After playing Batman: Vengeance, it was an exhilarating change to have a protagonist who could fall off the side of a building and survive. My first impressions were: freedom!

But freedom comes at a price. Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is the first of its kind to allow you to play Superman with all of his abilities and in a fully rendered three-dimensional environment, but there are clipping errors and strange forced perspectives that ultimately dampen the game's enjoyment.

The plot is a loosely connected series of events involving the extra dimensional arch villain, Apokolips. Through his minion, Canto, he sets up a series of military-style attacks with "Apokoliptian technology" that he provides to Lex Luthor. Lex eventually sets a series of super villains free from Stryker Prison, including Livewire, Parasite, and Metallo. Or just Metallo's head in this case.

Lex is provided with a cadre of Interbots, strange goggle-eyed guys in masks. But don't worry, they're robots, so Superman can punch them without any gore. I was willing to accept the old G.I. Joe chestnut (i.e., "we have powerful guns, but let's run up to the bad guys and smash them in the face with our rifle butts!").

Punching Interbots is decidedly unsatisfying. Killing Interbots can be amusing at first. Setting them on fire with heat vision causes them to run around, arms flailing. They will sometimes run away, screaming in mechanical voices "This unit is compromised" or something like that. And yet, there's no feeling of Superman's awesome strength. When he hits Interbots, I want to see them go through walls, not just bounce around like rag dolls.

And there are so MANY of them. Superman fights Interbots, Interbot tanks, Interbot missle launchers, Interbot troop transports, Interbot gun emplacements, Interbots with jet packs, and Interbot helicopters. I don't ever recall seeing this many Interbots in the Superman cartoon.

Because of the sheer number of opponents, certain tactics are encouraged over others. Superman has a wide variety of abilities, including his x-ray vision, heat vision, super breath, super speed, flight, and super strength. But his best ability is an area attack slam that drops him at high speed onto the ground, knocking back and destroying everything in sight. This ability was more useful than punching Interbots. So suddenly, Superman becomes a living torpedo. Not necessarily a bad thing, but hardly representative of the Superman cartoon.

The game looks exactly like the movie, rendered in cell-shaded animation. All the voices actors are present, including Lori Petty as Livewire and Malcom McDowell as Metallo. But even those villains aren't the type who can go punch for punch with Superman.

Of all of the villains, only Livewire can fly. Superman slowly regenerates his damage and his super abilities. This means that if he is significantly harmed, you can just fly him away to a safe place and heal there. When fighting Metallo, I did this several times, while Metallo patiently waited down on the ground.

But I don't want to put the game down entirely. The game's plot is entertaining and even has a few twists. When the villains do show up, they are fully realized. I had a difficult time beating Livewire so I had plenty of opportunities to hear her wax poetic about electricity. I can't stand Lori Petty (except for her role in Tank Girl), but she really does act her heart out mocking Superman. Metallo does the same thing. There's a lot of entertainment value in just listening to them mock Superman. Superman returns the favor by talking to himself. Over and over and over. It gets annoying.

In terms of gameplay, there are a few high points. Superman must achieve the random feat of strength - plugging a damn, struggling through a wind tunnel. The game represents these challenges by requiring the player to tap a button repeatedly. Sadly, that mechanic isn't used enough.

The parts of the game that were most challenging (and sometimes frustrating) are the timed events. In essence, Superman must run an obstacle course before time runs out. If he fails…the screen goes white.

OH NO, SUPERMAN MUST BE DEAD!

Ahem. Given that Superman is near immortal, it's difficult to comprehend losing the game because, say, he didn't successful stave off a wind tunnel. So what? Superman would probably end up destroying the fan behind him without a scratch on him. Batman's mortality is precisely what raises the stakes - in Superman, it's hard to feel a sense of urgency for a man of steel.

At one point, Lex releases Metallo and encourages him to go after Superman. But Metallo, a cyborg, was originally created by Lex Luthor and ultimately betrayed by him by removing Metallo's head from his body. The first order of business for Metallo is to go after Lex.

The best part of the game is when Metallo shows up at Lex's office.

LEX: "Hello, Metallo. I was expecting to you."
METALLO: "Good, now stand right still while I remove YOUR head from YOUR body."
LEX: "Mercy?"

Lex nods towards Mercy, his female bodyguard who is carrying a large machinegun.

METALLO: "Not even if you beg."
LEX: "No you idiot, I mean her, behind you."
METALLO: "Do you seriously think I'm going to fall for-"

And that's when Mercy cuts loose with her machinegun, inflicting absolutely no damage whatsoever to Metallo. Unfortunately, Superman steps in at that point. It's telling that the best part of the game is a cut scene.

Overall, Superman: Shadow of Apokolips is an excellent realization of everyone's favorite superhero. Unfortunately, the game developers had difficulty providing challenges for the man of steel.