Gamertell

Title: Iron Man
Price: $59.99
System(s): Xbox 360
Release Date: May, 2, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Sega, (Secret Level)
Rating: “Teen” for Mild Language and Violence
Pros: Iron Man modeling is nice, plenty of weapon and armor customization, unlockable classic era armors
Cons: Horrible AI, twitchy controls, poor graphics, bad voice over work, weak story, numerous bugs and glitches, repetitive game play, horrible translation of the film.
Overall Score: Two Thumbs Down, 25/100, F, No Stars

Early this month, (May, 2, 2008) the Iron Man motion picture adaptation hit the big screen, and while the movie had a few rough spots, it was a great way to start this summer movie season. Unfortunately, Iron Man for the Xbox 360 can’t say the same thing.

The Iron Man game follows the major events in the film, but doesn’t give players any information as to who the characters are, or why they do what they do in this game. The main problem is, the movie didn’t leave any unanswered questions or gaps. The game wants to fill in these unnecessary missing pieces but, in turn, completely fails to expand on the Iron Man film at all. I have to wonder if Secret Level, the developers to the game, were allowed to see the script before the film’s release.

Despite the fact that this game had plenty of time for production, game play suffers the most from very twitchy control and a lot of really annoying bugs and glitches. Plus the AI has to be amongst the worst I’ve played in the past five years. Every level, whether it is early in the game or towards the end, plays pretty much the same. You get your briefing, where you are told that you have to destroy something or stop someone else from doing some really bad things. Every now and again, the game borrows from the movie, but once those missions begin, all you do is fly or run around, destroying a map full of enemy NPC’s until all the objectives are cleared or you’re dead.

The enemy NPC’s quickly become the most annoying part of this game. We all know, or should know by now, that Iron Man is an extremely powerful guy. Instead of making a game worthy of matching Iron Man’s power, the developers instead felt the best way to challenge the player is by throwing hundreds of enemies at Iron Man at one time. Almost every second you’re playing this game, someone and something is shooting missiles up Shell Head’s tail pipe.

Another major problem with this game is that many of Iron Man’s most notable villains make appearances. While this is cool and does help expand the story, this is supposed to be about the origin of Iron Man and the suit he wears. So it doesn’t make any sense how villains such as Titanium Man can even exist as they are created from stolen Iron Man technology. None of these villain cameos, such as A.I.M, Maggia, Whiplash or Raza, really fit into the film world either. It feels like Secret Level was a bit confused as to whether they were making a comic-to-film adaptation, or a comic-to-game adaptation.

There are some minor things that work. Iron Man himself looks quite nice. He is modeled well, and his armor shows damage such as bullet holes and scorch marks. There are a number of classic Iron Man armors that you can unlock, and players can purchase different armor parts and weapons.

Beyond these things, if you get to the end of Iron Man, which isn’t a terribly long game, then you should pat yourself on the back. It is unfortunate that this game didn’t turn out better. Iron Man has so much history and potential, that the series would have been a killer next-generation title if some real thought was put into the final product.

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