PS2/Xbox/X360 Preview - 'Superman Returns: The Videogame'
by Rainier on Jan. 1, 2006 @ 1:30 a.m. PST | Filed under E3 - Post - E3 2006
Genre: Action
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Tiburon
Release Date: Q4 2006
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The first thing I thought of when I saw Superman Returns, frankly, is that certain people are going to have an absolute ball with it.
The second thing I thought of, regrettably, was Superman's video game record. With the arguable exception of the arcade quarter-muncher, no game based on the Superman license has ever aspired to or reached anything better than utter mediocrity.
Like Spider-Man before it, Superman Returns is a free-roaming action game set in 80 square miles of city. As Superman, you've got
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Hey, remember all the fun you had playing the X-Men Legends games? Activision, which employs few if any fools, does, and they wish to hook you up again. This time, they’re expanding that style of gameplay to the greater Marvel Universe, and to pretty much every console you can think of.
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One of the most anticipated titles at E3 was Bioware's next-gen action RPG, Mass Effect, which is coming exclusively to the Xbox 360 in 2007. Mass Effect is all about size and scope, and the demo level we saw, "The Citadel," was of an expansive futuristic city that featured a massive docking bay for large spacecrafts. There was a rich use of color throughout the level and some incredibly impressive lighting effects. The lighting really stood out as looking "next-gen" and quite realistic, complete with the blending of)
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The surprise for me at last year's E3 was the original design of Tabula Rasa got thrown out with the bath water. It rather needed it, as it was suffering from too many cooks in the kitchen. It tried to be too original, had an art design that seemed influenced by too many mushrooms, and just didn't look fun. Last year, we learned that they'd decided to make the game more of a sci-fi shooter.
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Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an upcoming MMORPG from Funcom, the makers of Anarchy Online. At E3, I was able to take a look at the latest build of Conan and get a detailed overview of the game's character creation and combat systems.
Normally, the most anemic demos at E3 are the demos of the games too early in their production cycle to be playable. Often, they're not demos so much as trailers, and while seeing footage of a long-anticipated game like Final Fantasy XIII, Halo 3, or Smash Brothers Brawl can be elating, the high eventually ends, and you realize that you don't really know much more about the game than you did before. One of the most depressing E3 experiences possible is to lay hands on a long-awaited title
As far as original plots go, a battle raging between good and evil with one man stuck in the middle is not terribly unique or interesting, but fortunately, Infernal is better than the plot might suggest.. Infernal has an interesting stand on the typically stark, concrete concept of good versus evil. The main character, Ryan Lennox, was once a member in the army of good, fighting for those above, until he was deemed a liability, struck from the ranks and left to roam the earth. Shortly thereafter,