Nerds That Geek Game Review: ‘The Death and Return of Superman’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I would venture to say that if there was one key component that goes into being a geek or a nerd, it would be that all of us do our best to recreate the wonder of a particular moment that brought great excitement to us when we first experienced it. It could have been a powerful sequence in a movie that led us to buy said movie and watch it over and over again, and we all have books or comics that are struggling to stay in one piece because we’ve poured over the pages time and time again because we are hungry to feel that rush when we reach that awe inspiring segment.
 
But sometimes, and this is a touch more difficult, we want to do everything and anything within our power to outright live in that moment and that sometimes means we need to go to a particular theme park or place to satisfy that itch. Thankfully though, sometimes the video game world helps us nerds and geeks out when it comes to that last component since they allow for us to immerse ourselves within the world that we wish to escape to and when I was younger, a particular console release allowed for me to re-live a comic book storyline that was swimming through my head constantly thanks to the epic nature of The Death and Return of Superman.
 
In fact, this is one of those releases that I was counting down the days to because this particular part of Superman’s history is hands down my favorite storyline involving the Man of the Tomorrow, so to have the opportunity to don the cape and save the world from Doomsday was everything I could have hoped for and more and well, there’s a lot to like about this game. After all, it does a fine job following the comics storyline and in doing so, it allows for you to immerse yourself into some iconic moments from the series, and you even get the chance to play as every single Superman that appeared in ‘The Reign of the Supermen’ saga.
 
Which is awesome to say the least, because this was in fact quite the epic storyline and I distinctly recall that my brother and I ripped through this game over the course of a weekend and we were both hooting and hollering as we battled the Cyborg in Coast City or watched The Man of Steel return to glory. But while this game does win a lot of points for its ability to recreate this storyline to a tee, after revisiting it after all these years, there are some flaws to be found here, specifically the game play itself. For its side scrolling melee design, combined with recycled enemies does wear on one a bit with its excessive repetitiveness.
 
But, once Doomsday or The Cyborg arrive to battle it out with a particular Superman, all is forgiven because just like that the magic is back and well, this is a game I definitely cherish. For while it’s not perfect, it is one of the better Superman themed video games out there, and it does immerse the player into this world nicely and that’s really all you can ask for when it comes to an adaptation game. Sadly, this one is no longer readily available to buy, but YouTube has plenty of playthroughs of this one. But if you saved it, love emulators or find it in a game store, either give it a replay or enjoy the ride because this one is just plain fun and it’s likely the best adaptation, we’ll ever get of one of Superman’s darkest hours. 

---