- Publisher: EA Games
- Release Date: Nov 20, 2006
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Locking on to a specific enemy is a crapshoot. The character faces are bad enough that we were actually shocked to find that they had the rights to use the actors' likenesses. We could write a book about everything wrong with Superman Returns.
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Putting aside the sub last-gen graphics, the stunning lack of variety in the gameplay when you have seventy years of material to drawn upon is unforgiveable. There is no other way to view Superman Returns: The Videogame as a cynical cash-in that makes a mockery of a character that deserves so much more.
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AceGamezSuperman Returns isn't a bad game, but at six hours gameplay it's far too short, as well as far too buggy and repetitive to enjoy to its fullest.
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The extra 6 months in development could have been used to make the controls actually controllable.
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A fairly short game (artificial elongation of finding lost cats not withstanding) that can be beaten inside a day which offers little to no replayability – unless you’re content with just flying around at your leisure.
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Think of Superman Returns as an insanely boring exercise in flying from one end of Metropolis to the other -- non-stop and for 10 hours -- while waiting for the next "battle 10 robots" or "battle eight dragons" or "battle six radioactive gargoyles" button-mashing sequence to ensue.
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The game has the mechanics down in the flying and running, but the combat and the game's progression just isn't up to par with where it needs to be.
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Superman Returns from EA on 360 is much better than "Superman" from Titus on N64. That’s not setting the bar very high, though. At best, it’s average.
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Edge MagazineBy even the lowest expectations Superman Returns is a staggering shortfall. [Jan 2007, p.86]
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Electronic Gaming MonthlyIf Superman spent more time flying around the city and zero time fighting repetitive enemies, his game would be way better. [Jan. 2007, p.102]
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It's not nearly as bad as the notoriously awful "Superman 64," but it's yet another chunk of kryptonite plaguing his video game career.
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Superman Returns is so criminally lacking in any inspiration, though, and is such a dismal waste of the licence that you'll want to curl up and rock yourself into a trance. At least then your mind can entertain you with thoughts of what a good Superman game might be like.
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On the surface Superman Returns is impressive and the actual act of playing flying around the city as Superman is fun, but the lack of any real story hurts the overall experience.
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They made the world, but forgot to put a game in it. There's so little friction here that a sharp gamer can easily blow through the game in four or five hours.
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Note to self: When a good Superman game finally comes out, see if the Captain can do that “around the world to go back in time” thing from Superman II so he can bring me a copy NOW!
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Look up into the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s another crappy Superman game!
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Bryan Singer built his movie around an emotional core; Superman Returns is an empty gaming experience that needs tuning, heroics and a conclusion worth fighting for.
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It is a game that utterly fails to capture any of the elements that make its source material so enduring and beloved.
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Repetitive, unlikable gameplay squashes everything. Flying around with the Man of Steel becomes about as entertaining as putting a helmet on your head and ramming into a brick wall at top speed.
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Feels more like a botched sandbox-styled game with what little there is to do both poorly implemented and boring. It may be the best Superman game so far, but that's not saying much.
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There’s a lot of potential for a great game here, though. Hopefully Superman will return again and this time bring more gameplay with him.
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After the thrill of flying around Metropolis wears off, Superman Returns is nothing more than a below-average, repetitive movie tie-in that doesn't even do the movie tie-in part well.
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The controls are great, but with nothing to do in terms of content, things ultimately fall short.
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The targeting system sucks, often sticking to the enemy you just knocked down (and therefore can't attack until he gets up again) while another is bashing you in the back. The final aggravation is the camera, which constantly gets stuck on things in the environment, so you can't always see your foe.
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Superman Returns looks like a passable game, and it definitely feels like one when you first start playing it. Six or seven hours later, when you’ve done absolutely everything Metropolis has to offer, you’ll be shocked how little they’ve sprinkled over the obscenely huge environment.
