Football management sims are big business for the games industry, and people do seem to spend an intriguing amount of time playing them. They're one of the few games you can get away with playing at work. too. But what if - like us - you don't have the slightest interest in football? You can't get into Football Manager if you can't get into football. We've tried.
Enter Comic Book Hero, which is essentially a footie management sim with the skill of being able to kick a ball replaced with the skill of being able to kick a bad guy in the face, repeatedly. Developers Grey Dog software have worked on MMA and wrestling management simulations before, so unbelievable superhero hijinks feel like a good fit.
A brief playthrough of the demo reveals that it's a tongue-in-cheek love letter to superhero mythology. My hero - Hephaestus - is a big bald immortal man with a giant hammer. He also works in a corporate environment (IT, I'd imagine), and takes an interest in civic work. “You helped the community by giving a talk at a local college on what to do if you find our you have an evil twin,” the game tells me.
Despite the (inevitable) Comic Sans-tastic design scheme, there's clearly a lot of depth to Comic Book Hero - you can go on patrol, recruit a side-kick and track specific enemies. You can get the demo from Grey Dog's site right now, and there's not an Alex Ferguson lookalike in sight. Although SuperFergie might make a good comic book hero.
