Superman Returns

[NightStorm]

Superman Returns
Released on: xBox, xBox360, PS2, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance
Developer: EA Tiburon
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
Release Date: November 20 2006

Superman Goes Rogue?
So yes, I have to admit... my sadistic side really came out in force with this new game. Superman Returns, which was scheduled to coincide with the upcoming release of the DVD Movie by the same name, truly lives up to it's title. In a series plague by failure and bad plotlines, this game truly pulls through and lives up to it's legacy as being based on the most powerful man on Earth.
It opens right up with a "Trainer" level. A meteor shower threatens Metropolis, and only Superman can save the city. You have the chance to develop a feel for the flying controls (the dual knobs allow for pitch and yaw, as well as standard drifting and flying), "Super breath", heat beams from the eyes, and a controlled version of the super breath, ice breath. you're taught how to call up powered up speed when needed, and are given the chance to literally knock some rocks out of the sky.
I, on the other hand, was more interested in seeing how Open World this game really was. Accelerating to 800 miles per hour, I launched myself skyward, reaching the cloud-line in a matter of seconds. Of course, they did not really develop an "Outer space" option over Metropolis for the trainer, so I kept reaching for the clouds (but yes, the city was getting further and further below me). With the tap of a button, I sent myself rocketing towards the city, only to leave a massive crater in the streets as I collided with the Earth at full force. By this point, annoying voices were screaming for help from the onslaught of meteor rocks (must be Smallville), so I went ahead and silenced them... by turning my heat vision on the civilians and their cars. While the people dived for cover and none actually suffered from apparent injuries, the cars exploded nearly instantly, creating a chain reaction of destruction all the way down the street from where I stood.
By this point, the meteors had pretty much levelled enough of the city that I got a "Mission Objective Failed" message and got to start over, where it placed me atop the Daily Planet building. Well, I was never fond of that great big globe, so of course I pushed it off the roof and watched it roll through the streets as people and cars scrambled in panic. From here, I super-speeded my way out over the water and away from the city... I never actually got as far as I imagine I could have gone, as those rocks came back and I had to start over again.
Alright, time to take the game seriously, I figure. Super-speeding my way from one Meteor to another, blowing them up in mid-air with a combination of ice breath and heat vision, as well as standard brute force collisions, I was finally treated to an opening from the movie, voiced over by Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), where she narrated her Pulitzer-Winning article, "Why the World Does Not Need Superman". We fade out from here, and fade in to a world half a Universe away... Krypton. Superman, having heard reports of survivors of his home planet, leaves Earth in search of life, but finding only death instead. Leaving what ruins were left of his home planet, our hero in the Blue tights (now sporting a grey ensemble) is abducted by Mongol, and taken to WarWorld where he must fight his way to freedom by battling it out Gladiator-style with a number of other "abductions" in a Winner-takes-all no-holds-barred deathmatch.
Of course, having two kids in the household, I was having a Hell of a time keeping track of the Gladiators, and kept getting whipped while yelling at the kids to "Shut The Hell Up And Let Me Play", so I decided to take the game and the console up to the Firehall and try it out there. Go figure that there are a bunch of guys there shooting pool already. The last I saw of the game, one of the Captains was seeing if he could ram his way through a building just to check if it would fall. Lose 2 kids, pick up 5 more.
Anyway, all in all I would have to say that the game was worth waiting for. Even with the crappy voiceover work, and the massive amount of delays that plagued the initial release, it's an amazingly addictive game. If anything, just for the reason of being able to be someone who is, in almost all interpretations, indestructible (speaking of, Superman does not suffer damage like in normal games. No, in this game the city takes the damage and decides your outcome). I'm itching for some real "At Home" combat, but really, I just want to make Superman level an entire City, one building at a time.
Like I said... I'm sadistic.

[Marko]

Sounds pretty fun. I'd also try and level cities because its just more fun than saving it <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... >/blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />