ook up into the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s another crappy Superman game! When Superman donned a pixilated cape on the Atari 2600, he also contracted a curse. In the years that have followed, a long list of developers, publishers, and incredibly talented people have attempted to make the Man of Steel soar in video games. Inspiration has been drawn from over 60 years of comic history, five movies, and a fantastic animated series, but the result has always been the same – every game ends up being an epic disaster that only Lex Luthor could enjoy. Superman is the thoroughbred of video game characters, possessing an unrivaled list of powers. But thus far, his only contribution to gamers who aspire to hear the cape flapping behind them is the ability to steal their time and money.
The qustion now is: Is it even possible for a developer to create a respectable Superman game, or is this iconic character the digital white whale? The development team at EA Tiburon, which consists of over 140 people, would tell you that they played the role of Captain Ahab, laboring for years to usher in another super-sized disappointment. Superman Returns may be another loss for the son of Krypton, but it isn’t a complete waste. EA was definitely on the right track with this game.
The one area that all developers have struggled with is making Superman feel super. This isn’t so with this game. Within just seconds of play, it captures your imagination and makes you believe that a man can fly. Never before has flight felt so natural or so powerful. Gracefully weaving between the skyscrapers that make up Metropolis’ skyline produces an amazing feeling. Better yet, you can’t even begin to imagine how good it feels to rip through the clouds at over 800 mph.
Knowing full well that Superman is impervious to harm, EA decided to focus on his love of the citizens of Metropolis. Rather than giving Superman a health bar, the game instead offers a meter that gauges the well being of this flourishing city. While you do find yourself darting across town to douse fires far too often, the majority of your time is spent battling gigantic monstrosities in the city streets as you follow a painfully linear story arc. Sadly, this is where the entire game unravels. Superman can certainly fly, but he fights like a sissy.
I love the idea of punching something so hard that it flies up through the stratosphere, but not when it means that I have to accomplish this feat through a shoddily executed combo. The hand-to-hand combat is difficult to control, and Superman’s heat vision and freeze breath are two of the most unsatisfying weapons I have ever seen in play.
Superman Returns succeeds in areas where all other Superman games have failed, allowing players to experience what it’s like to rocket through the sky and look down upon the mortals of the world. But alas, not even the most powerful man on the planet can save a bad action game. EA focused on the flight, but was unable to make any other feat enjoyable.