PlayStation 2

Superman: Shadow of Apokolips

Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is a surprisingly entertaining title that I initially assumed would suck, as licensed-personality games tend to do. While it can be most closely compared to the underwhelming Batman: Vengeance, it is similar only by technicality, and in actuality is much better than that game in almost every conceivable way. Critics will undoubtedly lash out at Apokolips due to its somewhat cumbersome ground-based gameplay, but the reality of the situation is that 90% of the time, you don't even need to be on the ground to conduct your business.

Other than some weak fighting action and extremely obscure objectives, it is a game worth playing. Delivering some well sought out justice with the Caped Crusader has been long over-due for the console gaming market, but satisfying when you get down to it. Plus, you get to fly! What better satisfaction is that?! I mean lets face it… you're Superman!

It's a thrill to finally play a Superman game that's handled with this much care and keen observation, with regard to control and special abilities. You're going to love blasting enemies from the sky with Superman's laser eyes, blowing them off their feet with his breath and employing the score of other excellent Superman abilities. If you liked the Ubi Soft version of Batman: Vengeance, then you will very much like Superman: Shadow of Apokalips. Superman, however, controls very well and it feels very good, for having so many little technical problems throughout the rest of the game.

Super hero games have been developed since the birth of consoles, and it has only been with in the last few years that it has actually succeeded. To put it bluntly the past Superman games have been nothing but garbage, and make this awesome comic book hero look like is wearing a suit laced with Kryptonite! To be fair this game does succeed in making the cartoon come to life, and is fun to play, while it lasts. The game should have been tested a little bit longer, to prevent repetitive missions, other than that it is the best Superman game available on the market. Since it is so short Superman: Shadow of Apokolips ends up being a perfect rental game!

Superman: Shadow of Apokolips remains a fun game that will satisfy you if you're looking for a superhero game with some style. Some of the missions are quite a bit of fun, and if you can get past some of the awkward control, you'll have a good time flying around, beating up robots and making things blow up. While the game is quite short, and won't last more than an evening or two for some players, the experience is well worth a rental … if you believe a man can fly.

Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is just an average action game. Even if some of the technical problems had been resolved before the game was finished, that wouldn't have made the majority of the missions in the game less boring. The game is also quite short--it will only take you a little under four hours, if even that, to complete the game, and most of that time will be spent retrying levels because of the somewhat high difficulty level.

It's disappointing when a game finally nails the hard parts of reproducing Superman (the powers) but blows it with ho-hum missions and repetitive gameplay. If you're dying to be Superman and don't mind fighting the same enemies over and over, then this is as close as it gets for now.

Ce n'est pas avec ce titre que Superman parviendra enfin à s'imposer sur consoles. Le manque de rythme des situations associé aux soucis de caméra ont raison de notre patience et c'est sans regret qu'on laisse le super-héros à ses occupations pour nous tourner vers d'autres titres plus passionnants.