Why can nobody make a good Superman game? | FingerGuns

He's the most powerful hero, on paper the perfect character for video games. But why is it so hard to make a good Superman game?

[FallenAngel1984]

Better question is why can nobody make solo videogames based on non-Batman DC superheroes.

[PaulCollett]

Hopefully the new Spiderman will sort that out

[Reckless_Love]

Spiderman is Marvel.

Nobody can make a good Superman game because he's too powerful. He can fly faster than the speed of sound, has the ability to shoot lasers from hia eyes and can punch harder than a round from a tank. He's immune to what almost all of humanity can throw at him.

So imagine the scope of the sandbox you'd need. Then how would you make him feel capable of such destruction? Then how do you make it so you try and avoid that destruction and care about npcs?

Absolute nightmare to try and make a game out of.

[Goldby]

^
his lifebar is the "health" of the city
or just like how batman was poisoned with the joker blood in the arkham series, you could ahve him poisoned by kryptonite so he is overall weaker or weaker as the game goes on.

[jaymacx]

I used to have the sentiment that no one can make a Superman game because of how powerful he is. I thought really hard about it.

+ they could have enemies that can harm him. He is vulnerable to magic, kryptonite and the red sun.
+ make it mission based and if too many civilians die , you have to start over etc.
Sumperman maybe powerful but he still is limited.
Whatever challenges he has in the comics needs to be fleshed out in the game.

[JBaby343]

The problem with these ideas is that they ultimately take the fun out of the game.

If you use something to weaken Superman then you're not really playing as Superman using the powers he has so that defeats the point of a game where you are Superman.

If you use the city/citizenry as a life bar then every scenario becomes either a timed event or one where you are walking (flying) on eggshells to prevent too many deaths. Both are annoying and again defeats the purpose of being able to destroy stuff with fun powers.

You cannot really create a challenge or tension without missions being tedious or limiting the very powers that makes us want to play.

[Flewid638]

New Spider-Man game on PS4..

[Aenea]

Which is a Marvel comic, not a DC one....

[GUTZnPAPERCUTZ]

He is too powerful... You realize what kind of rig you would need to be able to fly through a city or a large map as fast as he can and render the world without bad pop in? There is a reason GTA V and other open world games won't allow you to go very fast through the world. Forza Horizon and Just Cause do a really good job of loading the world at high speeds, but not superman speed ;)

[gangsta_red]

DC has so many underused heroes that they could utilize and it's a shame that Batman is the only one they can market.

[InKnight7s]

Because Batman is just a human with fancy gadgets as every action games with extra cartoonish stuff. But flash as example he is super fast and normal developers like WB studios cant really fit superpowers into agameplay in proper way. We need that project of an studio who put all their power and creativity to simulate superpowers beyond Prototype and Infamous yet enjoyable and creative.
We are missing Iron Man, Thor, flash, GL, WW, Superman because of that limitations and typical form of superpowers in games.

[princejb134]

I think is because super man is over powered.
Is hard to make villains for such a hero without crippling super man. Plus flying around can get a little boring. D.C. Universe online showed me this

[sampsonon]

it would be fine if the story is good. they can always gimp Superman's abilities using kryptonite weapons or mutant like creatures. they could also do the three villains from Kryton, Zod, Ersa , and the other guy lol from superman 2.
it must be more story driven with great acting.

[alb1899]

Yep, it is almost the same with movies.

[gangsta_red]

He is not overpowered.

Superman has many villains that can go toe to toe with him and even put him down.

[Goldby]

Batman being one of them

[gangsta_red]

"Batman being one of them"

HELLS NO!

*GEEK RAGE x100*

[DialgaMarine]

Super villains, yes, but the game would need filler enemies to keep it feeling fresh. I guess it could be an open world boss rush type of game like SotC, but that just doesn’t sound like it would work for him. Superman would be better as some type of RPG.

[gangsta_red]

@Marine
", yes, but the game would need filler enemies to keep it feeling fresh."

