The Death and Return of Superman

"A truly great beat-em-up from Blizzard, only slightly dated"

The Death and Return of Superman will probably sadly go unnoticed in the great history of gaming, and it's a shame. This game is one of Blizzard's early efforts, and their name doesnt' even appear on the box (only on the title screens at the start). Considering what they went on to do (Warcraft series, Starcraft series, the Lost Vikings, Rock n Roll Racing to name a few...), it's no surprise that this game is of higher quality than might be assumed at first.

It's got a couple of strikes against it - 1) it's a superhero game, and licensed hero games tend to bite it big time, and 2) it's a beat-em-up, likely to be a poorly-programmed generic terrible licensed super-hero game like all those awful Akklaim games that littered the Snes and Genesis shelves back in the day.

But don't be fooled - this is truly quality stuff in disguise. The level of attention that was put into making the game fun to play goes well beyond what had been seen previously in similar efforts with comic book themed video games.

To summarize, it's a Superman beat-em-up with a plot-driven level progression. As you go through the levels, you play as Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator Superman, The Man of Steel (thankfully not the Sackofcrap O'Neal version), Superboy and the original Supes. Each has their own moves and unique abilities. Some fly, some have great bolt blasts, Steel's got that wicked hammer of doom, all very well designed. It's not a truly fantastic beat-em-up, with control and variety of play to compare with Streets of Rage 2 (for example), but it's at least somewhat in the ballpark. And that's saying something - keep in mind that I regard Streets of Rage 2 to be one of the greatest videogames of all time.

Unfortunately, enemies are quite pattern-driven, repetetive and pretty dull. Somehow, though, the game keeps you interested. Partially though the great control, partially with the solid storyline told between stages with nice little hand-drawn cartoonery, and partially though decent graphics and sound effects.

There are walking fighting levels, flying shooting levels, and combinations of walking, fighting, flying and shooting. Not that wide a variety, it's true, but good wholesome fun none the less. Death and Return of Superman is truly a lot of fun to play, which is a lot more than can be said of most of the super hero video games made around this time period. I wholeheartedly recommend checking it out, and think it's a great addition to my Genesis library.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/02, Updated 04/22/02