Iron Man Review: It's All About the Flying

GeekSugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:00:01 PDT

I'll admit it, I have a geek crush on Iron Man. And, I adore his geeky-but-hot alter ego Tony Stark, who has a lab straight out of every geeks' daydreams with computers, gadgets, and hot cars (most likely equipped with some high-tech GPS) galore. Even the phone he carries is totally geek chic!

So after loving the movie enough to make plans to see it a second time with some pals – and shell out another $25 bucks including popcorn – I was pretty excited to see what they had done with the game. Although it's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of movie tie-ins since video games based on movies are usually complete crap, there are some silver linings to this title, but not many. The movie absolutely crushed the competition and pulled in another $50 million at the box office this past weekend, but unfortunately I doubt the game will be received as well as the film. To see what I mean,

As you may be able to tell from the title of this post, it really is all about the flying. When Tony takes to the skies, it's one of the most exciting parts of the film, and is probably the best feature about this game. I could fly all day! But you gotta come down to earth eventually, and when you do, it gets a bit disappointing. The graphics are cool, but movements are clunky, and the foes are kinda useless.

These days, games are intelligent and the enemy has some sort of evasion tactics where it becomes challenging and hard to shoot at them. Take Uncharted: Drakes Fortune for example. Those bad guys are a tough bunch, making it hard to beat, yet, it's totally satisfying. Iron Man's enemies however, must be blinded by the shiny suit, cause they don't put up much of a fight. . . Which is a good thing if you want to blast through the game (but you may get bored).

And although the likeness of Tony and Yen-Sin are pretty spot on even when up close (and RDJ's voice acting really does lend a great touch), the rest of the outside world seems to be missing something. Unlike Mass Effect, where you thought the landscapes could stretch on forever, the distant views in Iron Man are not as impressive. Plus, when you go from superintuitive controls while flying and attacking enemies in the air, to awkward and clunky controls on the ground, it gets a little frustrating.

All in all, Iron Man is good for a rental experience, but I doubt that you will keep it for long. Unless you just can't get enough of the flying that is, which is totally understandable! Iron Man is out now - pick it up online.

GeekSugar

Iron Man Review: It's All About the Flying

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