Superman (2011) by Chillingo

This post is part of Show & Tell, a retro blogging event hosted by Retro Ramblings.

This week’s topic is video games.

2011… it seems like just yesterday, doesn’t it? It was the year that Minecraft was released, Osama Bin Laden was killed, Occupy Wallstreet was a thing, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 ruled the box office.

It was also the year of the iPhone 4, my first iPhone. I was not someone who was overly excited about the smart phone revolution, but I enjoyed dabbling with the device once I got it. Mobile gaming was going through a growth spurt as the touch screen, more powerful processors, and larger storage capacity allowed for some unique ideas to come to market. Games like Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Plants vs. Zombies, and Flight Control were released for the low price of $.99. The games were simple in design, but addictive in gameplay. Corporations had not yet monetized the heck out of them, so for a few years, mobile gaming was a lot of fun.

One of the games I downloaded in 2011 was Superman by Chillingo. Chillingo is/was a mobile game publisher who put out Angry Birds. They were bought up by EA once they became a success and still exist in name, which is impressive since most companies EA purchases end up dissolved and dismantled within months.

Superman was a wonderful game. The game was designed to use many of Superman’s powers such as flight, super-strength, heat vision, and super speed. You’d fly around by the touch of your finger and do everything from put out fires to destroy missiles.

There was something addictive about the simple tap and touch design, which gave the game fluid controls. The game made you feel like you were on the verge of out of control as you quickly tried to manage multiple problems at once. For a game that is quite basic by today’s standards, it was incredibly effective at making you feel like Superman.

I remember the day I bought the game, the following morning I came into work and was telling everyone about it. I kept repeating it’s the best Superman game I’ve ever played, and I still feel that way. It’s not the most impressive, but as far as game play, it was the most fun.

Sadly, unlike Angry Birds, Superman didn’t leave much of an impact in. I forgot about the game after a few months, and it wasn’t until a week ago that it crossed my mind again. I hopped online to see if I could find some information about the game, but I found it hard to come by. I did run across a reddit thread where someone else talked about their love of the game and the developer stopped by. The developer mentioned the game was extremely low budget, but it was only sale for three months due to WB losing the Superman license. This explains why the game isn’t so fondly remembered as I thought it might be.

Sadly, unless you are into old .apk’s and emulators, I don’t think there is anyway (or will ever be anyway) to play Superman. Similar to the Scream 4 game, it was a small mobile game that was only around for a short time before being lost to history.