I wrote all this up last time I saw one of these threads and I still feel the same.
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The
idea of Superman Returns video game is still solid, it just needed a lot more love and time put into it that a movie tie-in simply can't get due to restraints and nature of a external controlled focus (fitting the movie).
The world was open and the city was there, but it wasn't very alive or involving. Give us reasons to care about the world with interesting tasks to do and people to meet, put in those touches that made Arkham City so beloved with hidden clues and references, make it worth exploring via beauty or collecting (for some of us) or the like. Just having it there and "oh it's your lifebar" doesn't mean very much. Perhaps make it destructible and have us lose out on fun tasks to do and need to wait for it to be repaired as a consequence.
Though if they can't make the world that interesting, some people are perfectly happy just having a great way to get around like Spider-Man 2 movie game. Start with super jumps and basic hands in front flying, but evolve it with more control and tricks over time. Take in that "you'll believe a man can fly" tagline and make it their own.
Perhaps try to make it just a great 3D geometry fighter. I'm not asking for much, I personally loved Bulk Slash and Zone of Enders, so a modern day equivalent of that for aerial fighting wouldn't be so bad at all for me, others would want more I'm sure.
Enemies shouldn't be that hard to figure out or do if one looks into the franchise. Yes basic grunts aren't much and he's mightier than normal man, but Superman is hardly alone depending on the version (and even then). At the height of ridiculous power levels where he could live forever and had super hypnotism and couldn't be harmed in any way except magic, Mongul was just a yellow skinned alien that could outfight and outlast Superman and Supergirl together. Braniac was really smart and just laughed because he had a shield that Superman couldn't get through. That's at the most ridiculous levels, so one of the hundreds more reasonable power levels Superman has plenty of people to fight.
Once that is realised and people focus on just the main powers (strength, hard to harm but not invincible, flight, X-ray, freeze breath, super speed, ability to use Microsoft Office ribbon), it just makes it the standard video game villain selection and creativity to go through and working with the physical villains such as Mongul or Gog or Hellgrammite. You have magic users or advance technology aliens and scientists who can be the standard shoot from afar enemies. You have creativity of guys like Metallo who can constantly rebuild himself, Riot who multiplies when hit, or that giant kyptonite ape which you have to deal with from afar or Parasite that can rob you of your powers slowly so use attacks from afar or make use of the environment, etc. Whatever the hell they want with Mr. Mxyzptlk, put the Scarecrow levels of Arkham Asylum to shame.
All those gods of Apokolips alone would do well as enemies, Superman is just "a normal guy" amongst them in almost every comic version.
For the powers, by how many games and movies do it, it's not that big of a hindrance to show off people starting from the beginning. Batman and Samus have to get most of their equipment, inFamous's Cole had to build up his strength, so why not Superman? The original Golden Age Superman or the one from It's Superman (I highly recommend reading that book even if you aren't a Superman fan) or even the last four reboots in comics and television have all had him start limited and build up. I would be okay with a version that is only strong and tough and fights the U.S. Army (because Golden Age Superman was a dick like that) in the middle of the city for an excuse to make new housing all before he has to fly to save a falling Lois or use his heat vision to attack from afar or however they want to do it.
-Depending on the version of Superman, holding up a building could be a hard task for him to do. Others landing a plane and barely keeping it from crashing is another, so strength is malleable as long as he is still "can one hit kill a standard grunt". Throwing a tank as the Hulk in Ultimate Destruction was fine with me even though he could lift an entire mountain in some comics.
-Flying needs to be satisfactory as has been talked about plenty of times. Sure he could just flying straight to his destination, but make he is VTOL as well as supersonic jet all in one, he has to be manoeuvrable and should seek that level of fun we had with Spider-Man 2.
- Super speed is, well as a game dictates. He's not the Flash, people really don't expect care to see him run around all that quickly, but enough to make travel quick a la Prototype is all I would want. Quick reaction where he can slow down time to avoid an attack would be okay with me as well.
-Heat vision is a laser attack, I personally don't see a need to go much beyond standard video game energy attacks. Different abilities to do with it, perhaps some puzzle solving or temporary city repairing, but nothing fancy.
Don't need super breath, but it could be puzzle solving and a special attack during a combo.
