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IGN Review of Iron Man
Smell that? It's the smell of the summer blockbuster season blossoming. With it comes popcorn, awkward first dates, and a glut of movie-based videogames. Just like the motion pictures they're based on, some of these games will be standouts and some will be letdowns.
Iron Man falls into the latter category.
Loosely based on the No. 1 film in America, Iron Man tosses you into the red and gold suit of Tony Stark and sets you loose on more than a dozen missions filled with guards, laser cannons and super villains that you won't find in the movie -- folks such as Whiplash and Titanium Man. It might sound cool, but the problem is that this story is largely invented and strays from the plot points and character-defining moments of the film. You'll never get to care about Yinsen, Obadiah's power-hungry from the get go, and Stark almost always seems like a jerk.
Plus, these are the same cutscenes from the PS3/360 version, which means not even voiceovers from Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrence Howard can save them from being ass -- there are crazy eyes, mouths not moving the right way, characters that don't look right, etc.
However, games aren't all about story, and Iron Man does have a few things going for it. Each time you're ready to jump into your flight suit, you'll choose your mission, one of the seven unlockable suits of armor, and which upgrades you'd like to use. See, rather than have you earn money from your battles like the PS3/360 version of Iron Man does, this incarnation of the game upgrades your gear -- repulsor, ballistics, explosives and armor -- based on how much you use them. If you're like me, you'll find yourself hovering around levels and blasting evildoers with your repulsors the most, and in no time, you'll have taken your laser gauntlet from the most basic tech (fast but weak) to the mega-awesome Optimal Beam Damage. Of course, this applies to whichever device you're using, and a few will actually upgrade to the point where you need to choose which option you'll be using in battle (i.e. which type of missile you want to launch into some dude's face).
Once you're into the actual mission, Iron Man works like most third-person shooters on the PS2 -- the sticks control movement and the camera -- but when you want to speak specifically to what makes this an Iron Man title, you need look no further than the shoulder buttons and D-pad functionality. R1 is going to fire your weapon; R2 will kick you into flight; L1 will make Tony hover; and tapping directions on the D-pad will shift power from a balanced state to favoring one of Iron Man's attributes. This boost to Stark's propulsion, armor, or weapons system will bring more powerful maneuvers.
While this scheme works pretty well for fighting on the ground or standing/hovering in one place and blasting foes, you can't really brawl while flying. This means that you'll rocket toward your enemies, stop, and then hover around while shooting repulsor blasts. It looks and feels nothing like a real Iron Man fight. You're just some guy somberly gliding around the map.
Luckily and sadly, Iron Man isn't hard. At all. Enemy attacks do little to no damage, but if they should gang up and whittle your armor energy down to nothing, you'll have the chance to restart your heart. Basically, a minigame pops up where you have to tap a corresponding button to register a heartbeat. If for some reason you fail at this simple task, you'll consume one of your three backup power cells and be tossed back into the game. It's not that I mind a simple game -- and it's way better than the uber-frustrating PS3/360 version -- but when you can just sit down and plow through the game in a day, there really isn't much of an incentive to pick it up. There's no challenge.
Blah.
©2008-05-06, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Iron Man falls into the latter category.
Loosely based on the No. 1 film in America, Iron Man tosses you into the red and gold suit of Tony Stark and sets you loose on more than a dozen missions filled with guards, laser cannons and super villains that you won't find in the movie -- folks such as Whiplash and Titanium Man. It might sound cool, but the problem is that this story is largely invented and strays from the plot points and character-defining moments of the film. You'll never get to care about Yinsen, Obadiah's power-hungry from the get go, and Stark almost always seems like a jerk.
Plus, these are the same cutscenes from the PS3/360 version, which means not even voiceovers from Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrence Howard can save them from being ass -- there are crazy eyes, mouths not moving the right way, characters that don't look right, etc.
However, games aren't all about story, and Iron Man does have a few things going for it. Each time you're ready to jump into your flight suit, you'll choose your mission, one of the seven unlockable suits of armor, and which upgrades you'd like to use. See, rather than have you earn money from your battles like the PS3/360 version of Iron Man does, this incarnation of the game upgrades your gear -- repulsor, ballistics, explosives and armor -- based on how much you use them. If you're like me, you'll find yourself hovering around levels and blasting evildoers with your repulsors the most, and in no time, you'll have taken your laser gauntlet from the most basic tech (fast but weak) to the mega-awesome Optimal Beam Damage. Of course, this applies to whichever device you're using, and a few will actually upgrade to the point where you need to choose which option you'll be using in battle (i.e. which type of missile you want to launch into some dude's face).
Once you're into the actual mission, Iron Man works like most third-person shooters on the PS2 -- the sticks control movement and the camera -- but when you want to speak specifically to what makes this an Iron Man title, you need look no further than the shoulder buttons and D-pad functionality. R1 is going to fire your weapon; R2 will kick you into flight; L1 will make Tony hover; and tapping directions on the D-pad will shift power from a balanced state to favoring one of Iron Man's attributes. This boost to Stark's propulsion, armor, or weapons system will bring more powerful maneuvers.
While this scheme works pretty well for fighting on the ground or standing/hovering in one place and blasting foes, you can't really brawl while flying. This means that you'll rocket toward your enemies, stop, and then hover around while shooting repulsor blasts. It looks and feels nothing like a real Iron Man fight. You're just some guy somberly gliding around the map.
Luckily and sadly, Iron Man isn't hard. At all. Enemy attacks do little to no damage, but if they should gang up and whittle your armor energy down to nothing, you'll have the chance to restart your heart. Basically, a minigame pops up where you have to tap a corresponding button to register a heartbeat. If for some reason you fail at this simple task, you'll consume one of your three backup power cells and be tossed back into the game. It's not that I mind a simple game -- and it's way better than the uber-frustrating PS3/360 version -- but when you can just sit down and plow through the game in a day, there really isn't much of an incentive to pick it up. There's no challenge.
Blah.
©2008-05-06, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved