Iron Man Video Game Review (PC port)

The game has been out for a couple weeks now, and we’ve all read the reviews. A lot of people say that there were a lot of things that would’ve been done better, and that the game was generally nothing special. Surprisingly, most of these reviews come from most systems- PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, and the PSP. I come to you now with a review of the PC version. Maybe with a mouse, it’d be easier to control, yeah?

I was so damn excited for this game, thinking it’d live up to EA’s standards when they brought Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 to us on former-gen consoles. Unfortunately, this didn’t exactly do the trick.

Since I will be reviewing the PC version, I thought I’d compare the game to the different versions though FAQs (also, I couldn’t find a couple weapons caches), and I saw that this game is very different from the XBOX 360 version. I read something like "time pressure" and I was wondering why my game didn’t have that on that particular stage. I’m thinking I got the short stick on this deal, because the FAQ made the 360 version seem sweeter.

Story

For movie tie-ins, you really can’t expect such a big difference in the storyline. The most a movie video game can do is expand on the story, or re-tell it exactly the way it was told in the movie, which is quite dumb

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Fortunately, the game tells the same story differently, plus it extends it to add some gameplay value. You will see a lot of parellelism between the game and the movie, but it doesn’t really take away from the experience of the game, and vice versa, although I do suggest you watch the movie first.

The game does a good job at finding its own twist on the movie story. Actually, I think that, atlhough the movie’s storyline was fantastic, if it had used elements from the video game, I would’ve enjoyed it a little bit more, especially scenes with Ho Yinsen.

Graphics

Undoubtedly, the graphics for the current-gen consoles will definitely be better, but the graphics for the PC were definitely not bad. But yeah, not great either. Running an 8600 gtx video card, I thought I’d get rid of the jaggies at the very least, but I’d still get texture errors, jagged edges, geometry cut-aways, and so forth, especially since the recommended requirement is only a 7900 video card.

Even though not as shiny as the next-gen ports, it still does have a lot of the gleam. This is Iron Man we’re talking about here, he’s gotta have his golden shine. It isn’t superb, but it does pass standards. I was expecting to get blown away, though, so that’s kinda disappointing.

The environments are superb. And seeing everything from the top makes it for a very awesome experience.

The FMVs before the missions looked somewhat awkward. I can’t put my finger on it, exactly. Seems like the facial rig was okay, because the faces achieved a good range of positions while talking. The hand and finger movements were okay, too. I’m thinking polygon count shouldn’t have mattered, since they are merely FMVs. Marvel Ultimate Alliance FMVs shatters the ones on Iron Man into a bajillion pieces.

Controls

This is where most of the complaints come from. I would assume, for a game like this, a standard controller might be very difficult to manipulate. I found that using a mouse was better for aiming, but there were so many different things to keep in mind for my left hand, I was finding it hard to do what I wanted to do in a split-second.

The controls aren’t so bad, but on a keyboard, they’re undeniably not intuitive. You have to constaly think of what your left hand is doing. The keyboard buttons were awkward for the default setting. I’m sure one could easily customize it to his/her preference, though.

There is a learning curve, and  a steep one, at that. However, one does get used to it, and once you do, you’ll still find yourself struggling with it from time to time, but it doesn’t keep the game from being enjoyable. It still is the weakest point of the game.

Gameplay

Given the weakness of the controls, how does that affect the gaming experience? Well, not really, no. You don’t need superb control over Iron Man to do what the game requires you to do anyway.

Because of flight, you can whiz around enemies and dodge missiles, easily. Too easily, I think. Maybe they knew their control system was a bit wonky.

You can blow enemies up with your repulsors, but not much else. I wanted to feel like I was Iron Man. And Iron Man is a weapon; a weapon of amazing destructive power. However, you don’t blow up buildings or walls, just those you need to destroy. Sure, there are some crates and cannisters that explode, but they take too damn long to destroy, and it makes Iron Man look weak!

One thing I do like is how Iron Man can reroute power into propulsion, armor or repulsors, just like the video game. What I didn’t like is how they pulled it off. I pretty much spent my entire run an even power distribution. It’s weird, because if you put it on the even setting, you get two bars for propulsion, two bars for armor and two bars for weaponry, and that totals to six bars. When it’s specialized, you do get added features, but it leaves the two other functions practically useless.

If you focus all power into propulsion, you get three bars for it, and only one bar for weaponry and armor each, which is a total of five only. But you do get to use a powerful version of the afterburner as an option. It never becomes necessary, though, especially since almost all the levels are quite small and limiting as compared to Spider-Man 2 or Superman Returns.

When you max out weaponry, you get to do the Unibeam; but again, it is never necessary. Hell, it never was even useful! You charge it up and you stand there, taking all the hits, reducing your already useless armor to rubble. It isn’t even all that powerful.

The missions are quite linear and repetitive. They’re all destroy missions, and they get really old, really quick. Sometimes, you have to destroy something before the time runs out, or you have to destroy something in order to be able to destroy something else. Pfft, that’s weak, really.

There are a few minigames, wherein you weaken an enemy enough to manhandle it. You do the minigame by pressing "D" a bunch of times, then waiting for the next button to press. It’s retarded, and it gets old after doing it twice. However, doing it recharges Iron Man’s energy. Why? I have no flippin idea.

Boss battles aren’t that much different either. You employ very little technique when beating them up.

Interface and Features

The interface is fairly easy to understand, although it does take some getting used to. Basically, you have the power gauges on the lower left, your radar on  your lower right, and your weapon and its exp. Nothing complicated about that.

On the Xbox 360 and PS2 versions, you get a exclusive armor. I think the Stealth for the PS3, and Silver Centurion for the 360, but I could be wrong. Both versions get the old Comic Book first appearance armor, the Classic Red and Gold armor, and the Extremis armor (I was looking forward to this), too.

However, in the PC, you get:

The First Appearance armor

Classic Red and Gold Armor

Silver Centurion

But, no Extremis Armor. So, FAIL!

Voice Acting/Dialogue

The voice acting was done by Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrence Howard. I’m not sure if Gwyneth Paltrow or Jeff Bridges did any work. Though I guess I could find out. Do it yourself, I’m too lazy.

I gotta say though, that the voice acting was really really good. The lines were a bit two-dimensional and cheesy, but deliveries were just spectacular.

Replayability

Once you go over it once, there won’t be much to come back for, unfortunately.

Final Rating

Not great, but not bad either. Two and a half Captain America Iron Men out of five!