-Superhearing for missing finding, super vision for tips on were to go, X-Ray vision and a combination of the previous two for "detective mode" or the always funny "the building becomes transparent" so many video games do.-
-No other power is really needed unless it's "the city is the life bar" and then invulnerability, but I think that's a mistake as "you can't hurt him" is the reason most people don't like Superman in the first place. Being really tough to hurt is better I think. Let guys like Doomsday or Bizarro or various aliens be able to physically beat him to death, remember he is like any normal guy can be harmed by magic attacks and guys like Black Adam could knock him out with one punch if they got lucky. If Kratos as a god could do it and people don't believe he's unstoppable if you screw up in combat, so can Superman.
Of course they could throw that all away. Why bother with making it an interesting game for combat when they can do what a lot of people seem to love, destruction? Give an open city where Superman is evil or it's an alien world of Braniac's robots or it's Bizarro and the final boss is Superman in a constantly stalking you Resident Evil Tyrant sort of manner. Super strong, incredibly dense mass, move at intense speeds, where buildings can crumble and fall apart like Red Faction Guerrilla's building code? For the Bizzaro idea it would be more akin to an arcade game I guess, destroy and rampage as long as possible before Superman stops/traps/kills you (it's okay, Bizarro is artificial and not human, it's okay to kill non-humans).
Edit for this thread: They easily could go out for Superman's power and let people "feel like Superman" with all that strength and ability people always expect and cause the (I can't imagine a good game, he's too powerful). Do what people loved in Blast Corp or Red Faction Guerilla, tearing down cities and enemies like they are nothing until the big battles or the smart planning is required.
Have it be purely arcade like and destroy in the fastest time possible or score based.
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I would enjoy a Superman game that isn't about being Superman. Following the idea of it being an Adventure game, play as Clark Kent the reporter. Adventure genre or the clue finding style of L.A. Noire, use the various powers and what he overhears as Superman to put together a story about a criminal ring or mystery like who killed the Mayor of Metropolis (It's Lex Luhtor) or what have you.
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Don't play as Superman. I'm not a fan of Superman, but I am a fan of the world and characters built around him, in fact I say the best stories are those where it's about those around him and he is just the plot device. Those who insult Superman and never pay attention to the franchise often don't realise just how many characters there are to it.
-Steel, a guy wearing a suit of armour and you can't tell me a game about a guy in a suit of armour can't work. Highly intelligent, can make parts and repair from things lying about or taken from enemies, is not Shaq.
-Guardian, a cop who uses a shield and street smarts. No super powers, just street smarts during the 1940s. Later a clone who works as security in a government agency of mad scientists with clones, experiments, aliens, etc.
-Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen almost everyone knows of course, but they have plenty of adventures that don't depend on Superman. I would kill for a Beyond Good And Evil game staring these two or just Jimmy alone.
-One of the Supergirls who wasn't Kryptonian and had teleknetic powers and shape shifting. Sure some of the same problems as Superman, but open to plenty of interesting game mechanics there while being different from Superman.
-Gangbuster, a Batman like character that doesn't really have much money.
-Black Lightning, a man with electrical powers that works in the worst part of Metropolis.
-Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin, police officers who deal with superpowered threats and have to be able to deal with numerous threats without Superman. Third person shooter, squad based shooter, action-adventure, etc.
-Lex Luthor (read Lex Luthor:Man of Steel comic mini-series, great read about why he hates Superman and barely features Superman). Imagine a Tropico or Sim City like game where you also have to deal with superbeings fighting each other.
Plenty more and that's just who is set in Metropolis.
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More of the recent iOS game. I enjoyed it, but it could use some refinement.
What if the challenge isn't about combat with enemies and mooks, but about stopping crimes quickly and efficiently before anyone gets hurt?
I can't imagine exactly how such a game would play, but an open ended, puzzle-like approach to crime fighting and giant monster stopping could be an interesting way to do a superhero game that isn't seen very much.
It's more of a "power management" game than an action game.
I know there were a lot of complaints about it from long time fans of the Splinter Cell series, but I could see that idea working along the theory behind "Mark & Execute" or individual stage designs like Hitman.
There is a top down tactical shooter that did the same idea of "getting it just right and seeing it executed perfectly" for PC some time ago as well, but I forget the name of that one.