Iron Man 2 Review for Xbox 360 and PS3

     Iron Man is one of my favourite comic-book characters. I've followed Tony's exploits for many years now. Even when he was being a complete and utter a**shole in the 'Civil War' story arc. The original Iron Man movie game was met with a lot of negative responses and reviews; Poor flight controls, shabby combat system, dodgy in-game cameras.....the list goes on. So have any of these probems been rectified in order to make Iron Man 2 a decent stand-alone game rather than a shameless cash-in?

GRAPHICS & PRESENTATION

- There's pages missing! The game's script is written by a Marvel writer which makes this even more painful (as a ling-time comic fan). The story takes place after the film of Iron Man 2 and centres on the villain 'Ultimo'. To be honest, I could've written a better story. Nothing holds together and there is no cohesion between plot points. It's like they brought in a dozen different writers and took the worst bits from all of them to create the story. Stan Lee would be ashamed!! I'm not going to go into depth about the story because, quite frankly, I can't. The story is THAT shallow and un-finished.


- Rust bucket! IM2 would be hard-pressed to be accepted even as a Xbox 360 launch title on a graphical basis. Like the script, everything feels rushed and un-polished. Textures are rough and look like they've been ported from a PS2. Lighting is basic and merely highlights the lack of attention that the developers gave this game. This game also suffers from a ridiculous amount of clipping and glitching (explained more in the gameplay section). Character models are beyond awful. Pepper Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow in the film) and Black Widow both look like they've suffered an allergic reaction to a bee-sting! Their faces are swollen and dis-proportionate. Tony Stark and James Rhodes look okay-ish whilst Nick Fury is the most believeable.


- Suit up! There are several suits of IM armour to unlock through the game but thanks to the graphical problems listed above, you don't really care. Even rabid fans like me fail to get excited about the visuals on the armour and that's a kick in the teeth.


- These are not the droids you're looking for! Wa-Hay!! No rushed comic game would be complete without..........yep you guessed it.......GENERIC ENEMIES!!!! Is it really that hard to design a few different enemy types?! Apparently so.

SOUND

= Sounds funny to me. Sound is definitely hit-and-miss when it comes to the voice talent. On the plus side, Samuel Jackson and Don Cheadle reprise their roles as Nick Fury andWar Machine respectively. Robert Downey Junior does NOT voice Tony Stark but whoever it is does a really good job, getting Tony's mannerisms and little idiosyncrasies just right. On the bad side, Pepper Potts+Black Widow sound like they're trying to stay awake during each scene.

- Another rock track. I love rock as much as the next person but since AC/DC provided the soundtrack to IM2 (the film), everyone seems to think it's okay to use just that type of music. Here's a hint for you developers: IT'S NOT OKAY!!!!

GAMEPLAY

- Lights, Camera.....I said Camera dammit! IM2 should win many awards for what is, quite possibly, the worst in-game camera in any computer game to date!! I cannot express to you all just how much the camera sucks in this game. I nearly gave myself a bloody aneurism due to the camera doing whatever the hell it wanted. "What's the problem?" I hear you ask. Well, the RB button is your lock-on button whilst the Right Analogue Stick (RS) controls the camera manually. The problem is that the RS also acts as a 'switch-between-enemies-whilst-locked-on' control. When you're surrounded by enemies and you desperately need to target the big robot behind you but you can't because the game will only let you switch targets that are in front of you..........! Not only is that bad but, the enemies will often fly past you leading the camera to completely freak out. This led to me dying more often than I should have. It also led to my fiancee telling me off for using the 'F' word every 5 seconds!!


- Faster, FASTER!! The IM suits can fly at supersonic speed and yet there is absolutely no sense of speed in this game. Double-tapping the LB button will result in you zooming off at a snails pace. Also, once in-flight, it's very difficult to put the brakes on. Combine this with the dodgy camera and you've got a flight/camera system designed by Satan himself!


- Lots of stuff! After each mission you will earn credits that you use to upgrade your equipment and armour. This sounds great in principle but unless you're achievement hunting, there's no reason to buy everything. 


Iron Man+Lasers+Piercing Ammo+Ultimate Module = WIN!! 
Or: 
War Machine+Twin Gatling Guns+Piercing Ammo+Ultimate Module = As above!! 


Also, the different suits offer NO difference in strength, durability, speed etc!!! Pure laziness.


- JUST. HIT. HIM!! You can unlock different close-quarters combat combos but I can almost guarantee that you'll just mash the X button before reverting to your guns again. The CQC combat is beyond bad and has had as much effort put into it as the camera!!


- Ready, steady...GO....and stop! Holy crap this game is short! I'm talking 3 hours to play the game through start to finish. Then another 2 hours to do it again on Formidable (Hard) difficulty. Again, there's no reason to torture yourself unless it's achievements you're after.

SHOULD I BUY OR RENT?

Rent if you have to but this game really isn't worth your time. Poor controls, horrific camera, dodgy visuals. For achievement hunters only!

Iron Man 2 was Developed and Published by SEGA. Hours played: 6 (3 on Easy, 3 on Hard). Reviewed on the 360 version.

Achievement Difficulty: 3/10. Would've been lower but the camera makes things harder than they really are!