User Reviews (1 - 11 of 34)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Bad, just bad

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 20 / 26
Date: November 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It's funny that the most invincible super hero ever created has never translated well to the video game world. Superman Returns seems as if that may change, but alas, this is just another licensed, mindless beat 'em up, and yet another lame Superman game. The game starts off promising enough: you fly around Metropolis, and the city is gigantic. All at once memories of the Spider-Man 2 video game surface because you get the feeling that this could be the type of do anything, anytime gaming that the aforementioned game was based on, but this is not the case. As all kinds of chaos explode in the city, the more the city gets damaged, the more it's own life bar is drained, and once it's drained all the way, it's game over. Now, it's a nice change of pace that Superman himself doesn't have a life bar, but why are his powers (heat vision, super breath, etc.) still have to be so limited and only attained after completing boring, repetitive objectives? The fighting system is boring, and for Metropolis being so big, there's hardly anything really to do. There's a nice list of villains to take on; including Metallo, Bizarro, Mr. Mxyzptlk, and of course, Lex Luthor. After that, it all goes even further downhill. The graphics are blocky and just plain ugly, even for a PS2 game, and the camera really does want to jerk around and work against you. Yeah, Superman Returns is a just plain bad licensed crud fest that had more than enough time to get the kinks worked out (the game was originally slated to be released alongside the movie's premiere in theaters this past summer), but what else would you expect from EA? Thanks again guys.

FRUSTRATING AND BORING

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: December 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Well I learned my lesson...never, ever buy a video game before reading reviews from magazines and fans. Had I done that I would have saved myself $30 on Superman Returns. Superman's history on video games has been pretty abysmal and this game does nothing to change the poor track record. First of all, despite the title this game has little to do with the film it is named after. Lex Luthor does make an appearance (barely) and Superman will find himself battling villains like Bizarro and Metallo. That is just the beginning of this maddening game experience.

You get to use Superman's powers like flight, superspeed, heat vision, superbreath, and frost breath. Only the heat vision is really useful in battle. Superbreath just blows your enemies backwards with minimal or no damage. There's also several combo attacks that you begin with and gain throughout the game but the best attacks seem to be the simplest ones such as just grabbing a guy and hurling him into a nearby wall or slamming him on the ground.

First I really hate the controls. While it may be fun to soar around the skies above Metropolis the control is clunky. Trying to fight while flying is a royal pain. It starts with zooming around trying to save Metropolis from a meteor storm. You'll still be flying around trying to find the meteors as they crash down on the city, and this is all on the first level! It's also damn near impossible to control Superman when running at superspeed as you go crashing into buildings.

Next your transported to Mongul's Warworld. What this has to do with Superman returns I have no idea other than explaining Superman's five year absence from the Earth. Here you'll battle various gladiators in Mongul's arena including a maddening guy named Outcast who changes size from man-size to gigantic. When in giant form he can only be hurt by throwing objects at him while he sends waves of energy out in a full circle at you. Superman? Nope...you'll have to grab an object, then quickly run away to avoid his blasts and hope to have a two second opening to hurl your projectile at him. Superman's health bar is actually a "favored gladiator bar". I never did figure out this thing. My bar was going down even when I wasn't being hit. I guess the crowd didn't like my duck and running for cover in between trying to find an object to throw. Making it worse, there is so much clutter in the arena that half the time you throw something it never makes it to the target because it hits something else. It is frustrating beyond all belief! To Top things off, once your health expires, you have to start the whole stinking thing over, even after defeating several foes easily.

The game on the PS2 doesn't really look so good...yes Metropolis is huge to explore but who would want to? There's no character to the buildings really, you can't go inside structures making the whole setting lifeless. The music? The music is ok..fairly dramatic an all but guess what...that familiar John Williams Superman theme is no where to be found. What a disappointment!

There is just nothing much to recommend in this game. I wish I would have rented it first...I debated between this one and Marvel Ultimate Alliance and I think I made the wrong choice.

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am an avid gamer. I have played a wide range of games of all types from shoot em up, to role playing for over 2 decades. I would be hard pressed to find a game of lower quality than Superman Returns. From the get go, you can tell that the makers of the game tried desperatly to get it finished and packaged to be on store shelves in time for the christmas season, much to the dismay of anyone who buys this game.

The loading of each scene is choppy. When fighting, it is difficult to target in on your enemies. As you find yourself fighting through the center of Metropolis, if you hit any civilians or vehicles (which there are many of) it counts against you. The destruction adds up quickly.

The physics are not very fluid. When flying from area to area, the speed at which Superman flies is a help. When in combat, the same physics apply, so when trying to circle or approach an enemy, he swoops around wildly and almost asks for a beating.

I would say that the game designers were about 70% complete in making this game. The concept is a good one. If they just spent more time refining the individual elements of the game it could have been a half way decent game. Do not buy this game. It is not worth the agrevation.

NOT like Spiderman

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: November 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game thinking it would be great fun posing as Superman. I enjoyed the Spiderman 2 (given it's not the best game, but still fun), so I thought Superman would be great too. Wrong. Unlike Spiderman, there is no "real" free roaming where you can save random citizens or perform acts of heroism. There are missions that pop up on the map, one right after another that kinda follow a plot. The plot is really confusing and unrealistic. Most of the missions and even the bosses can be easily defeated by button smashing or throwing cars at them. However all of the missions are "timed" to an extent that if the bad guys cause too much damage to Metropolis, you'll have to restart the mission. The game also seemed really buggy, with sound and video both stuttering and cutting out. Camera angle is horrible. The only good things about this game is the score and the ability to fly. The score isn't movie quality, John Williams music, but it is well done (when the sound isn't cutting out). Flying is the best part, hitting Mach 4 is really fun. But even though you've broken the sound barrier several times, you don't seem to be going any faster than when you first take off.

