There's been a recent influx of Marvel and DC video games, but there's always been a healthy relationship between video games and comic books way before modern trends like the Marvel Cinematic Universe took over pop culture. It's incredible to see the level of popularity and ubiquity that superhero culture has reached and that it's at a point where characters like Venom can get their own film series.
The release of Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage has fans hungry for a messy showdown between the symbiotes, Venom and Carnage. Curiously, video games indulged this desire decades earlier, with the pair of titles, Spider-Man & Venom: Maximum Carnage and its sequel Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety being excellent takes on the subject matter. However, each game has its own pros and cons.
10 Maximum Carnage: The Comic Book-Like Cutscenes And Introduction
There are a lot of ways that a video game can translate a comic book into its medium, whether it’s merely the use of familiar characters and locations, or something much more inventive. One of the best aspects of Maximum Carnage is that the game utilizes beautiful cutscenes that are modeled in the style of comics. It’s a great aesthetic that’s lost in Separation Anxiety in favor of bland text on a screen. Despite Maximum Carnage being the earlier game, it’s the better looking of the two.
9 Separation Anxiety: It Features Cooperative Play
Separation Anxiety is the sequel to Maximum Carnage and even though it feels like a regression in many ways, most of these concessions are made to accommodate the two-player cooperative play that’s now available. This alone can be enough to push Separation Anxiety above its predecessor. Working through the graphical concessions with a friend can substantially improve the game. Co-op is often expected in a beat-’em-up game, and Separation Anxiety is able to fulfill that desire where Maximum Carnage couldn’t.
8 Maximum Carnage: Its Incorporation Of Supporting Marvel Characters
Crossovers between superhero characters have become so tied up in red tape and a weird sense of gatekeeping that it’s easy to forget that, in the ‘90s, it was just a regular aspect of the medium.
Maximum Carnage explores Spider-Man, Venom, and Carnage, but it also incorporates a wide array of other Marvel heroes as support, like Black Cat, Cloak and Dagger, Captain America, Iron Fist, and even Morbius. Granted, Separation Anxiety has its own variety of support heroes like Ghost Rider and Daredevil, but there aren’t as many and they’re not as satisfying.
7 Separation Anxiety: There’s A Good Showcase Of Different Symbiotes And The Life Foundation
Story may be ancillary in beat-’em-up sidescrollers, but it might be someone’s first exposure to this material for anyone who’s never read a Spider-Man or Venom comic. Contrary to its name, the events in Separation Anxiety cover the majority of Venom’s Lethal Protector comic. Venom is well known even outside of the comic crowd, but knowledge of supporting symbiotes is a lot more obscure. Separation Anxiety effectively introduces Riot, Phage, Lasher, Scream, and Agony, as well as the Life Foundation as a whole and does them all justice. Maximum Carnage’s story is much more focused on its central characters.
6 Maximum Carnage: Its Use Of Creative Two-On-One Boss Fights
Boss fights can sometimes fall to the wayside in beat-’em-up games and just turn out to be larger foes that can absorb a larger number of attacks. Maximum Carnage features enemies like Shriek, Doppleganger, Demogoblin, Carrion, and of course, Carnage, as its bosses, but it pairs them up in challenging two-on-one encounters. Each character feels distinct and actually has a personality, especially Carnage. The character’s laugh is exceptional, as is the fake-out ending where credits begin to roll, only for Carnage to jump out and initiate the true final battle. It’s a creative final turn.
5 Separation Anxiety: It Has The Less Punishing Difficulty
Difficulty is tricky to balance in games, especially when it comes to sidescroller beat-’em-up titles. It’s essential that these games provide a challenge, but also aren’t so punishingly hard that they stop being fun and become an exercise in patience and frustration.
Separation Anxiety has a much easier level of difficulty to break through and master the title, which can be made even easier through the use of two-player. An easier game might be unappealing to some, but Separation Anxiety also offers an unlockable hard mode once the game is beaten, so it allows for the best of both worlds.
4 Maximum Carnage: The Inventive Level Design
The biggest issue with beat-’em-up sidescrollers is that they can grow incredibly repetitive. There’s an even greater likelihood of this happening if there’s uninspired and recycled level designs that make the gameplay more monotonous. Maximum Carnage does some excellent work with its backgrounds depicting New York City and San Francisco with such life. There’s even an inventive level set at the top of the Statue of Liberty before the first X-Men movie made it cool. The length of levels is also all over the place, and they don’t overstay their welcome.
3 Separation Anxiety: Impressive Music That Has More Variety
Music is another crucial ingredient in a video game. Maximum Carnage has a really catchy main tune that trumps a lot of what’s in Separation Anxiety. The problem is that there’s barely any variety in Maximum Carnage’s use of music, and when the same track is heard ad nauseam it gradually loses its appeal. Separation Anxiety doesn’t feature a full soundtrack, but there’s at least enough variety to spread around so that no one track becomes too annoying. A lot of the shorter character themes for the support heroes are particularly fun.
2 Maximum Carnage: There’s Lot Of Hidden Content
Part of the joy of video games back in the 16-bit era is that there can sometimes be secrets hidden away that weren’t common knowledge due to the lack of the Internet at the time. Sidescrollers can seem like very straightforward experiences, but Maximum Carnage finds a few fun occasions where it hides Secret Rooms that can be accessed by going backwards or choosing to stay in place rather than move forward. It offers extra content that adds to the experience and the level of replayability since gamers are encouraged to explore.
1 Separation Anxiety: There Are More Exciting Random Enemies
Separation Anxiety and Maximum Carnage are both excellent when it comes to the Venom antagonists that it turns to for the boss battles, but it’s also important for the generic enemies that are encountered in the levels to also feel creative. These are the obstacles that the player spends most of their time with, and if they feel bland, it can be a big problem. The bulk of Maximum Carnage’s enemies are generic street thugs with a few spherical robots thrown in for good measure. Separation Anxiety includes an evolving roster of enemies that aren’t just street-level criminals.