Couldnt they make a Superman game that takes place in Krypton?
Then superman perhaps would be an average schmuck?
They could call it.. "Averageman" or something..
haha..
but yeah, Superman does not work because he is made too powerful.. it would be like playing a game with cheats on the whole time...
No, it's not that Superman is too powerful, it's that a few versions are too powerful and too many people only look at those versions. Some of the best stories have come out of the Superman that could be hurt, wasn't the fastest, wasn't the strongest, wasn't the most powerful, and often went against enemies that could equal him or out manoeuvre him.
A bad Superman game would make him too powerful and make the game feel too easy or simple because it feels like a cheat. A good one could make Superman feel powerful, but still give plenty of challenge and that's not impossible at all despite how some people act.
I've seen other people suggest this idea, but I would like to expound on it.
What if instead of making Superman a god, the designer took inspiration from the Max Fleischer animated Superman shorts (see video link below). Maybe even take on the art style from these shorts.
You still get a character who is very powerful and fast, but not to the point of a god. He can still fly but can still be beaten.
I also just read the Superman Earth 1 volumes, and he is taken back a little to the golden age there where he has to be exposed to the sun to recharge his power.
http://youtu.be/OYMynm63A-k
Doing this at least gets you away from the Superman who literally punched a hole into an alternate dimension in Infinite Crisis.
I thought of an example like that before, only I used It's Superman novel, set in the 1930s and of similar Golden Age leap tall buildings levels.
I think it would be great idea. 1930s is a wonder time period setting that would get people interested in the world, characters, clothes, music, etc. Art deco buildings do need to be in more video games I believe.
If people want to eventually play that flying, heat vision firing Superman, then start off just being super strong and story by story gain new powers as time passes on, naturally as you progress or unlocking it or accidental heat-vision discharge for laughs (except that poor man burnt in the car). Best part of Golden Age Superman was that he was a jerk. He once fought the United States army while destroying a ghetto that levelled the area, just so new buildings could be made for people to live in.
Beyond that, there was specifically a "Earth 2" Superman story, that's the original Supreman in case anyone doesn't follow the old comics of the 1960s-2011 even lost most of his powers and had to train to get them back. Again the "lose all his abilities" isn't great, but it's serviceable if the way to grow is interesting enough.
A lot of people seemed to enjoy GTA:SA for it's exercise to get stronger, ride a bike to become better at it, well it could do for Superman as well by.
If not that, then let all the Supermen have their powers, just make it sections of a game. It wasn't the most beloved because most people just want "more swinging around New York" rather than any action for Spider-Man, but Shattered Dimension did a good comic book story game about four different versions of Spider-Man at different ages and abilities.
Original Superman who can just leap tall buildings and is incredibly tough for an open area environment fighting off an army, "the Superman too many people think of" that is incredibly powerful and can't be hurt from the Silver Age for flying stages or taking down a giant robot, come back from death Superman who just came back from death and had to use guns, Electric Superman because that's different enough, All Star Superman which isn't about fighting and more solving problems, Clark Kent Reporter to report or discover clues or dialogue options section, Superman Secret Identity or Superman: Speeding Bullets or JLA: The Secret Society of Super-Heroes where you must be a hero and do deeds in stealth so that no one discovers who you are, etc.
Get everything in small well made sections.
Now that I think about it, why just have one Superman. Beauty of video games and comics is they can be set anywhere, any time, in any style and few have as many versions as Superman.
Superman Red Son as people have mentioned, where he can just destroy an entire town.
Superman War of the Worlds where he fights those giant tripod ships of the classic story with their technology advance to hurt Superman if you let them.
Superman: A Nation Divided where a Superman is just super strong and invulnerable and fighting during the U.S. Civil War. If people can accept a super powered heal from everything super soldier, why not a super soldier that can punch his way through instead of shooting?
