Superman Returns: The Videogame - Updated Impressions

EA gives us a little private time with the Man of Steel. But is the delay really improving the game? Our latest impressions inside

Okay, so the movie's out. Some love it, some hate it, but at least the most expensive movie of all time hit its release date without a hitch. The same cannot be said for the video game. Superman Returns for the Xbox 360 has seen more delays than a post-911 United Airlines flight.

EA pushed back the release of the game to the date when the movie officially drops on DVD (sometime close to the end of the year), buying developer Tiburon enough time (we think) to get the game up to "super" standards. But so far, things are looking a bit lackluster.

EA had Superman Returns running on the Xbox 360 at its summer Studio Showcase last Thursday, finally giving the press a much-desired glimpse at the latest game's progress since we last saw it at E3. Overall, it's looking quite similar to its showing in May, possibly a little more together as a whole. When taking a first look, Activision's Spider-Man 2 comes to mind, not just because of the superhero connection, but because the basic design of the two games is strikingly similar. The diversely populated open-city style is the obvious connection (the game takes place in a big-building-riddled metropolis), and an all too familiar red superhero makes these two games look as different as red delicious apples and red Fuji apples.

There were a couple opening in-game movies that set the stage for the brief game demo, and running on the 360, they looked surprisingly impressive. The gameplay, on the other hand, wasn't quite up to the same standard, but showed a lot of promise. Despite some obvious frame rate issues (we were assured that the final version of the game will run at a stable 30 frames per second), most of what we saw looked pretty fun. Superman soared through the skies above and in between the buildings below the city of Metropolis much like Spidey and his sticky web goodness. But unlike Spidey, the Man of Steel and his trusty red cape are a bit more versatile, and a nifty zoom move allows him to speed around the city in a fancy blur.

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