Iron Man 2: The Video Game Review

Previous to the theatrical release of Iron Man 2, the video game adaption of the film was released and gave promises of a better flight mechanic, the ability to play as War Machine, and a story penned by The Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction. Sounds like a winning mix on paper right? We’ll get to that part a bit later.

I personally was looking forward to playing this game after seeing the movie thinking it would capture the speed and power of both characters just like the film did. I have never bee more wrong in my life. Is there any shining factor that makes this game worth a purchase? Or is it just as broken as the original? Here are the HOTs and NOTs of Shellhead’s latest adventure.

HOT

Samuel L. Jackson
Not only does he lend his amazing voice to this game, he is also the only character in it that doesn’t look like a woodland creature. He is the swan among ugly ducklings in this game. Though his face isn’t rendered perfectly, it is still a very close resemblance to Mr. Jackson, in comparison to Don Cheadle, who the developer’s apparently thought looked like a basset hound. They also must think Mr. Robert Downey JR. looks like a toad of some sorts. I don’t recall his eyes being that big in theaters…

Upgrade System
This is a hit and miss type of feature in the game. Hit because it gives you the freedom to take missions how you want with whatever four weapons you assign to slots. It lets you upgrade ammo types, modules that change attributes, and melee techniques. The miss part of this two sided coin has a bigger laundry list. Chances are, you wont even experiment with all the different weapons, ammo types, or modules. You will find the ones that work best and are the strongest and then use them for the entire game. furthermore, the upgrade system is so confusing that it’s surprising that there is no tutorial video on how to do things.

NOT

Story is Weak
The story is barely even existent at all. It revolves around the bad guys taking Jarvis, Tony A.I. butler, and using part of him to build Ultimo, a gigantic robot that melds with a human host and can heal itself, and its up to Iron Man and War Machine to save the day. Yeah. That’s the story. pretty shallow huh? to bury it even deeper, the story takes a backseat through 8 levels of mindless button presses that require no skill at all. Fire laser, dodge, repeat. Follow this easy process for 4 hours and you’ll be treated to Lamb of God’s song Hit the Wall (for all you LoG fans out there, its pretty awesome). Anyways, yeah the game can be plowed through in just around 4 hours on normal. 5 if you take it on formidable.

Graphics Are Terrible
Just to emphasize the title, at one point in the game your told to fly into a tunnel at the end of the level. It looks as if the tunnel was hastily pasted on by Wile E. Coyote in a desperate effort to catch the Road Runner. On top of that, as i mentioned earlier, the characters look plain awful! It looks like they melded the beautiful Scarlett Johansson with a troll. Brings a tear to my eye. The Iron Man suits and War Machine suit look decent at best (the best being the Ultimate and Extremist Iron Man suits), but even those are plagued by blocky textures and muddy coloring. In a time where developers have access ti great graphics engines, its a wonder that we still get games with graphics as bad as this.

Clunky Controls
It was said that flight transition would be smoother in this game than what we saw in the last one. This is false. Flight is achieved by double tapping the back trigger then using the right stick to maneuver while the left stick controls speed. Ground controls require left stick to move and right stick for the camera. This makes for a really awkward takeoff that will leave you face planting almost immediately after lifting off. I would like to know who thought this would be simpler or even funny in a sick sort of way to swap sticks between ground and flight maneuvering. It would be logical to keep maneuvering in the left while putting speed control on the right. but no. someone at SEGA thought this was an awesome idea and stuck with it.

Combat and weapon use are both muddied down to spamming there respective buttons. Wanna go fisticuffs? Spam square on the PS3 or X on the 360. keep doing that til they’re dead. Wanna use your weapons? spam the back triggers til you have to reload, then fire away again. You can also use the chest repulsor if your feeling risky by holding both of the triggers together.

Does Not Feel Like Iron Man
Last I checked, Iron Man was able to go supersonic anytime he wanted to. This game puts a speed limit of what feels like 50mph on him. That’s the fastest you will go. Slower if you choose War Machine. Neither of them feel like they are portrayed by comics and movies. Their Weapons feel underpowered even when you upgrade them. This definitely comes as a disappointment to anyone who wanted the speed and power of Iron Man or War Machine on their home console.

VERDICT

To wrap this big bowl of sadness called Iron Man 2 up, its a huge letdown. Those of you who followed the game since its announcement and were told it would have better flight mechanics and a great story will feel betrayed if you happen to pick up and play this game. They made good on the ability to play as War Machine, but that’s about it. I would not recommend any gamer, Iron Man fan and casual alike, to go anywhere near this game. You will be sorely disappointed.

[Editor’s Note: Iron Man 2 was reviewed on a PlayStation 3 platform. The game was sent to us by the publisher for review purposes.]