We’re pretty used to this by now in the gaming world. Movies base on toys, television shows, books, older movies, and, of course, comics. Marvel comics, the majority. When looking at Marvel as a whole, Hollywood producers certainly have a rich tapestry to choose from. At this point, the comic-movie market essentially entails finding a character that hasn’t been used yet, and turning him or her into a cinematic phenomenon through extensive advertising. Hitting the video game world with the newest “big thing” is only a natural step, and many consumers are indeed happy to have further opportunities to engross themselves in this exciting, freshly over-hyped universe.



Now, to be fair, Iron Man isn’t just some leftover character that producers jumped on because he’s the best available; Iron Man is a a truly dynamic and interesting creation of the Marvelverse. He was part of the Avengers, so he’s a big deal, alright? Regardless, I’m not here to justify the accuracy of qualifying Iron Man as an interesting character and all-around badass. I’m here to talk about his transition to the world of next-gen gaming.

It’s important for a game releasing with a movie to highlight the same features as the film. Lately, this means the game needs to get the look right more than anything else. When looking at screenshots of Iron Man from the film vs. your in-game character, they are nearly identical. A lot of work went into making the player’s avatar as sharp, fluid and shiny as possible, and it pays off. It’s obviously the prerogative of the game’s visuals to work in tandem with the film so as to bring the player back to the experience they had with the movie. Sadly, the visual similarities cease at the tip of Tony Stark’s brilliantly rendered fingers, as ballooning out into the rest of the gargantuan stages you find yourself in is nothing but graphical filth.



Well, maybe that’s not completely fair, I should set the tone first. All the stages in Iron Man are enormous, so as to allow you some room to fly around in at super-sonic speeds. Up in the sky, it really doesn’t look so bad. Sure, it looks boring, but boring is real. Once you get up close, textures abandon their posts and flee to the hills, and the only thing left to catch your eye are the tanks and infantrymen who look like they escaped from a PS2. Again, most of your time is spent miles above these enemies, raining death upon them, so I suppose it could be forgiven for its lack of detail, at least a little.

On that note, you’d better absolutely love all the flying/hovering this game throws at you, as there’s really not much beyond it. The first mission, the “escape from the Taliban” sequence you’ve all hear so much about, is the only one not to focus on flying. Instead, you run through the corridor-like stage (at inhuman speeds) blasting away with your flamethrower. There’s definitely something wrong with that flamethrower, by the by, as hitting enemies with it never results in setting them ablaze, but makes them fall to their knees, reach into the sky to, I assume, curse my name one final time before falling into a gentle, eternal sleep.

The flight is actually well put together control-wise, with your ascension controlled by the left trigger. Holding it down gains altitude, and holding it halfway keeps you at your present height. Once you’re introduced to all the different buttons and maneuvers it can be daunting, but it is altogether a functional system. The only other problem is that the camera can really get you lost if you’re doing anything that involves turning. You’ll have a lot of time to get used to it, as every mission plays out in exactly the same fashion. You’re plunked down in the middle of a vast expanse, and give 3+ blips on your radar. “Go destroy those!” says Jarvis, the magical voice in your head. Fulfilling this objective rewards you with more blips to go annihilate, and the pattern repeats four or five times before the big ol’ boss rolls out, but don’t get too excited. The boss fights are a true tragedy. A fifteen minute level of fighting helicopters yields the boss, a super helicopter. Tank level? Meet King Tank.



If those aren’t creative enough for you, just wait until you hear about the system with which to fight these brutes! The helicopter shoots missiles, right? Well, Iron Man can catch ‘em, ‘n toss ‘em back. Sure he’s got hand-cannons and the godlike powers of the Unibeam, but the missiles and only the missiles can penetrate the super-copter. Catch, throw back, repeat over 20 times. Now, as for the tank boss, (and every boss not gifted with flight) what you’ve gotta do is position yourself above him, and then find that right trigger on your controller, ok? Got it? Now hold it down for six minutes. What? You’re not a good aim? Don’t worry, the lock-on system is so forgiving it won’t matter. The game will do it for you! Wasn’t that fun? Even more frustrating, some of the bosses on the ground, like Whiplash, for example, can’t even fight back! They just scurry around until you kill them! Did I forget what “fun” was, or is that just a little ridiculous?

In between levels is the only place I found myself having anything that might be qualified as “fun,” and it was on the character upgrade screen. You receive money after every mission based on your speed, and the percentage of objectives you destroyed. It’s very simplistic, but you can upgrade your suit in different areas. For example, you can upgrade your core systems to increase your maximum health, or your repulsors to increase flight control. Even though it’s as basic as can be, it’s more than I was expecting in customization from a standard action game. Eventually you also gain the ability to unlock different suits, many of which reference different escapades of the comic book Iron Man. The HulkBuster armour is truly rad.



These movie games all end up feeling the same: a sad attempt at recreating the feelings of excitement and wonder in seeing a truly amazing character do truly amazing things. Putting that power in the hands of the player won’t create a positive experience unless some real thought goes into the product as a real game, not just a cash-grab feeding off the movie’s hype. The game needs to become its own product for it to succeed, and Iron Man does not. Yes, work went into making the game’s Iron Man a near perfect reflection of the suit we saw Robert Downey Jr. squeeze into, but not once was the tension, emotion, or action anywhere close to the level of that in the film.

Score: 4.5 - This game is embarrassing.