Superman Returns
Update: Will the man of steel finally escape the curse of kryptonite game design?
Preview by (Email)
October 20th 2006
Last Update: 3/27/06
For a long time it seemed there just wasn’t enough computational power to do justice to the physics defying exploits of men (and women) in tights. Thankfully, Neversoft showed the industry how to capture a superhero with Spider-Man. However, there is another hero who despite his many appearances has never been portrayed in a fun videogame. Will July 7th return the man of steel to the good graces of both gamers and movie goers?
One only has to remember the debacle that was Superman 64 to cringe at how the pea-soup green fog of Metropolis still managed to become one of the best selling Nintendo64 games of all time. Or think back a few years to the Xbox release of Superman: The Man of Steel to be reminded of how great promise doesn’t always equal great things.
However, just as the big blue boy is eternally hopeful of the world around him so too are we here at Got-Next. The energetic “concept” video currently available for download on Xbox LIVE might have helped fill our hopeful-tanks a bit as well. Hearing firsthand from Tiburon that Earth’s mightiest force will not be portrayed as a bullet-fearing pansy only sent us into mini-seizers of hope.
The gameplay sounds exactly like what gamers have been asking for since the Atari 2600: a game where Superman isn’t somehow vulnerable to common thugs, isn’t timed for every action, and doesn’t have to follow the posted speed limit. We’re really anxious to see first hand how the flip from monitoring our hero’s health to monitoring the city’s health works in practice.
Beyond the use of the trademark superpowers it’s the promise of a fully realized Metropolis that should have your attention. Videogame systems have grown in power to the point where Superman’s home town can finally be shown in all of its glory. Just try not to run into too many buildings on purpose.
Final judgment is of course reserved for the final game, but first judgments can’t be rendered until we see footage that isn’t… pre-rendered. Still the concepts as explained: a nigh-invulnerable Superman with no silly power-limits and a life bar that isn’t a life bar but merely a representation of the health of the city have us very curious to see how it all plays out.
Many a developer has promised to unshackle Superman from rigid videogame limits, but so far it seems impossible to find a way to balance a man who is invulnerable with enemies who shatter in one punch. We’re hopeful Tiburon’s desire to shed the image that they’re nothing more than the house-of-Madden will help them find a way to achieve what has thus far proved impossible. We all want to believe a man can fly.
