Superman video game

[jediracer]

Good video games have good storylines. And good gameplay. And other things, of course, but I don't think that just because Superman is all-powerful that means we can't get a good game starring/playing as him.

[Simbob4000]

Good video games have good storylines. And good gameplay. And other things, of course, but I don't think that just because Superman is all-powerful that means we can't get a good game starring/playing as him.

This isn't always true, the storyline of a video game in the grand scheme of things doesn't really mean much, with the exception being game types driven by story. I mean, the old Heroes of Might and Magic games, some of the best games I've ever played...don't know the storyline, and don't really give much of a shit about it.

[Surtur]

Well to the comments of him being able to spam heat vision this is fixed with an energy bar that depletes when you use it. That's what they had in the game based on the animated series.

Anyways there was another comment about how he can't be killed..he can, it just takes a lot of force. So you could have a game where maybe he is flying around the city and encounters a mugger and the guy has a pistol only and they bounce right off you and you dispatch him easily enough. Then maybe you hear that a nearby Star Labs is being robbed and suddenly you are fighting people equipped with high level tech attempting to steal even *more* high level stuff and you have to fight them off but it isn't as easy. Just things like that to me would capture what it's like to be Supes. Sometimes he's going to run into people who can't hurt him, people who are no real threat at all..and sometimes he's going to run into something bigger, it's not just about feeling godlike.

That's the type of stuff you have on the side..and then you have the main story missions where obviously he's up against probably a planetary threat at the very least.

[Alex]

It's so difficult because he's Superman and therefore more powerful at the beginning of the game than most Final Fantasy bosses.

Bad guys just need to grind then.

[Alex]

Good video games have good storylines. .

Every NES, many super nes games, many FPSes, the Ninja Gaiden games, Mercenaries 2,Resident Evil series, every puzzle game, plants vs zombies, world of goo, and many others disagree with this theory.

[Mike Pothier]

The reboot of Action Comics took Superman back to roots of his superhero-ing, and had him severely underpowered. I can see a game based on that part of his life, when he hasn't nearly come to his full strength and still discovering his powers.

[Dizzy D]

Just make it a Silver Age Superman game:

- You have beaten the Blue Potato-Men, but Lois discovered your secret identity. Fly back in time and redo this mission.

- You have captured Doctor Muffin, but failed to adequately humiliate Jimmy Olsen during this mission. Fly back in time and redo this mission.

More seriously, I expect whenever they do a Superman game that they have you at full power for the first mission and then get hit by some krypton-ray so you have to regain your power > see every God of War game.

I do think that the Superman Forever game had some nice ideas: the city being having a life bar. Part of compensating for Superman's power should be challenging the player to limit collateral damage as much as possible.

[Surtur]

Oh a Silver Age Superman game would be awesome if done right..with the crazy power levels and all. Sort of like PC Superman meets the Force Unleashed.

[DrCosmic]

Superman already has a good game, Lego Batman 2.

So Sad but true.

This isn't always true, the storyline of a video game in the grand scheme of things doesn't really mean much, with the exception being game types driven by story. I mean, the old Heroes of Might and Magic games, some of the best games I've ever played...don't know the storyline, and don't really give much of a shit about it.

There's some truth to this, but when you look at the top games any given year, your Gears of Wars, your Halos, your Call of Duties, your Zeldas, your LA Noire's, your Mass Effects and your Grand Theft Autos, you'll see a lot of good stories, some with really awesome stories. A good story is like good art or good music, it drives up the quality of the game overall. Some games tell their stories without words, like Flower or Journey, but they too have great stories. This has not always been true, and so you can find lots of old games that don't fit this, but nowadays, it's necessary.

Good video games have good storylines. And good gameplay. And other things, of course, but I don't think that just because Superman is all-powerful that means we can't get a good game starring/playing as him.

Him being so powerful is definitely part of the problem. Because he's so strong, you can't just have him in a city and be challenged by waves of mobs/thugs, either the foes he's fighting are strong enough to level the city, or they pose no threat to him. Also, because he's so very, very mobile, you can't contain him to a single level without something silly like Kryptonite fog, or give him any platforming-type challenges. It's a very different type of game design that's needed to take on Superman.

It's easy with a Batman game, there are tons of stealth games, tons of martial arts games, tons of gadget games that you can draw from, either from your own experience making them, or playing them. With Superman... there aren't many games about guys who can throw buildings around. But there are a few games that I think would be very useful in making a Superman game:

- InFamous Series Super powered guy in a modern (somewhat) functioning city, he travels freely and uses his powers freely, and every once in a while gets jumped by some bad guys that can hurt him. I think this is a pretty good start, especially for a lower powered Superman.
- Hulk: Ultimate Destruction This really kinda set the tone for Superstrength, throwing stuff around, weaponizing stuff, etc. Just a really solid romp that Superman should be capable of.
- Prototype Series An extension of the Hulk:UD ideas (same developer), haven't played it myself, but definitely using lots of powers and feeling really strong.
- Batman: Arkham Series Obviously the new golden standard in superhero gaming. What they did was, among other things, find the few things that make people love the hero, and put them in video game format, and focus on them until they were awesome. Then, once those core things are in, slowly add in the stuff that people like about the hero. Also, just the general quailty and care spent on it, and having a great story, with a great villain that uses all their biggest villains and the TAS voice cast, is just great stuff.
- Spider-Man 2 Movie Game Still the golden standard in superhero free roam, imho. The thing was: web swinging. It was incredibly fun and interesting. Easy to do, hard to master. Superman's flight should be like that. Also, a wide open city, people to save, namby pamby errands to run, points of interest. There's a reason why this thing worked so well, take those things and expand them in a way that later entries into the genre failed to do.
- Superman Returns Ultimately a bad game with a few good ideas. Supersonic flight is one to take, that helped make flying fun. Open world boss encounters as well. Very good stuff. The rest of the game fell far short of its target, so you can pretty much ignore it.
- Shadow of the Colossus This is a great game that is able to be cinematic without requiring cutscenes. It's also a game that is composed completely of travel and boss battles, and I think something like this would be much better than putting Superman against waves of thugs with kryptonite, magic and superlasers. Certainly there are a few supervillains that can field soldiers that can give superman trouble, but trying to act like everyone can would probably end up quite silly quite quickly.
- Asura's Wrath This is basically a giant QTE with minigames mixed in. While not necessarily the ideal approach to a Superman game, there's a lot of good stuff here as far as showing immense power, a lot of it over the top, but still a good framework, especially for demonstrating a maxed out uber Superman.
- Grand Theft Auto Series For me, I want Metropolis, or wherever the game takes place, to be full and lively, to be a living breathing place, that Superman could slip down into as Clark Kent and disappear into. Metropolis should be a character, of sorts, one that it makes sense to care about.
- Spore A bit odd, but this is a great game that uses limited resources to make an immense universe. I feel Superman needs that, that he needs to be able to travel a large distance and that it's too much to be able to code by hand, but using Progressive Generation for a lot of the content can allow Superman to travel an immense detailed city or even world with no need for Kryptonite fog or Brainiac Domes (why doesn't he just make all his bad guys out of that stuff?)