Superman: The Man of Steel (2002 video game)

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Superman: The Man of Steel is an action-adventure Xbox game based on DC Comics’ Superman. It was made by Circus Freak and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand. It released in North America on November 12, 2002 and in Europe on December 13, 2002. It is a single-player game drawn from the Superman comic mythos.

Gameplay centers on timed missions where Superman must travel across Metropolis to put out fires with freeze breath, rescue civilians, seize an enemy’s getaway vehicle, and fight Brainiac 13’s robots. Enemies show color-coded weak spots with a reticle: yellow means vulnerable to melee, blue means vulnerable to freeze breath, and purple means vulnerable to heat vision.

The game starts with a boss fight against Bizarro, followed by Brainiac. Players use X-ray vision to locate power sources and disrupt Brainiac’s shield. Some levels occur outside Metropolis, such as Warworld with Mongul, where you save detainees, fight guards in the air, destroy Mongul’s ships with heat vision, move rune stones to locate a powerful device, and then head into space to stop Mongul’s ship, rescue a prisoner ship, destroy laser turrets, and transfer power while fending off guards. The action is fast-paced and flight-based.

The story continues events from Superman: Y2K, where Brainiac 13 infected Metropolis and turned it into a futuristic City of Tomorrow. Brainiac 13 returns to harvest more technology, causing chaos. Settings include Metropolis, Earth orbit, an asteroid field, Warworld, and the Phantom Zone. The story was written by Scott Peterson, who also worked on Batman: Dark Tomorrow. Villains include Brainiac 13, Lex Luthor, Mongul, Metallo, Bizarro, and Cyborg Superman.

Reception was mixed to negative. Critics cited confusing controls and repetitive timed missions. GameRankings scored about 42%, and Metacritic around 44/100. IGN called it “pure kryptonite” for its controls. GameSpot praised the story, large environments, and use of Superman’s powers, but faulted the enemy lock-on and repetitive timed missions, along with a slow top speed and tight time limits.