Originally Posted by
Clark_Kent
I guess for me, if they're not going to make a linear game with branching choices (like Tell Tale, or other interactive "novel" type games) and they opt for open world, with a Superman game I have to ask: can I fly to space? Can I land on the moon? Can I fly to the sun? (I understand these are sort of straw man questions, but we're talking Superman here) If the answer to these questions is "no", then I have to ask "why"?
If I hit an invisible wall at the end of the map, why is that there? I suppose one could say "Brainiac trapped Metropolis & Superman in a bottle"...and that's not a bad idea, you would have an entire city to roam in and the barriers exist because the story requires them. But what happens if you want to make a sequel? You can't put him in a bottle again. Maybe you say Gotham is across the bay & you can travel there, which would be cool - 2 cities to fly around in - but then I'm back to "can I fly to the sun"?
I've played Superman games with health bars, I've played Superman games with an open world, and they all artificially put Superman in a box because of his powerset. This is why I'm in favor of a Tell Tale style game. Those are divided up by chapters, and you are placed in specific scenes. Gameplay is a mixture of interacting with the environment, puzzle solving, and QuickTime events. So maybe in chapter 4, Doomsday shows up...the game can give you that fight sequence we've seen from the cancelled Superman game floating around. You can play that, but you aren't feeling a limitation because you're basically playing out a "choose your own adventure" story.
You could have chapters where Clark Kent is the star, and because it's story driven it would be engaging. Solving puzzles, finding clues for the story you're working on. Hell, think outside the box and have the player be Lois Lane during some missions. You could even include action beats along with puzzle solving because Lois knows how to kick ass.
If Superman is at risk of dying, it's because that's where the story has gone and it's the position you've been put in...not because of some dumb health bar. Plus, a serialized Tell Tale like game can take you anywhere because it's story based, not open world based. Does a chapter take place on Apokolips? You're there! If it's open world, you're not going to Apokolips, or Thanagar, or Oa. Not without fast travel, which would be a cheat for a Superman game.
It's all in my opinion...the Xbox Series X runs Microsoft Flight Simulator well enough, as long as you have a good internet download speed to stream in the satellite data. But, you also aren't going to street level and interacting with the environment, it's all for looks. I'm not sure we want a world in a Superman game that is expansive & looks pretty but is non-interactive.