A few years ago I would have given this game a solid 4.5 out of 5. And yet, here we are, at v2.3.6, giving it only 2. I feel like SU is a fantastic illustration of diminishing returns when it comes to a wide selection in your porn game.
There's still some good in it. The basic premise and most of the early writing is uniquely in-line with the source material. Considering that most of these parody games stick you in a faceless, hapless shell, it's still interesting to see Lex Luthor doing Lex Luthor things. The art rarely dips under mediocre, and there are a few well-done scenes here and there. You could probably cobble together a compilation of the best bits of this game, and I'd give *that* 5 stars.
But there's issues that have been there from the beginning and issues that have only gotten worse. This game's been in development for over five years and the UI/UX is still garbage. Any way of making money in this game, whether it's through heists or the Glamour Slam or the Meta-Bordello, requires a lot of needless button-pressing or haphazard drag-n-drop mechanics. I can firmly say that anybody giving this game 5 stars used the cheat menu rather than trying to make money the way you're supposed to make money. That's not even getting to the various orphaned features taking up space in menus (It took so long for them to add a use for the robotics lab that I apparently went through multiple updates without realizing one was added), or having to guess which of several locations you have to poke at in order to unlock new content.
And the content at this point has landed in a rut. Again, a problem with the increasingly wide scope of the game. I've watched Lex Luthor tell a woman that she can't masturbate over a dozen times on just my latest playthrough. I've gone through the same cycle of dance -> strip -> blowjob -> vaginal sex -> anal sex, with the occasional handjob or titjob, way too many times at this point. This is compounded by the fact that we only get two body types: normal and muscular, and the fact that the aforementioned UI problems mean that you occasionally have to poke around characters you've fucked a dozen times because there might be an option you forgot about. And as we've gone through the same cycle over and over again, the writing has started to lose its luster. We're getting less of Lex the cunning manipulator and more of Lex the casual misogynist. Batgirl's corruption was great because it relied on exploiting her heroic instincts, whereas a lot of the more recent ones like Crush or Donna just go 'Lex wins because his cock's just too irresistable and these girls are just too easily overwhelmed'. It's boring. Same thing's happening with the various new settings we've gotten. Lex leading a harem of superheroines, using careful strategy and advanced technology to avoid notice? Reasonable. Lex also fucking his way through the Legion of Doom? A good expansion. Lex cuckholding Vandal Savage and fucking his way through his staff in order to betray him at a later point? A bit of a stretch. Lex marrying into the League of Assassins and Almerac royalty, and the implications that he's about to fuck his way through Themyscira? Ridiculous. And each expansion means the same couple of sex scenes applied to fairly similar characters.
I've replayed this game a couple of times and this is the first time I've just stopped before unlocking all the content. Tired of getting served the same meal over and over again with a different garnish. It's not worth the effort anymore.
There's still some good in it. The basic premise and most of the early writing is uniquely in-line with the source material. Considering that most of these parody games stick you in a faceless, hapless shell, it's still interesting to see Lex Luthor doing Lex Luthor things. The art rarely dips under mediocre, and there are a few well-done scenes here and there. You could probably cobble together a compilation of the best bits of this game, and I'd give *that* 5 stars.
But there's issues that have been there from the beginning and issues that have only gotten worse. This game's been in development for over five years and the UI/UX is still garbage. Any way of making money in this game, whether it's through heists or the Glamour Slam or the Meta-Bordello, requires a lot of needless button-pressing or haphazard drag-n-drop mechanics. I can firmly say that anybody giving this game 5 stars used the cheat menu rather than trying to make money the way you're supposed to make money. That's not even getting to the various orphaned features taking up space in menus (It took so long for them to add a use for the robotics lab that I apparently went through multiple updates without realizing one was added), or having to guess which of several locations you have to poke at in order to unlock new content.
And the content at this point has landed in a rut. Again, a problem with the increasingly wide scope of the game. I've watched Lex Luthor tell a woman that she can't masturbate over a dozen times on just my latest playthrough. I've gone through the same cycle of dance -> strip -> blowjob -> vaginal sex -> anal sex, with the occasional handjob or titjob, way too many times at this point. This is compounded by the fact that we only get two body types: normal and muscular, and the fact that the aforementioned UI problems mean that you occasionally have to poke around characters you've fucked a dozen times because there might be an option you forgot about. And as we've gone through the same cycle over and over again, the writing has started to lose its luster. We're getting less of Lex the cunning manipulator and more of Lex the casual misogynist. Batgirl's corruption was great because it relied on exploiting her heroic instincts, whereas a lot of the more recent ones like Crush or Donna just go 'Lex wins because his cock's just too irresistable and these girls are just too easily overwhelmed'. It's boring. Same thing's happening with the various new settings we've gotten. Lex leading a harem of superheroines, using careful strategy and advanced technology to avoid notice? Reasonable. Lex also fucking his way through the Legion of Doom? A good expansion. Lex cuckholding Vandal Savage and fucking his way through his staff in order to betray him at a later point? A bit of a stretch. Lex marrying into the League of Assassins and Almerac royalty, and the implications that he's about to fuck his way through Themyscira? Ridiculous. And each expansion means the same couple of sex scenes applied to fairly similar characters.
I've replayed this game a couple of times and this is the first time I've just stopped before unlocking all the content. Tired of getting served the same meal over and over again with a different garnish. It's not worth the effort anymore.