RayCarsilloWrites.com

Originally Published: March 24, 2011, on Comicvine.com

Nick Fury is one of the Marvel universe’s most important movers and shakers and his history is a long and storied one. World War II hero. Longest ever tenured director of SHIELD. Master manipulator of heroes and villains alike. But Nick Fury has never been the most dynamic of characters by his lonesome and is best known, especially nowadays, as working with a large group of people, whether leading a group of heroes or pulling strings behind the scenes in order to get to what he feels is best for the security of the world. So how could we make Nick the centerpiece of his own game while still playing to this strength?

The easy way out of an article like this would’ve been to just make this some World War II first-person shooter. But we’ve all seen that before and it’s not like Nick has some super powers to mix things up a bit. Plus, you move away from the group dynamic that I think Nick needs. No, this game would have to take place in the modern era and so I recommend featuring the Secret Warriors and making a hybrid game that combines RPG and gameplay elements from a game like Mass Effect 2 and action elements from a game like Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

The first problem we would need to consult is the plot and that Nick doesn’t typically leave one of his many secret bases unless it is a severe threat or he is meeting with someone in person (and even then it might just be a Life Model Decoy). Luckily, HYDRA and Leviathan have been pretty busy lately in the comics and keeping Nick active and so this could be our reason for him to have that more hands on approach.

I’ve never been good at coming up with a great conspiracy theory, but I’m sure Jonathan Hickman would be willing to lend a hand on fleshing out the plot since we’re using the characters he’s currently writing and could help come up with an original story since we know all the players who will be involved. We have the Secret Warriors, Leviathan, and HYDRA all mixing it up once again for the fate of the free world. Contessa and Baron von Strucker would have to make an appearance somewhere I’m sure.

Now to get back into the gameplay. Much like Mass Effect 2, we’ll have Nick take point of a three-person party with the other two party members being chosen from the Secret Warriors. What would be interesting about this dynamic is while Nick is taking headshots at HYDRA agents, depending on whom you chose from the team, you could have Quake stunning enemies with concentrated seismic tremors while Druid acts like a mage from a fantasy based RPG boosting powers or casting spells from a distance to help strike down the foes of freedom. I’m still not sure if we’ll have Phobos or Hellfire available since they’re technically dead at this point, but this would still give you five Secret Warriors for Fury to choose from as he hops around the world quelling threat after threat.

It wouldn’t be an RPG though if there wasn’t a leveling up system. I still might include a morality meter like in Mass Effect 2, at least for how the team reacts to Nick, but the traditional leveling up system will be very different. Sure, you can upgrade powers, health, and weapons depending on what character is leveling, but Nick Fury is known for having many pieces in motion at once on his worldwide chessboard. So instead of there being a shared XP system like in most RPGs and everyone leveling up rather evenly, team members who are not with Nick on certain missions can be assigned various secondary tasks, much like your assassin trainees in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and in only that way can they level up while you’re out performing your plot required duties. For example, if you always use Slingshot and Stonewall on your team, but then a mission comes up where Eden Fesi’s teleportation powers might prove interesting and you haven’t been sending him on secondary missions, he might not be able to pull his own weight on the plot’s primary mission you want to use him for.

Another aspect of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood I want to incorporate is the parkour movement aspect. Many, if not all RPGs, can feel very stiff when it comes to movement. Nick Fury is a secret agent though in peak physical condition and has trained all the members of the Secret Warriors himself. So why not have it where you can pull the camera back a little and climb and sneak through various bases and scenarios with your teammates to give it that real espionage feel? Or even have sections where you can choose to have members of your team break off from the group. Have Slingshot race around to the side of a base and flank your enemies or provide a distraction while Nick climbs up and crawls through some ventilation ducts. These choices could really provide a deep strategy aspect to the game as you try to decide what teammates to bring and how to progress through a level.

Another staple of Nick Fury stories is that he has a lot of flashbacks so even though we don’t want to make it the focus, we could have a couple of World War II levels to set up certain missions where Nick teams up with Captain America, Bucky, and/or Wolverine. This could help draw people in with some more name recognition and provide some variety incase we only use the five remaining members of the Secret Warriors as team choices. Or maybe have a few levels where Nick’s agenda could go against those of the Avengers or other heroes to really put a twist on things as Nick and the Secret Warriors could face off against friends and allies.