Superman: The Man of Steel (Xbox)

CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
Detailed editors' rating
Overall score: 6.4 (3.0 stars)
• Average user rating:
  Write your own review

Product summary

Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Giancarlo Varanini
• Reviewed on: 11/26/2002
• Released on: 11/19/2002

Not to be confused with the recently released PlayStation 2 Superman game, Superman: The Man of Steel is an entirely new adventure--developed by an entirely different company--that adheres closely to recent events transpiring in the comic book as opposed to the cartoon series. Yet, The Man of Steel shares many of the same problematic traits of its PlayStation 2 counterpart, including poor collision detection, repetitive missions, and a somewhat imprecise lock-on feature that can make certain situations irritating, especially when the clock is ticking. But even with these drawbacks, The Man of Steel is largely successful in harnessing the essence of the comic book by conveying a sense of urgency and by giving Superman enormous environments to roam around as well as plenty of opportunities to use each of his unique powers.

The Man of Steel is based more on the comic book series.

Superman: The Man of Steel continues the storyline introduced in the comic book series, in which Metropolis had been "upgraded" as a result of a plot hatched by Braniac 13 and Superman's longtime adversary Lex Luthor. Braniac 13 eventually returns to Metropolis to harness the nanobots flowing through the city to construct a gargantuan version of itself in the middle of the city. Naturally, Superman is called into action, and in the process of attempting to defeat Braniac 13, he meets up with a few other villains and heroes that have appeared in the Superman comics over the past several years. The story unfolds through cutscenes that aren't all that visually impressive, but you can expect to hear some typical, overly heroic Superman dialogue supplemented by some decent voice acting.

These cutscenes also lead to new missions, in which Superman has to use most, if not all, of his special powers, including superstrength, heat vision, cold breath, and X-ray vision. Superman can also use supersight to focus in on a specific object, and he has superhearing, which takes the form of an arrow indicator at the top of the screen that either leads you to the next objective within a mission or to where the closest enemy is located. The Man of Steel functions well in getting you to use all of Superman's powers, especially when fighting various types of enemies, because each is susceptible to different powers. For example, one type of enemy can be destroyed only by heat vision, while another can be defeated only with Superman's cold breath. Even if Superman's powers don't kill the enemy, you can still use many of them in combination with each other against various foes, and you'll have to do so later in the game when the enemy count dramatically increases.

Not all of the missions in Superman require you to defeat some sort of enemy. In some situations, you might have to put out a series of fires or disarm bombs across Metropolis using cold breath or rescue civilians and relocate them to a safe area. Later in the game, Superman will even have to lift enormous objects and move them into new areas, and what makes this aspect of the game specifically interesting is that these heavy objects actually feel heavy, and Superman becomes a little more difficult to control, almost as if he's on ice. It seems a little awkward at first, and you'll undoubtedly have trouble getting these objects into the proper area, but once you get a feel for the controls and how to manipulate both the left and right analog stick, it becomes much less of a problem. Missions that occur later in the game require Superman to use his X-ray vision to peer inside relatively small objects or beneath the ground to search for danger. Some of these missions are timed or involve some sort of structural life meter for buildings, giving an excellent sense of urgency that a superhero would almost always have.

However, The Man of Steel runs into the trap where even though the environments change, the missions stay the same. Superman's quest to beat Braniac 13 takes him throughout the enormous city of Metropolis to Warworld and even space. But no matter which part of the universe Superman seems to be in, he's always putting out fires, fighting groups of enemies before destroying their generators (the devices that they spawn from), disarming bombs, or moving large objects. Occasionally, the game does a good job of adding a little variation by using the same objectives under different circumstances, but even so, undertaking similar missions throughout the entire game starts to wear thin.

See more CNET content tagged:

breath,

enemy,

object,

power,

Atari Inc.

User reviews

Write your own review Be the first one to review Superman: The Man of Steel (Xbox) and share your experience with the CNET community!

Where to buy

store	price	in stock?	rating
	$19.99	Yes
Amazon.com Marketplace	$5.39	Yes

see prices from 2 stores

Where to buy Superman: The Man of Steel (Xbox)

• store price in stock
• Newegg.com $19.99 Yes
• Amazon.com Marketplace $5.39 Yes
• See all stores