Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, it's Superman! Yeah, we got sold on that yarn too. But as Tim Buckley 'sez right up there, it gets real boring being the good guy in Superman Returns, saving innocent people, defeating the bad guys, launching mind-numbing one-liners, and as "The Bat" puts it, playing the part of the Boy Scout.

And while you can "accidentally" freeze/maim/hurt (Notice: no "Kill") civilians in the game's free-roaming GTA-style environment, it just doesn't feel right terrorizing Metropolis with 'ol 'Supes. Now, for the guys intent on letting their evil impulse out on the denizens of Metropolis, we got good news: EA Games has hinted that there's a cheat hidden somewhere in the DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray Disk versions of the "Superman Returns" movie. After you find it, fly up to the GNN tower, and activate the cheat, which in turn swaps out your Superman for Bizarro.

The obvious problem is that you need to have the movie, but if all goes well, have fun with the wanton carnage to follow. Too bad it wasn't Braniac or Clark Kent...that would've been awesome...

Superman Returns: The Videogame for the Xbox 360 will soon hit retail with speed in excess of 800 miles per hour. Mighty fast, you say. Indeed it is. It's what Supervising Producer Jeff Peters guarantees, when you play the game, that is. The development team behind Superman Returns is giving the gamers total control of Superman, starting with the power of flight.

Art Director Phil Straub is given the unenviable task of making sure Superman looks cool from the ground level, from 20 stories up, and from a bird's eyeview. Watching the video, it would seem that the dev team has succeeded in capturing the "faster-than-a-speeding-bullet" part. Of course, using the maximum speed over and over can get old, that's why you, the player, has several options when you roam around Metropolis. You could start with a leisure flight, then opting for a full speed when the need arises (e.g. Bizarro wreaking havoc in the city).

This is just one of the cool features of the game, but it does make you feel that you are Superman.

When gamers get bored, they could come up with some of the most interesting masterpieces we've seen in our generation. And sometimes, we get a special treat because of all the inane yet fun stuff you could do in video games. Like deliberately letting Lara Croft walk over the edge and drop 78 feet down onto some cobblestones just because you want to hear her scream like a pansy little girl.

With Electronic Arts' Superman Returns demo out, people got busy, people had fun. This is one game that can entertain easily-amused gamers or bored gamers for bundles and bundles of hours. SONofKrypton1979 had another agenda though. He busied himself in erecting Superman's tower (of cars). If you watch the video through to the end, you'll even see the tower explode in a climax.

You should check out his other YouTube vids also. They're fun to watch. With a game like this, you're bound to find something to do in Metropolis, whether it's flying pedestrians across the city or cloud watching. And to think, it's just the demo!

IGN managed to interview Brandon Routh about Superman Returns: The Videogame from Electronic Arts (Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS), voice acting for games, making money on games, and Iowans.

Brandon said some interesting things (he said a lot of things, but let's get to the game-related points):

• He said he's not worried about the fact that every other Superman game has sucked. He thinks this game stands out because of the team that worked on it.
  
• You have to overact a little or put in more energy when doing video game voices because you're not seeing a real person speaking.
• He only gets paid for the voice acting if the game sells.
• You don't make a lot of money on your first movie.
• He said EA has fantastic games, many of which he owns and plays.
• He owns a PS3.
  
• Brandon thinks it's only in Ames (Iowa State University country - go Cyclones!) where people put honey on their pizza crust. Yes, I know this isn't game-related.
  

Speaking of Iowans and our strange habits, let me share a bit of Iowan humor. OK, I came up with this joke - please don't flame me.

Question: Do you know Superman Returns: The Videogame?
Answer: Why? Who did he borrow it from?

Get it? Superman returns the videogame! Hahahaha. Admit it. That was funny.

As we mentioned earlier, we did download the game, and man was the thing huge. Took us around five hours to finish getting the thing in our HD. Maybe it's our connection... or something like that. Anyway, since this is only a demo we'll refrain from commenting on the graphics and the sound (the thing looks amazing though). Instead we'll focus on how the gameplay feels and how the demo ran.

Let's start with the title screens and how the game starts up. The black and red EA logo animates and scares the bejeesus out of us, good thing the DC logo was there to rescue us from the horrific demonic terror that is the EA logo. The Warner Bros. logo shows up, zooms-in, and then eventually turns into the familiar "movie" Superman title screen. Yay.

We start the game and we get informed that only the industrial islands of Metropolis is accessible. Boo. Then we find out that we have to stop Matallo and his metallic henchmen from ruining the place. Yay. Two "yays" one "boo". Looks good so far.

Then the control screen pops up. They're easy enough, for one thing they sort of remind me of GTA. Left trigger allows to target and right trigger allows you to use the superpower that's currently selected. The d-pad lets you select between breath powers (either a freezing attack or a wind attack), and heat-vision. B lets you block, A let's you pick up and throw stuff, X makes you do actions (like punches and stuff), and then Y let's you switch between walking on the ground or flying. Left bumper lets you Hover and right bumper let's you speed up.

