Superman: The Man of Steel – XB – Review

Superman has always been
something of an American icon since his introduction during the Golden Age of
comic books and has somehow still managed to be a well-loved character that not
only inspires television programs and films, but also video games.  Many games
have been made but none have ever really touched the true depth of this visitor
from another planet who can leap tall buildings in a single bound and is faster
than a speeding bullet.  Now it’s the Xbox’s turn and Superman: The Man of Steel
is here to save the day–or is it?

Based more on the comic
books than the Warner Brothers cartoon like the PS2’s Superman: Shadows of
Apokalips, The Man of Steel’s story is interesting.  A long while ago, the
villain Brainiac 13 planned to enslave all of Metropolis by turning the city
into a giant supercomputer, only to be foiled by Superman.  However, in the
process the city was somehow upgraded by nanobots and turning it into a
futuristic “city of tomorrow.”  Now, mysterious robots appear and are attempting
to erect a monstrous colossal Brainiac 13 robot.  Once again, it is up to
Superman to stop them as he goes up against new and old enemies such as nemesis
Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Mongul and Brainiac 13.

Superman, of course, comes
complete with most of his powers which includes super strength, x-ray vision,
freeze breath, heat vision, telescopic vision and flight.  While his powers are
remarkable to use, flight is where Superman really falls apart.  Using the
thumbsticks, Superman can rise up and down and strafe from left to right or
forward–he can even accelerate to move more quickly.  That sounds easy enough
on paper, but actually trying it is another story.  The trouble is that the
flight controls are not smooth at all and are, in fact, extremely tough to
handle when you need to make some sharp turns or face a target.  This is
especially frustrating when you’re under a time limit.

When a mission objective
is brought to our hero’s attention, a cone-shaped icon points gamers in the
right direction.  You can use your telescopic vision to show you the threat from
a great distance to see exactly where it is since the cone can be a bit hard to
follow.  The missions objectives would have been actually quite enjoyable hadn’t
the controls messed things up.  You are asked to put out fires in several
locations, rescue people in danger or place things such as antenna towers back
in their places. 

You must also fight
several enemies in Metropolis, deep space, Warworld and the Phantom Zone.  You
can target and enemy to either use freeze breathe, heat vision or your fists
depending on the weaknesses of your enemies.  The problem is that the targeting
system can sometimes play against you be targeting enemies farther from you
rather then the one much closer to you.  If an enemy moves out of range, the
targeting icon disappears, leaving you to target another enemy.

The next disappointment is
the fact that for an Xbox game, The Man of Steel is at best an average looking
game.  The grand city of Metropolis is indeed the most impressive sight in the
game with its magnificently designed buildings and futuristic transports that
hover about this massive area.  However, Superman and other characters don’t
look so good during animated cut-scenes.  For a game not based on the WB
cartoons, this Superman comes off more as a wooden caricature–stiff and without
any grace.  Still, it is exciting to see his powers in action such as his freeze
breath or x-ray vision.

While the graphics do very
little to hook gamers, the sound at least deserves high points for an original
and dynamic score.  The score is everything you might expect from a super hero
title–it builds up dramatically when the mission objectives change and it
marvelously blends in with the cut scenes.  If the score doesn’t move you,
however, you can add your own score copied to your Xbox hard disc.  There is
also some really good sound effects featured in this game, especially when
Superman uses his freeze breath that crystallizes an enemy–you can hear the ice
cracking when an enemy is being frozen.  The only bad part about the sound is
the weak voice acting.

A disappointment from the
very start, Superman: The Man of Steel just does not have what it takes to
capture the appeal of this classic superhero.  Although many of the missions are
indeed quite fun, the action is ruined by the frustratingly awkward controls
that will probably annoy gamers to the point of not caring about finishing the
rest of the missions at all. 

#Reviewer’s Scoring Details

Gameplay: 4.0
The game’s controls are just one of
the game’s biggest flaws and thanks to the gracelessness of the flight
mechanics, The Man of Steel is just too frustrating to put up with.  For one
thing, it is extremely difficult to make sharp turns when sharp turns are direly
needed.  Secondly, facing a target–such as a roaring fire–requires you to spin
around to get a true lock on it.

Battle can be a bit of a
struggle as well since locking on to an enemy is not as great as it should be.
You rarely do lock on to the nearest target, which makes things a little
complicated since some enemies are more powerful than others.

Graphics: 5.2
This is not the best looking game
the Xbox has to offer but at least it’s not the worse either.  The city of
Metropolis looks amazing and massive with huge futuristic buildings, some that
seem to be made out of glass that reflects everything (except, oddly enough,
Superman).  Hovering crafts float overhead or land in platforms and make the
city seem alive despite the fact that there are no visible pedestrians down
below.

Superman’s powers also
look great.  Whether its looking through building to look at the targets or
using your heat vision to burn a hole through a drone, the effects are done
rather nicely.  Unfortunately the character models are not at all that stellar,
especially during a cut scene.

Sound: 7.2
The score actually makes the game
sound better than it really is and it does a great job of establishing the
intensity of a situation.  My only complaint in this department is that there
are not enough tunes in the score.  Well, at least gamers can add the
Superman film’s score by copying it to the Xbox hard disc.

The game’s sound effects
are okay, but nothing really exciting enough.  When Superman accelerates his
flight, it sound almost just like the old 50s black and white television program
(okay, so it was before my time, but BBC television stations still ran the
re-runs in the mid-eighties).   The voice acting, however, is not very good at
all.  Most of the dialogue is delivered awfully, especially Superman who sounds
as stiff as he looks.

Difficulty: Hard
You would think the game is
difficult because of the challenges found in the game, but that is not the case
here.  Thanks to the awful controls, gamers have to put up more of a struggle
trying to keep Superman on the right track.  It’s often easy to miss the exact
location of a mission objective and even harder when the mission requires you to
do things before the time limit runs out.  For somebody that is suppose to be
faster than a speeding bullet, Superman is not fast enough to beat the clock.

Concept: 4.0
With a great storyline and an
assortment of excellent villains such as Brainiac 13 and Lex Luthor and friends
like Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen, the game’s main theme is not bad at all.  Add
The Phantom Zone to the mix and a collection of costumes to unlock and the game
is still an unfortunate mess.

Overall: 4.9
The extremely awful controls keep
Superman: The Man of Steel from being an enjoyable game worthy of the hero in
red and blue.  Gamers take heed, if you’re looking for a good comic book-based
game or love the Superman character, this is not the game to buy.