Gamer's Kryptonite

1up has a feature, in honor of the excellent Superman Returns, discussing the unfortunate history of Superman licensed games across the many consoles. The worst is, of course, Superman 64. From the article: "Superman 64 isn't completely without redeeming features. It serves as an invaluable object lesson in how not to make a videogame. Try to build your characters with more than three polygons. Do not pad out your game by forcing players to fly through rings at two miles an hour in between each stage. Do not make your superheroes less physically imposing than a one-legged, asthmatic kitten with a concussion."

Comments

Blizzard?!

[eldavojohn]

So I was watching through these videos and I caught the Blizzard Entertainment logo at the beginning of The Death and Return of Superman (1994) for the Genesis.

Is anyone else as astonished as I am? I thought Blizzard only made high quality computer games. Perhaps they have a few skeletons in their closet?

Also, whoever wrote this article seems to suffer from Tourettes Syndrome:

"Hey, a power up. OW DAMN HELL,"

Um..."excellent"?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

"1up has a feature, in honor of the excellent Superman Returns, discussing the unfortunate history of Superman licensed games across the many consoles."

Sorry - not going to get interested in a fellow who wears red underwear outside his pants. Why have Superroo's games sucked as much if not more than his movies/comic books/etc.? Dunno - why have almost all character licensed games sucked? (Hint: after they blow the wad on licensing, there isn't much money for code or design left over)

Re:Wow....

[joshsisk]

He could try to save things "in the nick of time" for many or most of the puzzles, rather than haul out stupidity like Kryptonite beams everywhere.

This is actually a good solution. You could make flying levels where superman has to get to the disaster or whatever it is, and has a timer... you have to fly him through the city without hurting anyone or crashing through any buildings. When you get to the disaster, it could almost be like a puzzle... say it's a volcano, you have to figure out whether to seal it up (which could cause the pressure to build so it will explode), or drill down into the earth and release the pressure, or some other novel solution. You could also add in some gameplay that involved him having to achieve goals while not giving away his identity... He is at a press conference as Clark Kent, for example, and terrorists take hostage. So Clark has to disable the terrorists with strategic uses of super-breath or heat vision, but not give himself away. You could add in some sort of "reveal-meter" that measures whether or not people are noticing. Adding in elements like that that actually reflect the problems supes has in the comics could be really cool. Also, Superman is vulnerable to magic and illusion still, so those are threats that can be used.

Re:The problem

[Bombula]

The new Superman Returns video game has an interesting take on addressing this problem (dunno if it'll work): Metropolis has a health rating, not superman, and gameplay is based on making choices about how best for superman to use his powers to help the most people. I think the example the developers gave was that there is simultaneously a burning building with people who have to be rescued and some giant robot tearing up downtown. What do you do? The answer in the game is that you pick up a fire engine and zip it over to the burning building and let them deal with a problem they can handle while you go off and sort out the giant robot.

We'll have to see whether or not it works, but at least it's more in line with th superman character. Superman could easily be boring as a character for storytelling purposes if all he did was fight one bad guy after another. But when he is forced to choose, well, that is what makes things interesting. The thing that makes superman beloved isn't that he's strong or fast or bulletproof, it's that he can choose among options that will make a difference. In real life, we rarely have any choice at all because we are pretty much powerless most of the time. Superman isn't helpless like most people are (for all intents and purposes) in real life, and so he has the power to make choices. The harder those choices are, the more interesting it is to follow along.

the same is basically true in any story for any hero. The difference is that in most classic stories the hero isn't super strong or super fast, but is just a normal person - an unlikely character - who rises to the challenge after the power to make a difference through their choices and actions is thrust upon them (think Indiana Jones).

Make it a puzzle game.

[BitwizeGHC]

I.e., give Supes a series of missions he has to complete. He's effectively invincible but he needs to stop the bank robbers/terrorists/etc. in a minimum amount of time, with no human collateral damage and a minimum of property damage. The longer he dallies or the more of Metropolis he tears up while saving the world, the lower his publicity rating becomes. This will require strategic thinking and searching for non-obvious solutions (perhaps with the aid of X-ray vision). Boss battles could be super-powered robots built by Lex Luthor or something, with kryptonite power sources and Supes could only take a limited number of hits from those (perhaps as few as one).

Re:You have to empathise with game designers

[Alsee]

I just thought of an interesting angle for a Superman game that neatly sidesteps all the invulnerability and superpower issues. You hang the challenge on preserving his secret identity and the Clark Kent / Superman split.

Oh noes! The damsel is in distress and I'm stuck in Clark Kent mode surrouned by witnesses! Can I save the damsel with my heatvison without anyone noticing? Can I slip away to a safe spot to change into Superman without making too many people too suspicious? Can I wait a minute for a better moment to slip away, or would I cause the damsel's death by delaying? Or do I just change into Superman in front of witnesses and save the damsel's life and... oops I lost the game.

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