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The developers at EA finally nailed down what it takes to create a fun Superman game. The only problem is that the game is really late (since it is a movie tie-in and the movie came out nearly six months ago) and the game can get really tedious.
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Lasting around 7-10 hours, depending on how many side quests you do, Superman Returns may seem short to some but it is a perfect fit for this game's engine...Easily of the best Superman games to come along in quite some time.
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If the value of the game didn’t suffer enough from the lifeless gameplay, the painful dialog and storyline, and the cumbersome controls, the game also suffers from some fairly significant bugs.
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The problems are even more compounded because, on the 360, this is supposedly a next generation game, it simply isn’t. Even Superman will struggle to save this disjointed effort from the bargain bin and only hardened collectors should seek out this disaster.
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While the open world is supposed to let you do whatever you like, there just isn’t anything to do in Metropolis. Punching out bad guys becomes about as fun as taking out the garbage, and the “epic” battle between Superman and the forces of evil is as simple and dull as a day of chores.
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Superman Returns: The Videogame is an embarrassment to video games, not to mention the Superman franchise, and is a new low for the quality of movie tie-ins.
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The game play becomes very repetitive and you feel that a lot more could have been done with the powers Superman has and the whole city being open for exploration. However what you are left with is dull combat missions the odd fire-fighting and of course kitten hunting, racing and some destruction thrown in for good measure.
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Official Xbox MagazineSo-so graphics and straightforward action never tap the 360's potential, but what you get is 10-or-so hours of middling superhero beat-'em-up fun. [Jan. 2007, p.76]
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From then on you’re bashing various robots, giant lizards and zooming through the streets of Metropolis – the flying is easily the most fun element – trying to keep the city’s health up by rescuing injured civilians (which is hugely boring), while cutscenes tell you what Lex Luthor’s doing somewhere else in the city.
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Gaming doesn’t get much better than breaking the sound barrier through Metropolis’ skies.
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While it is great that EA was able to get all the actors to provide their voices for Superman Returns: The Videogame it is a shame that they turned out the way they did, flat and boring.
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The repetition and horrible encounters make Superman Returns: The Videogame drag along at a snails pace. I’m sure many gamers will be ready to call it quits after the first hour. Simply put, this title does not offer nearly enough to warrant a $60 purchase.
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In terms of actual gameplay features, the sprawling city is amazing, but there’s little else to rave about here.
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A making-of documentary on how such a precious franchise was so flagrantly mishandled would be far more entertaining than anything the game has to offer.
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Unfortunately within the first hour of realizing the game is little more then a series of samey battles, the tedium and monotony soon overtakes and leaves the rest of the game a mind-numbingly repetitive struggle - look elsewhere for your superhero action.
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A brain numbingly dull title that is only partially saved by its above average presentation.
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The controls are about as responsive as a corpse in the city morgue and the moody camera handcuffs you at every turn.
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As a game that manages to encapsulate the feeling of being Superman, Superman Returns does an excellent job.
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X-ONE Magazine UKDespite the abysmal demo, this actually turned out okay. Unfortunately it gets very repetitive and difficult later on. [Issue 15, p.90]
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While there's nothing broken about Superman Returns, it just doesn't amount to a particularly fun experience, with boring super-powers and mindless melee combat.
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The city of metropolis and the world environment looks amazing and will never let you down. The buildings and islands look great from above and the sun flare effects are a treat as well.
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Yea, there’s an incredible, lush environment for Superman to engage in, but it is completely barren when it comes to crime for him to face off against. In Superman Returns, Kal-El’s greatest villain is boredom. The curse lives on.
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At the end of the day I may have bitched a lot about this game, but I still find myself flying over the streets of Metropolis on a daily basis. The truth is the game is fun, even with all the aforementioned issues I had a great time being a hero for the day.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 26 out of 169
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Mixed: 11 out of 169
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Negative: 132 out of 169
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May 26, 2012
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Nov 14, 2010
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Sep 29, 2021