Superman: The Man of Steel

Review

by Scott Alan Marriott

Why is it so difficult to deliver a great Superman game? This is the question that races in your head faster than a speeding bullet as you labor through the Man of Steel's first starring role on the powerful Xbox console. The graphics look worthy of a superhero, with a futuristic Metropolis filled with towering skyscrapers, bustling hovercars, and a well-defined skyline. Other environments include space, the Phantom Zone, and Warworld, so there is some variety to the visuals. Superman's problems, however, lie in the game's control and play mechanics. The action is tedious, the moves are sluggish, and the enemies are annoying.

A Superman game should be about quickly racing through a city teeming with citizens in need of a hero. Spider-Man did this well, especially in the outdoor sequences, where the agile arachnid used his webbing to repair bridges, rescue people, and save skyscrapers from collapsing. Superman follows this same idea, but with pitiful execution. Players are initially dispatched on a tedious mission to smash a dozen or so flying robots, all of which look the same aside from their color, which designates a particular weakness to a specific power. How convenient. Making things difficult every step of the way is a near useless targeting feature and a disjointed fighting system that sucks more life out of Superman than a hunk of Kryptonite.

The game is all about stop-and-go flying, which is disruptive and defies logic, especially when Superman should be able to barrel into these stationary robots and smash them into scrap metal. Alas, his flying in this game never approaches the speed you'd expect from a man with the gift of flight. Faster than a speeding tortoise, maybe, but that's about it. To simulate speed in this game, the developers added some nifty streaks behind his boots and a great whooshing sound. Apparently, players must use their imagination. Navigation is accomplished by following a cone-shaped arrow called "super hearing," which as in Crazy Taxi, shows the most direct route without accounting for little things like skyscrapers in the way. Considering that many missions are timed, finding the quickest route can be a problem.

With Superman's distinctive powers, all of which are available from the start, there should be a whole host of interesting dangers to confront. Dealing with natural disasters, preventing crime, finding time to change identities in a phone booth without anyone catching on, and so forth. To be fair, there are some interesting elements in this game, like putting out fires with his freeze breath all while robots are sucking the energy out of a building. The last part is certainly odd, but the idea that there are many different problems all happening at the same time is a great start. It's just a shame Superman is such a lumbering ox that he can't get to everything in a timely manner.

Once players get past the robot fighting, they can look forward to more, er, robot fighting. And car chases. And more fires to put out. Actually, there are also some purple thugs and other robot substitutes for a change of scenery. Yet there's no effective way to fight multiple enemies at one time, so you have to first lock onto a target (while the other enemies are gleefully pelting you from all sides), fly toward the enemy, a process that automatically breaks the lock-on targeting, lock onto the enemy again, and watch it fly backwards at full speed. Smart enemy -- can you blame him? Then you have to remember which color corresponds to which button, which is awkward, because one enemy may only respond to fisticuffs, which means you have to be right on top of it. Looking back, maybe flying through rings in the N64 version wasn't so bad -- at least you kept moving!

The first two levels are such painful exercises in frustration that most players will give up and want to banish this game to the Phantom Zone. And rightfully so, for if the developers can't involve players in the very beginning, what's the point? The game isn't fun, and most of the 25 missions are timed, which is inexcusable given the slothful controls that have Superman overshooting his targets, stopping, and then spinning around in place like a drunk trying to find his way back home.

There is potential with this graphics engine, and some of the objectives and concepts are right for this style of game. One objective involves chasing a moving car, slowing it down with heat vision or freeze breath, and then scooping it up and delivering it to the police station. Still another involves stopping incoming missiles from reaching Metropolis. But give players a hero that's a pleasure to control, one that can rocket though the city like someone who can fly. Factor in the substandard cut-scenes, poor voice acting, wildly inconsistent level difficulty, boring extras, and what do you have? Yet another Superman game that never gets off the ground.