Superman

"Not as super as I had hoped."

I had heard good things about this game. Heck, Nintendo Power had been saying it looked good from the start. And there were no bad things said in their mini-guide when the game came out. So I bought it the first day it was out for sixty dollars. Now, I'm back and forth on whether it was a good thing... or a bad thing. The game does have a bad, bad rap... but I find a few good things in it.

Graphics:
The building's look good and accurate... when you can see them and not fog. The character models look all right through. Except Superman's animated style face looks odd all right, but its hard to see it when you have the Ocarina of Time/ Tomb Raider style camera. Visual effects are strange looking, such as explosions and fired bullets.

Story:
A very weird story. Lex Luthor and Brainiac kidnap Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Prof. Hamilton and throw them and a legion of Superman's worst enemies into a virtual representation of Metropolis, full of virtual people. Odd how Superman has to rescue fake virtual people between levels. Not to mention keep the virtual Daily Planet and its virtual workers from being destroyed. Superman saving virtual reality people that don't exist? Okay... to think, remove that one line in the game about the virtual city and a plot could have been salvaged.

Gameplay:
Think to Tomb Raider with flying. Scary, isn't it? I'd imagine so. Through I've oddly enough gotten the hang of the flying (when not going through rings that is). Yup. You have to fly through rings between each stage. Strange. And a pain when they go left and right, up and down, crisscossing... the flying controls are so far removed from being tight that it proves very frustrating. The actual levels themselves aren't nearly as bad. Case in point: I actually find myself replaying the Daily Planet, subway, and warehouse levels. They have a merit of fun in them. Hey, the boss in the Planet is one I love to see fight Superman, so getting to fight him yourself (per sa)? Wonderful.

Features:
The features are slim... but all right. You get the one player mode with three modes of difficulty. The harder the mode the more levels. And then there is the multiplayer mode where you and some friends may embark on a Goldeneye-esque fight. You pilot the games villains, but Superman (even through he is shown on the multiplayer screenshot in the manual) and fly around in little spacecrafts in the games' levels, shooting each other with lasers and laying mines. Goldeneye with flying, per sa. The other multiplayer involved more of the ring flying stuff.

Sound:
Not so good. The occasional sound byte from the Clancy's Lex and Daly's Superman are nice. The sound effects are decent. But the music is bad and bland. And so low as to be hardly heard. Not that would be a bad thing, all things considered.

Replayability:
Well, I've only found myself replaying a level or two of the game as I stated above. The multiplayer also has its moments. But I can't say this is a game you'll be playing over and over again.

Overall:
Not the greatest game, thats for sure. Hovering around the average area, in my opinion. If you can find it for a cheap price for, say, five or ten dollars, I'd get it. It has its moments... far and few between, but a few nonetheless.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/02, Updated 10/30/02