Intergang, Parademons, Phantom Zone criminals, ToyMan toy soldiers, I'm sure a designer could pull lots of material from the Supeman comic to fill up the Superman's world with enemies.

An open world game with GTA type overall story and side missions is what I envision a Superman game to be.

[NXFather]

Obviously, we are talking about game engines and technical specs.

[InKnight7s]

Superman fly very fast, DC flying is a joke.
But yeah he have massive powers translate his power in a game is like making cheats and mods on GTA good for couple of hours to break regular gameplay just to have fun but boring a choas overall

[343_Guilty_Spark]

He’s too powerful

[Neonridr]

what do you mean, Superman 64 was the best game ever created. I mean what other game lets you fly through rings while sprinkling in the odd cryptic task.

[sampsonon]

because a sony studio hasn't made one yet.

[ShwaaMan]

It sounds great on paper, but Superman is basically a god. If it were true to the character, the player should be able to fly anywhere and through anything. Raising entire cities to the ground if one so chooses, like in Man of Steel. And unless every enemy has kryptonite, you’d be able to kick everyone’s ass right from the start. That’s also why its been so hard to get even a proper film made about him. He’s too powerful, and frankly, not all that interesting or dynamic.
Don’t get me wrong I like him too, but when a character is so overpowered and without any real character flaws, it’s just not all that interesting.

[jaymacx]

He does have flaws . You ever watch the Justice league cartoons? He can be attacked mentally, with magic, kryptonite, and red sun. Batman had a contingency plan to take out every justice league member incase they turned evil.

Being hurt or not hurt is not what makes a game fun. Its about the gameplay and story.

[Lamboomington]

"Its about the gameplay and story"

The problem is the gameplay. Sounds like a nightmare to develop something that lives up to the standards of other AAA games. Just from a technological standpoint - how do you have highly detailed open world environments when the player can fly through all of them and make them crumble ? What about the physics for all that ? What about AI and NPCs ?

The problem with superman is that he can just about do anything, including break through any building or structure surrounding him. How do you build a high quality game around that ? Even from a tech standpoint it's a huge challenge. Definitely going to have to wait for nextgen imo.

[DragonDDark]

Because He's OP

[TheDriz]

I just find Superman to be interesting at all.

[Akarogg]

*not

[TheDriz]

Yes thank lol

[SarcasticDuck]

Here's a comment I made a while ago about how I picture the Superman game to succeed:
Arkham series is the true answer for a sucessful superman game. First, there's the "Origins" game, where he starts to find his powers much like in Smallvile! In the end of that game, someone like Zod comes to Earth and Clark defeats him as a full operational superman but leaves minions in the planet. Those minions would go to the next game along with another threat. On the 2nd game, we could also have Clark journalist investigation missions (where he uses limited strengh against human goons, talks with witnesses and search for other clues. In hero role, his special powers (heat vision and cold breath) could be used like bat's gadgets (and shortly implemented in combos against enemies)! City's status would be important. throwing a car to the enemy would take big health of him but also damage the city more than normal combat etc. I don't think Superman should have more than 2 games though (origins and "arkham knight" like), unless the 3rd would be justice league game!

[Bleucrunch]

Because of how powerful Superman is, it would be damn near impossible to make a solid stand alone Superman Video game. He can do so much and only has one weakness. They would have to limit him significantly.

[Goldby]

He has a few weaknesses.

Kryptonite
Magic
Red sun
And Lois's vajayjay.

All can be used to get an upper hand in him

[JBaby343]

Therein lies the problem though... Once you limit his powers you're not really playing as Superman anymore so it defeats the purpose.

[mochachino]

Because there's no way to a make a superman game that doesn't make it feel like his powers are crippled. Maybe Rockstar could do it properly.

[Prince_TFK]

I can see it now.

Grand Theft Auto Superman.

[Sniperwithacause]

They have made movies, and television shows. Just use some of the same plots. Make it to where he helps civilians and puts criminals behind bars. Then worry about other super powered enemies that come from space to utilize his true powers.

