Look, Up In The Sky! - Cancelled Superman Game Footage Revealed

[Fanghawk]

Look, Up In The Sky! - Cancelled Superman Game Footage Revealed

Superman almost got the ambitious video game fans were craving from Brash Entertainment and Factor 5.

How exactly have we seen four Batman: Arkham games since 2009, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113556-After-Arkham-City-Rocksteady-May-Fly-With-Superman>but nothing for Superman? Well, it's not for lack of trying. Almost a decade ago, Factor 5 and Brash Entertainment were building a Superman game they hoped would revolutionize the character for fans and players alike. Sadly, both companies shut down mid-project, and we never got to see what they were working on. Until now, that is.

Originally going by the code name "Blue Steel", Factor 5's game was an adaptation for Bryan Singer's proposed Superman Returns sequel. It aimed to present a far larger scope to Superman's world, introducing major villains like Darkseid and Brainiac while balancing flight and combat mechanics that reflected Superman's powers.

Unfortunately, external decisions beyond Factor 5's control ended the game prematurely. <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/87462-Movie-Game-Maker-Brash-Entertainment-Shutting-Down>Brash Entertainment declared bankruptcy and Bryan Singer's planned sequel was cancelled, leaving the developers without a plot or publisher to work with. Factor 5 made a noble attempt to forge ahead, recreating memorable battles from across Superman's entire history which could be linked into a story later on. Meanwhile, an internal promotional video showcased a battle between Superman and Doomsday, featuring then-unheard of building destruction physics.

Sadly, Factor 5 couldn't find a publisher to pick up the project, and seemingly held off paying employees to make ends meet. That went <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92479-Former-Employees-Sue-Factor-5-Over-Surprise-Bankruptcy>about as well as you'd expect, and the studio closed its doors in 2009. All Factor 5 had to show of this game was its Doomsday promotional video and in-engine test footage, most of which wasn't fully textured.

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Ambitious or not, it's hard to say how Factor 5's Superman game would have been received if it obtained its funding. (Getting Superman right has <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/galleryoftheday/15431-8-Disappointing-Superhero-Video-Games.8>been a challenge for multiple studios after all.) Still, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comicsandcosplay/columns/speedingbullets/16900-Superman-American-Alien-Is-The-Right-Answer-To-Man-of-Steel#&gid=gallery_6008&pid=1>as an unabashed Superman fan, I do love the potential of a Superman Greatest Hits treatment. Here's hoping with Batman v Superman arriving in theaters soon, Warner Bros will finally give its other great superhero another chance at a major video game.

Source: Screen Rant

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[Something Amyss]

Grappling bad guys and plowing them through buildings? Finally, I can get a kill count as Superman that rivals MOS.

(Yeah, I know it was canceled, but still).

 

[Saltyk]

Wow. I just watched the video. This could have been exactly what Superman needed in a game. I think there were issues, like they didn't really have a story to hold it all together after the movie it was going to be based on was cancelled, but they seemed to have ambitions to get the rest right. If they could get the powers to work properly and made good encounters it might have worked. Done properly, it could have done for Superman what the Arkham games did for Batman.

In the end, it seems that the game failed due to a lack of clear direction. They almost seemed to have ambitions that were too big. When you think about it, that is possibly why no other publisher wanted to pick them up. If they had a vision for the game and a really good working beta or alpha, they might have been picked up.

Really bad luck to have your publisher go under in the middle of development. And it was probably a bad idea to plan a Wii version when you weren't getting paid to make it.

Anyone know what Rocksteady is working on, right now? Pretty sure they didn't wanna do another Arkham game.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Superman is just too overpowered for videogame material, without contrived restristions. I'd imagine that is why it is a fairly avoided IP so far. Perhaps superman 64 didn't help, but superhero games used to be consistently terrible until spiderman (2) and the Arkham series. Perhaps they could go the Path of Neo route and just head down ludicrous lane with all balls out insanity. But another New York sandbox? Ugh! Why are superheroes all hanging around NY?? Are the US that overprotective of wall street? Don't answer that, of course they are, but the superheroes should know better. Unless they have prized assets they're not willing to divulge.
Clueless-about-superheroes-and-their-creators ramble over. Please don't kill me just yet, at least let me try Mankind Divided first

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Superman is just too overpowered for videogame material, without contrived restristions. I'd imagine that is why it is a fairly avoided IP so far. Perhaps superman 64 didn't help, but superhero games used to be consistently terrible until spiderman (2) and the Arkham series. Perhaps they could go the Path of Neo route and just head down ludicrous lane with all balls out insanity. But another New York sandbox? Ugh! Why are superheroes all hanging around NY?? Are the US that overprotective of wall street? Don't answer that, of course they are, but the superheroes should know better. Unless they have prized assets they're not willing to divulge.
Clueless-about-superheroes-and-their-creators ramble over. Please don't kill me just yet, at least let me try Mankind Divided first

Path Of Neo was awesome.
And whatta you mean "insanity"?

Spoiler: What are you talking about?

ANTS!

 

[Brian Tams]

I'm sure there would've been a plethora of rings.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Superman is just too overpowered for videogame material, without contrived restristions.

A lot of the foes they mentioned in this video either have access to kryptonite based weapons, or can match him physically in a fight.

 

[The Enquirer]

Superman is just too overpowered for videogame material, without contrived restristions. I'd imagine that is why it is a fairly avoided IP so far. Perhaps superman 64 didn't help, but superhero games used to be consistently terrible until spiderman (2) and the Arkham series. Perhaps they could go the Path of Neo route and just head down ludicrous lane with all balls out insanity. But another New York sandbox? Ugh! Why are superheroes all hanging around NY?? Are the US that overprotective of wall street? Don't answer that, of course they are, but the superheroes should know better. Unless they have prized assets they're not willing to divulge.
Clueless-about-superheroes-and-their-creators ramble over. Please don't kill me just yet, at least let me try Mankind Divided first

Or they could just do what Justice League did, tone him down a bit considering they could simply have this be their own version of the character.

 

[flying_whimsy]

When I first saw the headline, I was honestly wondering if this was going to be some sort of video curse like that japanese horror film. Kind of a let down.

Speaking of let downs, that's too bad about what happened to this game. Talk about a series of unlucky circumstances compounded with some bad decision making...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Too bad it didn't work out. That sounded interesting.