Originally Posted by
Grunty
Not to discourage any wishfull imaging of X-men video games, considering how starved the fandom has been for that over the past 2 decades and how much could be done with the IP, but how is that idea supposed to work in the context of a real time strategy game, considering these usualy require complete identical units, unit types or unit formations?
Even games like the Total War series of "epic" RTS, which often have a large variation of unit formations, still stick to a uniformity of roles. Classic small scale RTS games like Starcraft where the player builds individual units and then manualy groups them into formations are even more focused on each unit having a specific role and being always of the same quality.
And ay there's the rub when it comes to the mutants of the Marvel Universe, because by their very nature and role as easy source of super powers for various differet heros and villains, they are practically completely devoid of uniformity, not only in the powers they have but the extend by which they can use these powers. There is simply very little basis to create "generic" units of mutants when the whole point of the marvel mutants is that practically everyone has different versions of any super power imaginable.
Infact this is arguably why a "mutant" army always sounds impressive and fearsome on paper, but in actuality it would be a strategic and logistic nightmare, which writers and artist alike have arguably never been really able to make work.
Magneto had a mutant army in X-men the The Last Stand and there was a big deal made about how dangerous that was, but when it came down to the actual battle all the film makers could do, was to depict them as stupidly rushing at enemies armed with guns into a wild uncoordinated melee. The same happend in X-men red where the Arrakii civil war was primarily depicted as two big mosh pits of weird looking people being in a wild uncoordinated melee, with some dialoge suggesting a minescule of coordination of powers, which the art could not properly convey.
The reason for it sounding impressive is likely because viewers and readers will likely think of the great heros and then multiply them into formations standing in a line. Like 20 Wolverines in front, 10 Collosus forming a shield wall, 20 Cyclops standing behind them as firing line and 5 Storms in the back to unleash AOE attacks. Which in a video game would be rather immersion breaking, unless it's part of a story akin to Krakoa employing armies of clones or even chimeras, but then the whole story would be basicly imply an utter nightmarish state of things where no one is the good guy anymore and the world is screwed. Akin to total Annihilation.
If the X-men were meant to have a RTS style video game, it had to be designed around hero units akin to MOBA or Warcraft 3 but then can't really involve Krakoa as a nation or have a "mutant army" they are fighting for, because Krakoa can't have "generic" units.
But of course that's just my perspective.
Edit:
While thinking about it. A mutant nation would be a neat setup for a squad based strategy game with a roguelike (high degree of randomization every time the a game starts) element.
Like the player has to assemble their squad from computer generated mutants with different combination of appearances, powers, skills and traits, they can them customize and upgrade afterwards as they gain experience (though in terms of general appearance it would be better to have that unlocked all the time).
With the X-men themself being high leveled elite units the player has to unlock (or can only select one at the start) making assembling their dream team of the core heros a reward, though at which point they might have also grown fond of their "randos".
Maybe also grant the ability to "save" specific randomized mutants so they can appear in the next game as recuitable or selectable (albeit back at level 1).
Sure some players might then try to create a whole squad of Wolverine and Wolverine wannabes ("Wolverine and the Sknikt Bubs"). Or just create their favorit B- and C-listers as much as the game allows it. But that could very well be part of the appeal.