Faster than ‘Need For Speed: Carbon,” more powerful than “Sid Meyer’s Railroads,” able to leap “SimTower” in a single bound … look, on store shelves, it’s “Spider-Man 2,” it’s “The Hulk” … no wait, it’s “Superman Returns: The Game”!
In EA Tiburon’s new title, you become Kal-el himself as he buzzes around Metropolis, the city he’s sworn to protect.
The game is set in the background of the film, as you defeat Superman’s greatest foes from Parasite to Metallo while cut-scenes show Lex scheming and Lois investigating, much like how “Spider-Man 2’s” game blended with its film counterpart. Every once in a while, you catch a scene or two right out of the movie voiced by the actual actors while most of the game itself is unrelated.
Also like 2004’s friendly neighborhood hit, ‘Superman” uses the increasingly popular “sandbox” style of gameplay. You can take Big Blue anywhere, any time in the 80-square-mile city of Metropolis as you take missions as you feel like it.
The missions are divided by chapter and each chapter has you set against one of Superman’s foes from the comic.
Each has a different tactic to defeating them, from throwing cars to just running up and punching them in the face.
There also are a few missions outside of the main storyline where the pest from the fifth dimension, Mister Mxyzptlk, challenges you to a races — which are hard to lose as you are capable of going mach 1 — or changes you into Bizarro to do as much damage as possible to Metropolis before time runs out.
‘Superman Returns’
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Rated: Teen
Price: $59.95 (Xbox 360), $39.95 (Xbox, PlayStation 2), $29.99 (Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance)
