Ironman 2: TVG – Reviewed
by OMGitsTFC on May.10, 2010, under Gaming
Sloppy seconds.Sigh. Thats how I’m starting this. with one big SIGH.
I tried waiting for the demo to launch, but after two months of seeing the screen say “Download the demo soon”, even past the actual launch date of the game AND the movie, I figured it wasnt going to launch. And it still hasnt. I should have seen that as a sign of things to come. I have successfully wasted $50. SIGH. Again. Disappointment 2k10.
Im a huge fan of the Ironman franchise as a whole. The movies, games, animated series. Ive gotten my hands on a solid chunk of it, and this seems to be the worst one, which confuses the hell out of me seeing as how its based on one of the most anticipated movies of 2010, and definitely the summers blockbuster. You would think a little more TLC would have gone in to it. But no. Nothing about this game excited me.
Lets start with the visuals. None. Not impressive. Over it. Its, again, super confusing. Especially on this level. Iron Man and the sequel were both visually STUNNING on the screen, but somehow, somewhere, theres an editor, or a designer, or a boss man thatlet this slip by, and that needs to be fired for giving this the green light to be linked to either of the films. Even the menus are poorly designed and a sloppy attempt to recreate Stark’s personal computer system that you see him playing with in the films. The suits themselves are designed well. Theres a nice level of detail in all of the suits that youre able to unlock and use, but thats the only place youll find detail. Period. Seriously. At times it looks like someone just took a handycam and recorded someone else playing with the figures. I want to tell you just how bad the “suiting up” sequence for both Iron Man and War Machine are, but id rather not extend this review another two paragraphs.
I was suprised to look up these games on IMDB and find out that the voice talent for MOST of the main characters are the actual actors from the movie. Tony, Rhodey, Whiplash and Fury are all voiced by the appropriate actors. That would be a plus, if the acting would have wound up being decent. Buuuuut it wasnt. It kills me to say it, but it really does suck. Even RDJ and Don Cheadle are slacking big time.
The engine itself isnt really that bad in terms of controls and performance until you get in to the pre / post game suit customization. Im a big fan of being able to customize, swap parts, etc. but it needs to be done using a system that someone besides Tony Stark himself can understand. I exaggerate. But not much. You can earn credits in missions to unlock more suit variations, open up different suit upgrades, and even fabricate different parts for different reasons, but its thrown together in a clunky and confusing system that makes me want to just skip it and play with whatever load-out is ready by default.
Finally theres the plot. Sorry. I mean “plot”. Good news for spoiler haters. While the game does have an element or two in it from the game, the story is a new one created just for the games, so youre safe to play it if you havent seen the movie. Bad news is it all sucks. Everything from the actual plot to the way it was executed just makes me facepalm. They throw you from random location to random location, dont even try to piece it together for you, and then throw you in and let you blow everything up. It has a very “Wherever he lands, there shall he blow things up”, kind of feel to it. After getting about half way in, i started skipping everything that wasnt game play.
The verdict is in. I would NOT buy this game until it drops to around $20 range. Rent it for sure. Its a fun game as long as you play it in maybe 20-30 minute spurts, but after that you just start getting annoyed at how bad everything looks, and start suffering from repetitive stress disorder from doing the same mission objectives over and over. Its the same problems that the first game and similar comic-movie games, like Superman Returns, suffer from. I guess all of this is why the demo didnt launch. If it had i dont think i would have bought this game…Sigh.
Iron Man 2: TVG – 4.5 / 10
