Rumor – New Superman game from Rocksteady to appear at E3; 5 things we want to see
The word on the street is that Rocksteady, the developers behind the Batman: Arkham series, will show off a new Superman game at E3 to be followed by a cover story in next month’s issue of Game Informer.
While this isn’t the first time a similar rumor has circulated, Rocksteady is certainly due a new game in the near future as Batman: Arkham VR, the last installment of the Arkham series, was released all the way back in 2016. The Man of Steel would certainly be a likely contender.
According to a recent leak posted to 4chan, the Superman game will be announced at Microsoft’s E3 Conference and will feature game play on the Xbox One. The post indicated that the game will take place in Metropolis and will feature Brainiac as the main villain, because we didn’t just see that in Injustice 2.
If that sounds awfully generic to you, who can blame you? It’s important to remember that this leak still classifies as a “rumor” and should be taken as such, and the 4chan post appears to have been deleted.
But that shouldn’t stop us from exploring what we hope to see in a new Superman game from Rocksteady! Below are five things we’d like to see Rocksteady do in order to make their take on Superman not just a memorable game, but a successful new franchise.
Build from the ground up, up…
R.I.P. Michael Turner
The Arkham games have always centered around Gotham City, and for good reason. However, Superman’s mythos is much broader than Batman’s, so it is easier for a Superman game to step into the world of science fiction. Not only can he go anywhere on earth, but he could explore space, other dimensions, or even travel through time.
Our suggestion? Save all that for sequels. Keep things simpler with this first outing and build the world of Metropolis as a living, breathing space. This will mean keeping the guest appearances of other heroes to a minimum, too. Sure, maybe Supergirl or the Guradian of Metropolis could make an appearance, but cramming in Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern or other members of the Justice League would only serve to crowd out Superman from his own game.
There’s only so many faces to punch
In keeping with the above point, there’s no reason to include too many of Superman’s villains, either. If you’re keeping with Metropolis as the setting, stick with earthly villains like Lex Luthor, the Silver Banshee or Toy Man. If intent on basing the plot on an invasion led by a villain like Brainiac, he should be the only alien presence… other than Supes, of course.
Other villains could be saved for future games in different settings. Lobo, Mongul and Darkseid would be better served by a game set in space, for instance, particularly if you’re already going to blow your alien invasion load with Brainiac in the first game.
We already believe a man can fly
In terms of gameplay, much of the hard work is already, believe it or not. For instance, the Lego Batman games did a pretty damn good job in developing a control scheme for Superman’s flight. Sure, the collision detection was sometimes a bit off, but flying Superman around the wider open spaces of Gotham City and beyond was not just functional, it was fun. Rocksteady would be hitting the ground running if they adopt a similar control scheme for their Superman game, making only refining tweaks instead of reinventing the wheel. You know what? Go ahead and do a “fly through the rings” bit, just to prove that it can be done well. The Arkham games basically did that with the gliding A.R. training, anyway.
In addition, the combination of Superman’s X-ray vision and super-hearing should be a good replacement for Batman’s “detective” vision. As a matter of fact, giving Superman those abilities makes more canonical sense than some of the technology that Rocksteady gave to Batman.
Embrace the Boy Scout
Superman doesn’t fly because he’s strong. He can fly because he’s light. I heard that somewhere…
The Arkham games are set in dark, bleak world environments. Superman should aim to take a very different approach. Instead of dealing with a corrupt police force or only interacting with the citizens of Metropolis by stopping their assault and murder, let Superman assist the common man in slightly lighter ways. He doesn’t need to necessarily need to rescue a cat out of a tree, but lifting survivors out of rubble, pulling cars out of rivers, and reuniting lost kids with their parents could help break up the action in ways consistent with the character.
What’s he got in that phone booth today?
Superman has been given many different looks over the years, some that seem downright bizarre in retrospect. The Arkham games were packed with unlockable costumes and skins for the Dark Knight, and Superman deserves the same. To start, we want to see a classic Action Comics #1 costume, a black costume complete with mullet haircut, and yes, the infamous electric red and blue Superman costumes.
Ah, but who am I kidding? Warner Bros. is just going to make us pay for all of these as DLC, anyway.
That’s our take on a new Superman game. We’ll all have to watch the E3 coverage this weekend to see if any of this comes to fruition in the first place, as all of this conjecture is still 100% based on unfounded rumor. If those rumors prove false, well, I’ve just wasted a little bit of your time and quite a substantial amount of my own.
Crossing our fingers!
Source: Bounding Into Comics
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