I was thinking about the successful Arkham series and how Rocksteady turned Batman from a laughing stock in the video game industry to a juggernaut. They utilized the Batman mythos and his powers and skillset to create fun engaging gameplay that made you feel like you were the dark knight stalking his prey in Gotham city. Most superhero games that focus solely on one hero turn out to be duds. For every Spider-Man 2, The Punisher, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Wolverine Origins, and Ultimate Spider-Man you have the train-wrecks like X-Men Destiny, Catwoman, Watchmen: The End Is Nigh, the Thor game based off the movie, and just last year the awful TMNT game graced our eyeballs in truly horrific fashion. I believe with the right developer one superhero can get a spectacular game and he is Superman.

I'll wait for the collective groin and PTSD flashbacks of the awful Superman 64 game to pass......okay your still hear, now just hear me out. Superman was, by all means, the first superhero and the reason we have superheroes today. If he bombed when he was first debuted back in 1938 we may not have a Batman, Spider-Man, Hulk, or Wonder-Woman today or the concept of superheroes would be very different. I hear the complaints of him being boring and what enemies would he fight since he is for all means invulnerable. Superman is a gold mine of potential for a great videogame he just needs the right ideas and good execution. With all those Superman can get the game he so rightly deserves.

First things first the game would have to be open world as I feel flying around Metropolis as Superman would be fun and entertaining to explore. The antagonist of the game would obviously be Lex Luther or maybe Brainiac or both working in a joint effort to take down Superman. Have them make some type magical or radioactive dome over Metropolis so he could be in a weakened state at all times. Then break everybody out of Stryker's Island so he can have an all of his villains to fight. Another idea is to instead of that have him fight kryptonite based enemies and he has to tackle each of those enemies in different ways based on how the kryptonite effects him. Green kryptonite drains his health and strength so he has to attack from afar with his heat vision, have blue kryptonite around so he can pick them up and get his health back, red kryptonite can nullify his power and he has to rely on stealth, his super intelligence, and investigative journalism skills to get past that missions. There is also other Kryptonians he could fight in the game as well. Have Brainiac restore Kandor to its original size and brainwash them into fighting for them and unleashing chaos or you could just have the Kryptonians not agree with how Superman is doing things. Any one of these ideas could work or a combination of the three could work as well.

There would, of course, have to be more than just fighting in the game. There could be some side missions where he has to save a civilian in time for they die and the more people he saves the more points he gets, which in turn leads to being able to upgrade his powers. Missions could range from stopping car robbers and bank robbers, to having to save people from a falling bridge or stopping fires with your freeze breath. You can even have a meter at the top of the screen that shows how much hope you bring to the citizens of Metropolis and the only way you can keep that meter up is to save metropolitans. I mean the guy has the symbol for hope on his chest for crying out loud I'm sure you could find a way to implement that into the game. Have Mr. Myxlplyx randomly show have Superman do challenges that could mimic the way the Batman AR challenges work that is repeatable. Have Superman use his super senses to help him detect people who might be in trouble and his x-ray vision that helps him mark enemies and see through walls. Another gameplay element could be putting lead walls in some buildings around the city that negates his x-ray vision. Maybe even make the Fortress of Solitude available to go to and have unlockable costumes like the all black suit from when he came back from the dead, his classic red and blue suit, new 52 version, red son suit, and even his 1938 suit from when he first graced comics.

Superman is too important to the Superhero genre, in general, to not have at least one marquee gaming title to his name. The critical success of Batman I feel it's only a matter of time before some developer figures out the key to making a great and enjoyable Superman that really makes you feel like the man of steel. See you guys tomorrow and have a nice day.