Iron Man
Review
Only fanboys need apply
by ffanxii4ever
reviewed on X360
The Perks (cntd)
This game also does have some minor RPG elements to it that are executed with a modicum of success. At the end of each mission you earn a certain amount of money that you are able to spend in order to upgrade different aspects of your suit ranging from your armor to your repulsors. It is also a little different, because you are not actually purchasing the different types of weapons and armor. What you are paying for is a general upgrade for that part, and then the appropriately powered equipment is automatically available to equip, usually with two or three different forms per level. There is some difference in power among the different iterations of the same item, but in most cases it is always better to go with the middle of the road approach.
Another feature that allows you a little more variety is that you are able to unlock new suits for Iron Man. These suits definitely have a different feel to each of them, more so than the different equipment that you can mount on the Mark III that you have to wear in every mission for the first time. You are able to wear the different suits in the various One Man Army matches and the mission replays (after you have finished the mission once) to obtain any money that you might have missed your first time through.
And the Faults
Of course, with the good comes the bad, and I’m not just talking about the villains. They succeeded admirably when it came to creating the open-ended missions, but they really should have made the game itself more flexible. For example, using the above nuke mission, when you have already destroyed two of them, it doesn’t make sense for HQ to tell you to eliminate the nukes, and then immediately say good job. It might have made more sense to comment on you having already done the job.
Also, with such large missions, a checkpoint system of some sort might have been nice. When you are playing through a twenty minute mission for the fifth time, and you keep getting killed by the same point near the end, it might be nice to start at the half-way point, instead of the beginning. Also, the combat at a few points was very repetitive, where it mainly consisted of hovering and then firing the Uni-beam once or twice, before continuing on to the next foe.
Melee combat is rendered just about useless, forcing you to revert to the Uni-beam, repulsors, and secondary weapons, because the collision detection is terrible. Several times I would punch a tank or the like, and it would either take a second or two to register, or it wouldn’t register at all. The intelligence of the enemies is questionable, at best, too. When you see a troop of soldiers, all trying to run through the building, rather than go around it, or just turn around to shoot at the flying red and gold man, you tend to lose any hope of a fair, but challenging battle. Most of the challenge in the game comes from incredibly cheap tactics; say a large laser that has the capability to fire through a building and then taking out a full one of your power tanks.
The Final Word
If you can bear with the horrible graphics and the utterly mediocre sound quality, then the game play that grows on you might be enough to keep you playing, as parts of it are interesting and can be somewhat fun to play (assuming giant lasers aren’t shooting through buildings and decimating you). The control scheme for the game is somewhat organic, with the flight and repulsors being controlled with the triggers and secondary weapons and melee being controlled by the face buttons. But it all becomes irrelevant to the location of the Uni-beam which you will be using for most of the game. Replayability is possible by playing previous missions with unlocked suits, but overall, Iron Man: The Game is for the hardcore fans only.
4.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
