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Earthquakes and floods are disrupting civilisation as we know it and there's nothing we can do. Even the government of the good ol' US of A is in despair. But wait, what's this? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a pair of red underpants flapping in the breeze? Nope, it's Superman (his briefs don't flap, they cling to the skin!).

Well - a man who uses enough grease in his hair to keep the makers of Brylcreem in gel for ten years knows what a man who uses enough... er... a man like that has to do. He has to deactivate Darkseid's disruptive weather station somewhere in space.

And a mission like this doesn't come easy. Actually, it comes in five parts. Using a choice of weapons, all our hero has to do is fly to Star laboratories (killing parademons) to meet the scientist in charge, guide the Professor's shuttle through a life-threatening asteroid belt, infiltrate the corridors of the space satellite, guide the deactivated enemy satellite through another asteroid belt before attacking the outer defences of the Lexcorp station, nerve centre of Darkseid's evil plot, *and* defeating the Lexcom commandos in a final confrontation inside the station itself. Phew!

I bet he drinks Carling Black Label.

Shame really. If Tynesoft hadn't been so keen to put together an adventure with so many episodes, they might actually have come up with a playable game.

The 3D Space Harrier-style section, for example, is realty smooth... but there just aren't enough different sorts of enemy sprites to give it depth. Same goes for the inside sections - add a bit of a maze and a mappable area and you could end up with a really involved and interesting game.

Instead, all you've got is whole load of lightweight, mediocre sections which don't hold your attention for longer than a couple of minutes and take ages to load in. Not much really - at least not for ten quid.

There's something dead odd about this game. It's not the incredibly long multi-load (even on disk!) which got right up my nose, or the fact that all the levels are pretty turgid, "blast a few aliens out of the way" sort of stuff.

Nope, it's the fact that it's as easy as falling off a bike and leaving bits of your knee on the pavement, to get right to the end of this game on your very first go. Why?

Because Superman can't die. Yep, no matter how low your energy gets, no matter how many holes the enemy makes in your underpants, you still survive. Worse still, two of the levels are repeated, so you really only get three levels for your hard-earned dosh. What a waste.

Presentation 60%
Three difficulty levels and slick comic book intros but the multi-load is incredibly tedious.

Graphics 70%
Smooth but slow 3D sequence plus well-defined (though not detailed) vertically and horizontally scrolling sections.

Sound 40%
Superman title tune but only a few, simplistic effects in-game.

Hookability 50%
You have to be really hard if the multi-load didn't put you off.

Lastability 18%
You finish the game on your first go and you won't want to go through it again.

Overall 39%
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's a turkey.