Bottom line: rent it or just play a demo, but don't pay full price for this bad game. EA should be ashamed of themselves.

Superman Should've Never Returned to Gaming

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: November 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Here's a rule of thumb for gamers. Superman games are always bad. Superman 64 is constantly cited as being one of the worst games of all time. When Superman Returns came out, the first thing that came to mind was that it could not be nearly as bad as Superman 64. The good news? The game really isn't as bad as Superman 64. The bad news? The game is still bad. Not for all the same reasons, but its still bad.

The first thing that gets me about the game is the overall story itself. It's just sloppy. There's a lot of stuff thrown in, but it doesn't make sense. I didn't see the movie, but I'm pretty sure it didn't have dragons running rampant. I'm also certain the plot of the movie made sense. Here it really doesn't.

Superman Returns takes on the sandbox approach. That means its like Grand Theft Auto. You'll spend a lot of time flying around Metropolis looking for things to do. Most missions have you either saving someone or a building or something to that effect... either way you're saving Metropolis or a part of it from something. The game introduces a new health bar for you too. Superman doesn't have a health bar... but Metropolis does. So the game really does take saving Metropolis seriously. However, the dilemna with this is that it takes the fun out of the free-roaming aspect of the game. You can't have too much fun in Metropolis because doing something to a building, or harming one of its citizens causes its health to drop. What's the fun of having all these super powers if you can't a little fun with them?

Throughout the game you can use Superman's powers. His heat vision, freezing breath etc. Its great to have access to his powers, but again, you can't have too much fun with them because if you hurt Metropolis you're only making things harder on yourself.

The boss battles give the game some variety but not much. The objectives are never actually explained... and when they are they're pretty vague. The biggest frustration, however, is that if you fail a boss fight or something, you've got to do the whole objective over again. It's annoying. Especially when you're in the midst of a fight and you don't know what to do!

The game doesn't even look all that great or run well. It lacks detail overall, which is really sad considering this game spent more time in development than originally planned. They could've taken time to vamp up the graphics or fix some bugs. There's no excuse for a PS2 game to lack detail. The camera is also terrible. It often gets stuck behind objects or something... the camera is just annoying.

The sad part about all this is that Superman Returns may very well be one of the better Superman games. Its got bugs and glitches, along with some boring gameplay and yet it still manages to be better than previous Superman attempts. It seems Superman, like Batman, was not meant to have a good game. Its time Superman leave the videogame realm, and this time he probably shouldn't return.

strange...............

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: January 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

how shall i begin, well, let me start with the best thing the game has to offer. Flying through the city will definitely be fun to you...... but what next? the first impression this game gives may give you the idea that, "heck, this game isn't all that bad!" but after you save the city from a meteor shower and defeat mongul in war world, the game gets pretty bad. in fact, this game is all pretty much based on first impressions. you think to yourself, it isn't that boring killing these robots. but an hour or so into the game you'll be saying, "is this all?" And it pretty much is. They sorta break up the monotony with some okay boss battles, but other than that, you'll be constantly battling robots and some others. it really surprises me since they could do so much more for Superman games but the makers seem so sloppy in doingso. i hope the sequel is bput into better hands. i am really convinced that there could be something good in a Superman game since there is so much you could with him. lets pray that next year the curse is lifted.

It's Okay........

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Okay. I know that 99% of the people who reviewed this game hated it. But I don't hate it at all. Let me start with the good things...

1. The whole flying thing is incredible.
2. The city is ten times bigger than New York in Spiderman 2.
3. You can play as Bizarro.
4. Good choices of villains.

The Bad Things...

1. There is no "Superman" Theme (The Movie).
2. Graphics are poor.
3. When you fly around the city, a mission pops up so you barely ever get to explore.
4. This game is barely based off of the movie.

And there you go. That basically sums up the game for you. The game is not bad, but it is far from perfection. I hope EA learns from its mistakes and creates a better Superman game, because I am a huge fan.

Infuriating!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: November 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Perhaps the most aggravating thing about this game is the fact that it could and should have been so much fun. I was really looking forward to this one after hearing promises of a Superman game to rival the Spiderman series. Unfortunately it seems the game was rushed onto shelves - or perhaps just poorly conceived - and it doesn't take more than an hour or two of play before it becomes readily apparent that the game is just a great big mess.

First off, the controls are horrible - completely unresponsive. I'm sure the designers will say that there is a "learning curve" to playing the game, but don't be fooled. The controls just don't work. Second, the graphics are shoddy to say the least. Detail seems to have suffered in place of scope, but that scope is rendered meaningless as every part of Metropolis looks pretty much the same. And finally, the play is repetitive and boring. Granted, this may be due in part to the unresponsive controls, as you find yourself having to play and replay even the first few levels.

You have been warned...

Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: November 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

When you are thinking about buying this game, ignore the other reviews. I am an avid gamer, and I think this game is even better than the games in the spiderman series. The graphics may not be that great, but graphics aren't the most important part of a game. The most important part is to have fun while playing, which I certainly did. So give it a chance. You'll be glad you did.

Superman Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: December 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just recieved this game today as a birthday present and hugged my mom and grandma three times because I was happy to own this game.This game is so much fun,except,the viewing around thing is hard to do,but I got the hang of it.Some people say that this game is so bad and maybe its just because that they couldn't beat it in one hour.Well,guess what,I am already past the first AND second level and now I am on level three.This game is so much fun that I played it for 2 1\2 hours of fun!I think this game deserves full 5 stars because it deserves it and from what people say bad about this game,DO NOT and I mean DO NOT listen to people who gave it bad reviews.Iam a huge superman fan and I'm thrilled with this game and it is highly recommended.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions