A shoddy camera sends Iron Man straight to the scrapheap

Iron Man a.k.a billionaire entrepreneur Tony Stark has always been my favorite comic book character. As Tony, he’s a brilliant, slick, wise-cracking womanizer who loves the occasional drink. As Iron Man, he’s one of the most formidable superheroes on earth – complete with all the latest technological upgrades to power his indestructible suit of destruction. The thought of plugging into the Iron Man suit and laying waste to the latest villain plotting their scheme for global domination just wreaks the possibilities of videogame nirvana. Unfortunately Iron Man 2 the game just plain reeks. I was really hoping to enjoy this game because Iron Man possesses speed, power, hand to hand skills, and just about every kind of firearm ready to neutralize his targets. Unfortunately SEGA did everything possible to make Iron Man the most spastic videogame character ever.  While the tools of his destruction are functional at best, the games problematic camera hinders much of the action.

 

Set some time after the events of the second movie, SEGA was smart to adopt a story separate from that. The JARVIS A.I. has been stolen and it’s up to Iron Man with the help of War Machine to get it back before all hell breaks loose.  For a game attached to a movie, the story isn’t half bad, especially if you’re familiar with the comics. You’ll run into a couple of Iron Man’s old nemeses, and most of the movies supporting cast makes their appearance. Even Sam Jackson and Don Cheadle reprise their roles from the movie. It’s too bad that Robert Downy Jr. couldn’t find time to lend his talents, as the sound-alike SEGA hired sounds more like Jack Black. Further detracting from the experience, the in-game cut scenes are plagued with stiff animation coupled with lifeless looking faces. Compared to the rest of the game, these scenes are by far the ugliest, appearing muddy and borderline last generation in quality. 

 

 

When actually playing Iron Man 2, it’s not the worst thing to look at, but it may be the most boring. The set pieces, ranging from Russian military bases to the inside of the Stark Archives are little more than places to blast tanks, helicopters, and the latest Iron Man knockoff. They’re barren inside and out and besides a few buildings and some barrels, void of anything truly destructible. One would think that with all the missiles and explosions there would be a few craters and some ruble left amongst the carnage. All this would be excusable if the heart of Iron Man 2 was executed well: the actual action.

 

It doesn’t matter if it’s Iron Man or War Machine you’re controlling, the game pretty much boils down to blowing stuff up by either shooting or punching it. This wouldn’t be so bad if the camera wasn’t such a mess. Fighting in open areas becomes manageable with time, but indoors, good luck discerning what’s going on. You’ll rely heavily on your melee combat inside and the camera just wasn’t meant to handle fast up close actions, quickly disorienting your sense of direction. When up close, occasionally you get an on-screen prompt ala God of War to finish off or hack your foe, but unlike God of War, Iron Man keeps this simple by having you mash the B button or just click the left stick back and forth. I guess they wanted to keep it simple for the kiddies or the programmers were bored themselves by the time they implemented this feature. 

 

When outside, Iron Man plays like a very slow Ace Combat. Though you do have the ability to fly through the air engaging targets, thanks to the camera, you will most likely opt to just hover in place as you pick off your enemies one by one, with the arsenal you’ve preloaded from the confusing menus (I think they expect you to actually be Tony Stark when browsing the pre-mission menus). Hit the lock-on and fire until you see an explosion then repeat. I guess this offers some mindless entertainment, but thankfully the game hits the eject button on your escapades before it gets too repetitive. If you have a free Saturday, then you’ll have time to see this game through. That is if you don’t break your controller in a rage from the irksome camera (the last boss caused a near nausea induced headache from its erratic behavior).

 

 

It always saddens me to see a character with the potential to offer some truly spectacular gaming moments cashed in for a few quick bucks. It cheapens the franchise and gives people the wrong impression about the character. Iron Man offers everything you would want in an awesome action game; it’s just too bad a rushed development cycle and some limited scope create a mediocre at best end product. We know there can be great games based around iconic comic book characters, just look at Batman Arkham Asylum or even the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series. Hopefully Iron Man will get the Arkham Asylum treatment one day, but until then at least I have the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3 to show off all his badassery.

 

Note: This game was reviewed on Xbox 360