Superman Returns is a Wide-Open Sandbox video game based on the film of the same name. It notably had the actors from the film reprising their roles with the exception of Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. It was released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance and Xbox during Fall 2006. It is also the only video game based on the Superman films.
This game provides examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Superman encounters Bizarro, Mongul, Metallo and Riot in the game.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: You can unlock different outfits that Superman wore throughout the history of the comics.
- Canon Foreigner: Overcast, one of Mongul's champions originated from the game.
- Final Boss: The last boss Superman encounters are a trio of tornadoes, a force of nature fully capable of destroying Metropolis. Superman needs to use his super-breath to blow them back and keep them from coming onshore.
- Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: The twisters are only capable of damaging structures once the funnel cloud comes into direct contact with them.
- Forced Tutorial: The game lets you test out Superman's abilities thanks to the voice of Jor-El.
- Motion Blur: It is used when Superman flies at maximum speed.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: Averted where you get to play as Bizarro for a special gameplay mode where you try to destroy Metropolis.
- Shared Life-Meter: The game circumvents the two biggest problems with creating a Superman game — Kal's invulnerability making it impossible for him to die and his limitless power taking the challenge away from fights and other threats — by giving the city a health bar instead of Superman. The health bar goes down whenever enemies hurt civilians or cause property damage, or when Superman recklessly uses his powers. This forces the player to keep themselves in check while dealing with enemies. This is also why the Final Boss is a tornado as it's perfectly capable of destroying Metropolis if Superman does not stop it.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You have unlimited use of all of Superman's powers, and can interact with just about anything you can see...
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: ...but since the town has the life meter, any injured civilians or collateral damage will deplete the meter. So doing things with the intent to destroy can lead to a Game Over. This does not apply for Bizarro mode, where you're supposed to destroy the city.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: Before Batman: Arkham City, this is one of the few DC Comics games that had this.
