Remember your original PlayStation? It was that small gray box with wired controllers you used to play Tenchu and Madden 2000; it’s up in your mom’s attic now. But oh, how our consoles have changed—these days, Sony (like everybody else) is getting into the original content business. Powers, its inaugural series, debuts today on the PlayStation Network.
Based on the Bendis/Oeming comic-book series (and not beloved character actor Powers Boothe), Powers posits a world where super-powered heroes and villains live alongside us regular Joes. Enhanced humans are subject to the authority of the Powers Division, while shadowy corporations seek super-profits by extracting abilities and manipulating the superpowered citizenry.
Powers boasts a strong cast, including Sharlto Copley, Eddie Izzard, The Following’s Susan Heyward, and Michelle Forbes. Less impressive are the special effects and predictable dialogue, however, which appear to be lifted straight from NBC’s Heroes.
The first three episodes of Powers are available now to PlayStation Plus subscribers; the subsequent seven episodes will be released every Tuesday. The first episode is also available on YouTube.