Movie games are really disappointing nowadays. E.T for the Atari 2600 made sure of that. What makes them even worse is if they are based on a hit movie. I mean, yes, there are some good ones, but in the ocean of movie-to-game adaptations, those few good ones are like the white-tipped reef sharks of the gaming universe. The example of a movie-to-game adaptation that went wrong is Iron Man for the Wii, DS, PS2, Xbox360 and the PS3. I will be reviewing the Wii version but all versions are basically the same.
This game follows the events in the movie, but with some added levels, like in the frozen parts of the world and other places that are only exclusive to the game. You are, of course, Tony Stark as you don the very first Iron Man suit and escape from his terrorist prison. Of course, later in the game, you can wear the Iron Man suit that is in the movie, but a unique thing I like about the game is that you get to wear different Iron Man suits from the comic books. They really don’t do much besides fulfilling your dream playing as the original Iron Man from the comic books and such. The game play is in the form of a strategy fighter, which is like other games like Star Wars Rogue Squadron and Robotech. You basically go from stage to stage, and beat down on enemies, and do specific jobs in order to complete the level. In your armory, you have your normal punches, though since this is Iron Man, you also have his weaponry-like shock waves, missiles, lasers, and repulser rays. You can also fly high into the air, and drop down, making a shock wave to wipe out enemies, hurting them a lot.
The voice acting is decent, I mean, yeah, you have the original cast, but it just isn’t as high class as the acting is in the movie. The music is also decent. This is the problem with movie games. They don’t have a big enough budget or time to make a really good movie game. It’s quite sad, since if they did get bigger budgets and more time, the games could be amazing. The only forgiving track is of course the Iron Man metal song. And it is kind of loyal to the movie since it starts you out with the first Iron Man suit Tony built in the movie and you fight Iron Monger in the end of the game.
It’s now time to wear your iron suit and blow up the bad parts of the game. The graphics are just horrible. I mean, it’s 2009 and this game should have had better graphics. Look at Super Mario Galaxy and Metal Gear Solid 4. Those graphics are really amazing, but this game just doesn’t look that well. It looks like it was for a Dreamcast game. The controls feel broken from time to time. It’s like they sometimes feel responsive, and then other times, they don’t feel responsive. This game just feels more broken than fixed. I even found a glitch in one level where the whole level texture and stuff just disappeared. Hit detection seems a bit off, like it seems as if half of the weapons you have don’t work on anyone. For example, I had to use all of my weapons to take out only half of the final bosses’s energy. It’s quite disappointing that movie games haven’t improved. Seriously, let’s take a look at a more recent movie game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That game did pretty well, and I happen to have it waiting in my Gamefly list. Finally, the game play is just stupid and repetitive. It’s the same thing, level after level.
All and all, this is just another broken game that shouldn’t have been made. The movie was just amazing, but this game just doesn’t hold a candle. I take that back, there is no candle at all to speak off. Stay away from this game. Just stay the heck away from it. I never played such a horrible movie game in my life.
This game gets a poor 4 out of 10
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