My choice that I would love to see? Superman raised by wolves (think Mowgli from Kipling's jungle books) where he uses his enhanced settings to hunt in a jungle. K'L'L in the African jungle where he is just really strong and tough (sleeping a cave during the day, hunting at night), but can still be shot with a proper bullet (not iron balls) and stabbed, but would heal quickly. Imagine hunting down English hunters trying to kill the wolves through thermal vision, hearing sound cues, hovering slightly to mask the sound.
If people come up with a good game in theory, somehow it could fit a version of Superman. Even if people go "that's not Superman", if it's fun enough, most people will get over it and accept it as being a different version that is enjoyable for them.
but red sun generators are like the Kryptonite fog. no, to make a good Superman game you can't limit him at all. although I think you have a good premise. maybe he has to disable some of the generators as Clark Kent. or use some of his Kryptonian tech like the battle suits or some exotic weapons or anything he has laying around the fortress of solitude.
Now again I say limited power or losing it all may not be the best, but it could still work.
The fog was awful because it just took away everything to mask awful game play. Red Sun relays or what have you, as long as it limits and allows for more to be done as they go away, isn't awful on it's own as long as the game is fun.
I'll be honest, one of my favourite things to do in a lot of open world games is go all over the map looking around and discovering clues. Playing titles like Saboteur or Far Cry 3 where I can set my own challenge with how much difficulty it's going to be when I later do story missions (more enemy resources not destroyed, the harder it'll be), has been enjoyable to me though. So take the 1980s on Superman in such a situation, where his a solar battery and red sun would just cause him to lose his abilities, not instantly take it away and I could see it being enjoyable.
If it's an open city game, liberate a part of Metropolis so that he can charge his powers. Then if you want to go straight toward the main boss, let's say Luthor in an armour war-suit that can equal Superman in a fight, then super speed flight directly toward that section and take him on in a hectic fight as the powers dwindle down. Maybe you'll get lucky.
Otherwise you could destroy generator by generator until the entire city is free. Perhaps fighting villains at key locations that can equal Superman in a fight, with only certain powers available depending on either a skill tree system that allows some to be active longer or some other explanation that lets him use super breath at half power for one player and heat vision for another player depending on who they helped or what they selected as a reward.
No powers as Superman, just an "average guy", well like comics they have ways around that. You could bluff with dialogue, use weapons like most open world games, sneak around to dismantle those generators, order NPCs around like Metropolis Police, use that hand to hand fighting given to you by Batman or The Guardian, something. Not impossible.
Also I just like to imagine having full solar charge, flying straight up, then flying down at high speed in area full of generators with a crash that causes a shockwave and earth quake to knock out enemies and destroy some enemy equipment as a "shock and awe" tactic so that losing that power can be managed well as a strategy.
Needs to be in space/alien world. A Warworld storyline of some sort, involving Mongul or Darkseid as the main villain. You get a slightly underpowered Superman away from our yellow sun and can go batshit crazy with the baddies and the environment.
Conclusion is a return to our solar system, final fight with the main bad guy. Superman's power levels slowly amp up during the battle. Final credits are you flying through the night sky back on Earth.
Mongul is such a great character for this example. So in the Silver Age, during the period where the main version of Superman in comics and people's exposure as that over-powered, nothing could hurt him, could move planets with his strength, travel through time, etc nonsense there was Mongul.
Mongul is a yellow skinned alien war lord who conquered planets and destroyed those who stood in his way. At one point Superman and the equally over-powered Supergirl stood against him and yet there was no beating him in a fight. He was stronger than them, he was tougher than him, he was the better fighter, and they just could not take him down. In the end he simply left because he was wasting his time. When he did, both of the heroes just collapsed in exhaustion.
At the height of the "lol, Superman sucks, too powerful" people complain about, there was still someone more powerful than him and that wasn't the only case.
People don't like that version of Superman and I don't blame them, I don't, but every version after that can be hurt, can be killed, can be over-powered or out-matched by plenty of other heroes and villains. Superman is a god to mere mortals, but next to gods he is just a man still in stories. As time goes on, I hope more and more people realise that.