Read the rest of this article after the Jump!

Holy downloadable demos, Batman Superman! Look! Up in the Xbox Live Marketplace! It isn't a bird. And neither is it a plane. It's the Superman Returns demo up for grabs. It's only available for Xbox Live Gold members though. Silver members, on the other hand, will only be able to download it come November 22.

Anyways, aside from Electronic Arts' demo of the game, there's also the following:

• Sizzle trailer
• Writers trailer
• Man of Steel theme

The trailers are both for free, but the theme will set you guys back with 150 pounds of kryptonite, uhh, MS points, that is. So, if you've got a couple of points to spare, you might want to take a crack at the theme. If you guys are as much as a fan of Superman as a certain QJ blogger we know, you might even replace your Halo Trilogy theme.

As for the demo itself, we're currently downloading it - hey! You can't expect 905MBs to download in a snap. Don't fret, we'll have a review of the demo soon enough. So for now, just keep your underwear over your pants and check back on us soon!

Fans of Bizarro may have resigned to the fact that EA won't dish out a videogame for Superman's doppelganger. But it's not a total loss as Bizarro will have his own game mode in Superman Returns: The Videogame. It's probably one of the things that would make the game appealing to the Superman fans who are not quite convinced that the game would do the franchise justice. But that's a different matter altogether.

As a tribute to the imperfect clone of Superman, EA-Tiburon has released a short clip featuring Bizarro and his out of control antics. Don't you just love this twisted guy?

In the video, Bizarro showed off his Kryptonian powers, albeit opposite of Superman's abilities. So you'd find him using his freeze-vision and heat-breath to wreak havoc in Metropolis. But the highlight of the video is when Bizarro's cold vision clashes with Superman's heat vision, which according to game designer Jeremy Townsend is a Bizarro moment where the "ensuing power struggle is massively cool!"

Download: [Superman Returns "Bizarro" trailer]

The movie Superman Returns is turning into nothing more than a movie memory faster than a speeding bullet. Superman Returns the video game, however, is yet toflex them steels of muscles. The game is based on the movie plus 60 years of comic book content's worth. Sixty years? Has it been that long? If Superman was a mere mortal the only ass he could kick around would be Abe Vigoda's!

In case you've forgotten the plot of the movie Superman Returns, here it is: Superman takes a vacation. Who can blame him? After baby-sitting Metropolis for over 60 years, the real question is why come back at all? Upon his return, he discovers his gal pal Lois Lane is not only engaged to someone else, she's a mom. Who knew she had time to make a baby considering all she has been doing for the last six decades is chase after scoops.

Meanwhile, antihero Lex Luthor goes into his Donald Trump phase (minus the hair) and uses kryptonite to generate real estate property in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The process would leave half the world's land mass underwater thus ensuring a demand for Luthorland. The real crime here, of course, is that Lex plans to go into real estate without taking a real estate license exam.

Superman Returns from Electronic Arts UK will be available starting November 20. That is, if Superman decides not to extend his vacation some more.

 

The rest of the screens after the jump.

Superman Returns will be landing soon on your Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, and PSP, but not before these new videogame screens. Indeed, Clark Kent's alter ego seems to be in a really good shape to save the Metropolis from all kinds of looming disasters and catastrophe. Join this Krypton local as he flies around in his classic red cape (fine, even his classic red drawers) combatting villains out to do no good.

With a storyline derived from the movie and more than 60 years of comic book content's worth, this game is sure to keep you up and about. And with actors Brandon Routh (Superman/Clark Kent), Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), Parker Posey (Kitty Kowalski) and Sam Huntington (Jimmy Olsen) reprising their roles from the film for the video game, saving the world has never been as breezy as this.

More screens after the jump!

Holy golden statuses, Batman, it's Superman! There's not a slight stench of kryptonite in the air here. Everything has gone smooth sailing for Electronic Arts. They have just announced that Superman Returns has now reached gold status and will be shipping to retailers on time. The game will be available on November 20 in PS2, Xbox 360, Xbox, NDS, and GBA.

Some of you folks must be wondering now about what happened to the PSP version. Well, quite honestly, we still do not know. The version for the Sony handheld is still stamped with an unsettling "TBA" release date, and there wasn't any mention of it in the gold status announcement. Was it delayed? Or worse... has it been cancelled? EA seems to have experienced a bit of kryptonite along the way after all.

Well if there's one thing we know about Superman (and if the title is any indication), it's that he will return with a renewed purpose to save Metropolis. And on that note, we'd like to end this article with a quote from Jor-El in the movie:

You will travel far, my little Kal-El, but we will never leave you - even in the face of our deaths. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father. And the father, the son.