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Good: Throwing cars miles in the air, blowing people off of skyscrapers

Bad: Boring environments, terrible camera, repetitive "action"

Occasionally: Hilarious

The last couple of years have presented gamers with some surprisingly solid superhero titles. Most licensed games in the past featured terrible gameplay (Batman Forever, Superman 64), but lately we've seen quality in the form of Spiderman 2 and Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. While it may not be nearly as unplayable as the 64 game (commonly referred to as "the worst videogame ever made"), it's still a terribly repetitive and shallow experience.

It has little to no relation to the film, outside of Brandon Routh's likeness and voice. Cutscenes featuring Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor show up from time to time, but the gameplay and missions really have nothing to do with his character. Rather, you're usually defending the city from rampaging robots.

For a sandbox game to be immersive and entertaining, it's crucial to have a large variety of activities within the environment. Superman returns may feature a huge city to fly around, but it contains far less gameplay variety than games a fraction of its size. Objectives are usually of the "kill this many enemies" variety, but you'll also run into the occasional skyscraper fire. These are even more pointless than the mindless beat-em-up sections, as you simply fly up to them and use your freeze breath to extinguish them.

As you fly around, you'll be alerted to enemies that are destroying sections of the city. Naturally, it's Superman's job to swoop down and take care of the problem, and these are terribly boring sections of the game. Fights are incredibly repetitive, and typically feature either using heat vision, freeze-breath, or plain old melee attacks. You can level up and learn new attacks a la Spiderman 2, but they aren't very interesting.

By a large margin, the best aspect of Superman is simply messing around. I cracked up time after time when I grabbed a random person off the street, flew him/her to the top of the highest skyscraper in Metropolis, and blew them off with my superbreath. It's also a blast to pick up random cars and fling them into the horizon.

Virtually every sandbox game has its share of minigames and distractions, and Superman Returns features some very uninteresting offerings. There is the occasional race through the city, and there is also a slew of kittens hanging off of buildings and skyscrapers for some reason.

If the repetitive mission objectives weren't enough of an annoyance, you'll also have to deal with an awful camera. While locked on to enemies, they'll sometimes be completely offscreen while the camera gives you an awkward view of Superman. It's hard to battle airborne opponents when you're simultaneously battling with the camera.

While it looks good when you're blazing through the sky at lightning speed, the visuals take a drop when you're standing still. Textures aren't terribly detailed, and the pedestrian and car models are lacking. The music is decent, but some of the voice acting is corny or downright boring (especially Brandon Routh's yawn-inducing delivery).

It has some redeeming values, especially in the humor department, but the gameplay is far too generic and repetitive to recommend Superman Returns.

Graphics: 6.5

Sound: 6.0

First Play: 7.0

Replay Value: 5.5

Gameplay: 6.0

Overall: 6.0