Why Cyclops Would Be the Worst Candidate for a Single-Player X-Men Game

Highlights

• The idea of a Marvel’s X-Men game by Insomniac is exciting, but an ensemble game may not fit its wheelhouse.
• A single-player X-Men game is contradictory, but other games have successfully allowed players to control different characters and that seems to be the direction Marvel games are headed.
• Cyclops may not be a dynamic character in gameplay, but his leadership qualities make him well-suited as a support character rather than a frontline soldier.

Insomniac working on a Marvel’s X-Men game is tremendously exciting and how Marvel’s Wolverine lays those foundations will be interesting to see unfold. The idea that Insomniac was developing Marvel’s Wolverine never plainly precipitated that an X-Men game would follow; in fact, knowing Marvel’s X-Men would need to be an ensemble game sort of puts it out of Insomniac’s wheelhouse a bit. It seems to be in the pipeline nonetheless, and who it will feature is going to be a hot debate for the next five or so years, assuming plans don’t change in half a decade’s worth of time.

The reason why a single-player X-Men game seems contradictory is because the titular group is made up of many mutant characters. That said, many ensemble games have managed to be single-player and lend control of several characters to the player at different times. If this is the direction Marvel wants to head with such games, then there may be characters who get to take the lead amid four or five X-Men icons. However, while Scott Summers’ Cyclops is a natural leader of the X-Men, his hindrances in gameplay might ensure that he does not get to play a significant role.

Cyclops is One of the X-Men’s Least Dynamic Characters

Scott is astonishingly interesting personality-wise, but with regard to what his abilities amount to in gameplay he could never be dynamic or engaging for long. The primary issue with Scott is that his optic blasts are either too overpowered or too underpowered depending on what his role is in the ensemble he’s found himself in. This ability is the only element separating him from any ordinary person skilled in martial arts or a tactician’s leadership conditioning and as far as gameplay options go that makes for a mechanically dry and static character.

Gameplay for Cyclops in a Single-Player Game Would Have Several Hurdles

Boiled down to gameplay alone, Cyclops is a one-trick pony and his singular trick can never be as overpowered as it should be because he’d simply annihilate everything otherwise. The only area where his gameplay could possibly have any dynamic features is in the visor dial, which could let players alternate between different optic blast functions the same way Cyclops controls how and when the blasts are fired.

Cyclops’ Leadership Quality Makes Him a Support Character

Instead of having him be the frontline soldier whom other characters take a backseat to, Cyclops would be best implemented on a battlefield as a leader who ushers commands to companions and rallies them with support buffs, not unlike the role of an Officer in Star Wars Battlefront 2. It would be neat if Cyclops could build up a meter to unleash concussive blasts, but in the meantime he’d likely be relegated to giving orders to other X-Men and buffing them with passives in order to have him be worthwhile.

That doesn’t make for engaging single-player gameplay, though, if he’s simply going around and buffing NPCs. It’s ultimately unfortunate because Cyclops truly is an interesting character, but Insomniac might be better off making him an NPC companion similar to God of War Ragnarok’s Angrboda or Freya rather than his own playable character.

It would be a shame to only see him hanging around
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters
or wherever
Marvel’s X-Men
has its hub base, and his optic blasts could definitely come in handy in a pinch, but otherwise he’s not nearly as versatile as Gambit, Nightcrawler, Rogue, or Storm could be, for instance.