[chris235]

because you already have to pay a shitton of license for this hero. and after you shelled out this amount you don‘t have enough left to produce a decent game with high production values.

technically it‘s no problem to make an engaging superman game. but financially it‘s not really an option.

[HeyNowChillax]

Incorporate stealth into it as well. So the Daily Planet building is on fire and Clark needs to rescue co-oworkers safely out of the building without giving away his identify. Focus on Clark, building his relationship with Lois and then revealing his tru identity, maybe like slipping and falling into a fire with no damage to his hands, glasses fall off, etc. Superman it's you! lol

That scene where he saves the kid at Niagra falls, keep it tense by having to save the kid without blowing his cover. It can't just be another I'm superman fly and destroy game. Focus on his weaknesses, that's where the real story always was.

[JewyMcJew]

It's hard to make an environment where you can both be really fast and really slow... Detail vs Scale

[NovusTerminus]

Because no one takes the right approach to it, it needs to be a more cinematic game, more akin to what Platinum makes, or God of War, also something like Asura's Wrath.

[zb1ftw777]

It's easy.

You make a plot which revolves around a weakened Superman due to Kryptonite enemies, or Kryptonite poisoning or something.

Then you take the formula of any other good game and replicate into a brand new game.

Super easy.

[pody]

Boring and cliched.

[zb1ftw777]

You must hate every superhero ever invented then.

Maybe they are just not for you.

[gangsta_red]

No one wants to play weakened Superman or a Superman with no powers.

Give Superman all of his powers and then design enemies and situations around those in an open world.

Meta/Mini games where a bunch of thugs are robbing a bank and you as Superman have to rescue XX amount of hostages, defuse a bomb that has been planted in the vault and catch the thugs all in a certain amount of time

How about a collapsing bridge filled with people, not only do you have to rescue the citizens but also lift the bridge, use heat vision to sauter(sp) the metal together.

You can have villains with minion/soldiers like Intergang, Toyman's toys, Parademons and other fodder who are all equipped with high tech alien weapons that can damage and hurt superman.

There are many villains that can stand against Superman as boss characters, Zod, Parasite, Doomsday, Ulysses, Lobo, Bizarro.

Mr. Mxy could also show up and provide more side missions as he can warp reality and give the gamer other challenges where they have to utilize all of superman's abilities to complete.

De-powering Superman is the cheapest and laziest route to go IMO, i can't stand comic stories that do this instead of crafting a well made story around him.

[Pricey]

Superman is a boring unrelatable character. As such you not starting with much to begin with. Has there even been a good superman movie?

[gangsta_red]

Superman, Superman 2, Man of Steel

Are there any super heroes someone can relate too?

[ZombieKiller]

I dont think we have really had the tech until now. I dont think that anyone has attempted it recently (not counting the Rocksteady rumors) maybe because of the past experiences with the games. I think now is a good time to try though with the consoles as powerful as they are nowadays.

[Uglyday]

I down for a good or bad Green Arrow game.

[nishanth123]

Give me a few million dollars, I'll do it

[DialgaMarine]

Because a genuine Superman game that doesn’t completely gimp him would be boring. He can’t lose.

[Shineon]

Because N64 is lone gone

[Einhander1971]

I see the dilema, but think General Zod in Superman 2 the story was amazing where Superman was over powered by Zod and his minions. In the right hands like Insomniac, the story could be rich, especially where he was forced to loose his powers and struggle as a mortal.

[NXFather]

If they were smart they could do it. For example: Make local traversing similar to racers with the game engine isolating his narrow trajectory and scaling and adjusting the engine dynamically when he changes directions. And for lightspeed/super duper speed: Just blurr the outer areas with a clear inner eye that is treadmilling the enviroment with a long draw distance. But otherwise I agree they don't have the experience or technical abilities in modern Computer Hardware to do it. Unless someone were to advance us foward in Math and Logic and create some type of Super Algorithms.