me hero points which had no explanation for what they were, and then I got attacked which you automatically lose in the demo. I'm not really sure what I am supposed to be doing, and the demo doesn't let you experience combat (at lost not without losing) so you can't get much of a feel for the game.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Yeah so far the one glaring thing Ive noticed is that I really dont have any idea what to do next. I havent had any trouble winning combat though. Actually I havent lost a fight yet (only had about 5 of them so far though). All the fights Ive had were when I went searching for someone to fight (with really no reason to look for them besides they looked easy to beat). I havent found anything to do yet while on patrol. The only other time I fought was when I was ambushed after visiting my girlfriend, but I won that too. So, so far it does seem a bit repetitive, but that may open up later in the game when the universe fleshes itself out a bit more.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
403
Location
The Hudson Valley, NY
The demo gives all villains an enormous advantage against you, but it must still be possible to defeat villains if you massively overpower them. I tried tracking down a wimpy super villain with no powers just to fight him but I kept failing. So my only fights were when I got ambushed by another villian, usually they looked weaker then me too, but their attacks did about 6 times the damage of mine.

Overall I couldn't make anything else interesting happen. All my patrols or attempts to track a villain failed. There was no information given about why it failed.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Ive only played a bit with The Big Chill, but I havent lost a fight yet. Granted, Ive only fought guys that I specifically looked for, which were much lower in level than me. I beat the snowman looking guy (The Icer) and someone else before I started over. In this playthrough, The Nuclear Family beat the Third Way, and when I went to vist my girlfriend I was ambushed by Super Zero and beat him as well. Basically my tactics have been to hit my opponent with a frozen prison while "in the open", then pound away with an ice blast or a frozen fist while "in the air", until my opponent becomes unstunned, then I land and hit with another frozen prison, rinse and repeat. If my health gets to low, Ill start blasting from a "run and cover" or "take cover" position.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
403
Location
The Hudson Valley, NY
Interesting, I'm not sure what is different but my character goes down in 1 or 2 hits, but then my character was melee and can't stunlock and attack from range like yours. The demo specifically says that it's setup to make you lose all fights so this seems to be intended. If your having such an easy time in the demo I can only imagine how easy the full version would be for you when the massive advantage the villains have is taken away.

Fights aside though it's still unclear if there is anything to this game beyond randomly attacking supervillains.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Where did you get the demo from? The only difference between the demo and the full version is that in the demo you are limited to "Role Play" mode with the choice of only 3 heroes. When you start a new game, a message box pops up telling you this. At least in the demo Im playing it does. Are you sure you got the "updated demo" ? I think there might be different versions on the site.

Honestly though I played awhile last night and it got extremely boring. The fights were ok but the rest of the game I just clicked right through without really ever reading anything, especially the results of the fights of other heroes, which seems most of the game is comprised of.

The depth of the characterization is fantastic, but Im not sure the rest of the world is engaging enough for me to continue the demo or buy the game. It really felt like a Comic Book version of Wrestling Spirit 1
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
403
Location
The Hudson Valley, NY
I got the updated demo, but I wasn't limited to roleplay mode and I could create my own hero (I chose to select a backstory rather then full customization and played as an angel cast down from heaven). But I got a message at the beginning of the game saying that the whole game was unlocked but that all enemies had a massive advantage against me to limit my progression. Sounds like we were playing different demos. I downloaded mine around the same day that I posted about it, so probably later then yours.

So yeah if the only thing decent about the game is the fights, and my version makes the fights unwinnable you can imagine how boring the demo was for me :).

Where did you get the demo from? The only difference between the demo and the full version is that in the demo you are limited to "Role Play" mode with the choice of only 3 heroes. When you start a new game, a message box pops up telling you this. At least in the demo Im playing it does. Are you sure you got the "updated demo" ? I think there might be different versions on the site.

Honestly though I played awhile last night and it got extremely boring. The fights were ok but the rest of the game I just clicked right through without really ever reading anything, especially the results of the fights of other heroes, which seems most of the game is comprised of.

The depth of the characterization is fantastic, but Im not sure the rest of the world is engaging enough for me to continue the demo or buy the game. It really felt like a Comic Book version of Wrestling Spirit 1
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
Back
Top Bottom