It's fair to say that a Superman video game is long overdue at this stage but that long rumoured announcement from Rocksteady is nowhere to be seen and so it sadly appears as if it's no closer to happening. During a recent convention appearance, God of War director Cory Barlog shared his thoughts on what he would do with a title starring the Man of Steel and pointed to Smallville.
Rather than taking us to Metropolis, Barlog instead believes that a high school setting would make more sense for Superman where players could come to terms with the hero's range of powers.
"Superman was created at a time when we needed some idealistic, perfect person to aspire to, which is why he is so flawless. Like, literally, he almost has no flaws. And he’s extremely hard to work with when you’re talking at an interactive level. The one flaw, and I don’t think it’s really a flaw, it’s just who we are as human beings, is the idea of caring. I think the best thing you can do with a Superman game is to kind of explore the psychology of what it would be like to be a person who slowly begins to realize that he can’t save everybody.
"I would not have him flying. I think he would have his ability of speed so you would feel like you’re playing a Flash game at the beginning. And I think for me the loop would start you out and you wouldn’t be able to fight anybody. You would be taking care of things that are less sort of fisticuffs so that you start to get your feet wet, and then the first time a baddie appears, somebody who is kind of an antagonistic force…you would feel just as uneasy as Superman would be. This would feel more like an origin story, like a Spider-Man 1 kind of feel that he is just figuring this out."
That certainly sounds like an interesting approach but it's also one which could potentially alienate a lot of gamers who want to take control of a fully powered Superman and take the fight to some of his greatest enemies. Then again, exploring Smallville in an open world environment has some potential and it would be fun coming to grips with the hero's powers as he learns to control them along with us.
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