I just downloaded the Superman Returns demo and gave it a quick play through. In short, it's actually pretty good (I invite my fellow 360 Fanboy bloggers to disagree). It seems like for all the crap EA puts on the market, there's always one or two good games, too. It's the law of averages really. After all, if you put out 500* games a year, at least a few of them have to be good, right? Superman, however, is special, and not just because he's Superman either. No, the Son of Krypton has a sordid past in the videogame world. It's arguable that there has only ever been one Superman game that was actually fun, and that was the arcade game -- in fairness, I've never played the NES Superman and I somewhat enjoyed The Death and Return of Superman on Genesis/SNES. Read on for impressions (especially Live Silver members, who, we have just learned, cannot currently download the demo).
In a move seemingly inspired by Ultimate Spiderman's villainous gameplay, EA is including the famed super-clone Bizzaro as a playable character in Superman Returns. Bizarro Jerry is surely pleased. Of course, the mere hint that a Supes game doesn't suck is the clearest indication yet that we're all living in an alternate universe.
The LA Times wonders if the supposed gay undertones in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns will affect its appeal to the famously hetero-centric action film crowd. Of course, if the film turns out to be a little too swishy for macho 8th-graders, it might also affect sales of Superman Returns: The Video Game due June 26 from EA. I played the demo at E3 and didn't detect a "bold queer spirit," although one could argue that flying around in tight red briefs and a cape is inherently gay. Singer successfully worked a "tolerance" theme into his two X-men movies without turning them into box-office Kryptonite, so I don't think a few lingering shots of Brandon Routh's super-package are going to scare away phobic fans, especially if the movie -- and more importantly, the game -- are any good. My first impression: The sense of scale endowed by the corporate bondage queens at EA was cool, but the jaggy graphics were sadly limp for a next-gen title (no pun intended).
