Gamertell

Title: Iron Man
Price: $29.99
System(s): PSP (also available on DS, Wii, PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Release Date: May 2, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Sega (Havok)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for alcohol reference, mild language and violence.
Pros: Captures the essence of the character quite well with the ability to fly at any time and use various weapons. Good looking (if not entirely accurate) cutscenes and nice bonuses.
Cons: Early stages a bit long and clunky. PSP controls get in the way throughout the game.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways; 73/100; C; * * out of 5.

Iron Man for PSP could have been a much more fun game if it weren’t for those pesky PSP controls. It has pretty good looking graphics, rather fluid character movements and even some decent attacks (and voice acting). Otherwise, it’s quite a letdown that starts slow and never quite redeems itself.

Following the plot of the movie, you play this single-player game as the metal-suited Tony Stark who escapes captures by making a bulky metal suit. Soon after, you’re flying around town, smashing and blasting the crap out of anything that moves.

Forgetting that the first missions of the game are annoying, overly lengthy tutorials with segments that are too dark (plan to replay a few times thanks to a lack of both mid-game saves and checkpoints), the PSP’s lack of a second thumbstick really undermines the game’s potential fun. The game requires that you use the analog nub for basic movement and the four buttons to determine where he is looking and help guide his flight path.

That makes turning a tight corner frustratingly difficult, requiring preemptive timing (ie, memorize your course in an open-ended environment) or a lot of backtracking to get through mid-air goals. It also means that diagonals and subtle course corrections are pretty much out unless you have the fastest right thumb on the planet.

Despite the controls, the game’s sense of movement on land and in the air is rather fluid (other flying hero game developers should take note) with combat that looks great and usually works pretty well. Even Iron Man’s acquired weapons can be pretty cool, if you actually bother to use them.

Unfortunately, the same enemies repopulate ad nauseum without scaling difficulty, making combat highly repetitive and rarely a challenge. You can easily get through the game with simple attack button mashing, giving little thought to strategy, finesse or even the best weapons. The only positive note here is that you can replay the game’s too few levels using any choice acquired armor and weapons (but not all weapons or abilities at once).

Even the periodic context-sensitive attacks to take down larger opponents are ill-timed, with an awkward pause that forces you to continue pressing buttons while the system catches up. The power distribution scheme to the suit is far more difficult than it needs to be, requiring multiple button presses (to the direction buttons on the right of the system) where one would do just as well. Also beware of blank screens accompanying long loads, which might make you think the game crashed. Don’t shut down - a real load screen with a countdown clock will appear in the next 10-30 seconds.

On the nicer side, though it doesn’t really help the gameplay, the custscenes look pretty damn good even if the likenesses are not very accurate and lip syncing is way off. A few main actors from the film also did decent voice work for the game (Robert Downey Jr. as Stark, Gwyneth Paltrow as Petter Potts and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane), giving it a little more interest than scrolled text.

Also, there are several bonus videos including behind-the-scenes look at this game and the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie game and two Iron Man movie trailers.  A few Grand Theft Auto style minigames unlock as you play through the game, which probably should have been available from the start to help give the game more immediate enjoyment.

Iron Man for PSP really will only appeal to fans, who will only play the game to unlock the various suits and weapons than actual enjoyment. If the console releases of Iron Man solve the control issue with the second thumbstick while maintaining the same sense of flying freedom, then it might be worth it to pull a few extra bills out of your wallet and play this one at home.

Site [Iron Man: The Game] Read [Cheat Code Central] Also Read [Gamertell]