Game: Iron Man 2
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: SEGA
Genre: Action/Adventure
Price: $59.99
Pros: Handles much better than the first, a bit easier to get into
Cons: You can tell they rushed it to ship with the movie, has a few glitches, confusing upgrade system.
It’s very rare that a sequel improves so much over it’s predecessor and still manages to be a poor game. The sad fact is that Iron Man 2 does exactly that. Having played the first game and knowing how absolutely atrocious the entire experience was, I had prepared myself for the worst with this one. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, but that is hardly a glowing endorsement.
Contrary to what you might expect, this game (released the same time as the movie) doesn’t actually follow the plot of its namesake. The storyline takes place after the movie’s time line. Seeing as how I have yet to see Iron Man 2 “The Movie,” I can’t compare the two for you; sorry. What I can tell you is that in the game Iron Man and War Machine are fighting a battle against Roxxon and A.I.M. as they are trying to hijack the “Dataspine” which is basically an older version of “Jarvis,” Iron Man’s operation system and AI. Later on, Tony gets the help of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nick Fury (played and voiced by Sam Jackson) to try and stop Prothean technology from creating it’s own race of super smart, adaptable “Iron Men” of their own. What it really boils down to is that the bad guys are trying to steal from the good guys and it’s up to the good guys to stop them.
I want to start by saying that IM2 has GREATLY improved it’s flying mechanics. In the previous title, it was damn near impossible to get Iron Man to fly with any sense of grace and fun. In IM2 however, it is much easier and the controls feel a bit more fluid. Sadly, this is probably the single best thing I can say about this game.
The presentation, while not unwatchable, are probably some of the worst I have seen on a PS3 since Damnation. You can tell that the developers made a lot of concessions in order to get the game out with the movie. Both cut scenes and in game visuals seem like something that was found on a PS2. Iron Man’s suits don’t look all that bad, and some of the enemies look decent enough, but they lose out because of the boring and less detailed backgrounds. Textures seem very single dimensional and what should be exciting set pieces all look generic.
While Nick Fury and James Rhodes are both voiced by the original film actors – Sam Jackson and Don Cheadle respectively – Tony Stark is voice by a Robert Downey Jr. impersonator. I don’t know who tries to pretend to be Scarlett Johansson, the voice of Natasha Romanoff, but they do a pretty piss poor job of “acting.” Each line she reads sounds like she is waiting in line to collect her check. It’s embarrassing…
During fights you earn research points that you can then use to create new weapons, suit upgrades, and generally make your suit better. This was a constant source of frustration for me. Players are never given any tutorial on how to go about swapping out ammo, weapons, or modules. I would research something to get it to work with the suit, only to find myself constantly flipping through item after item. You never really end up seeing how to make improvements or what the incentive is to even bother. On the positive side, you get to unlock a pile of Iron Man suits, both new and old, throughout the game. I like the different looks of each suit; however, they never really seemed to be any different from the previous one I was sporting.
The most egregious problem that I came across was a “Checkpoint” issue with one of the bosses. I would fight the boss, get him down to a certain amount of health, and hit a checkpoint. Fight some more and then die. When I restarted from my previous checkpoint, the bosses health was full again, and all the little minor enemies that I had disposed of along the way were revived. However, the damage that the boss managed to inflict on the ship I was charged with protecting was still very much intact. If it had happened once I could have maybe forgiven it, but it happened EVERY time I died during that fight. That’s pretty damn cheap.
For what it’s worth, this game IS an improvement over the first title. Unfortunately, it is still a game that is VERY far behind the curve of current game design in many respects. With this being the final project developed by SEGA San Francisco, I hope who ever picks up the reins for the inevitable next installment will learn from their mistakes and build a better game. Hopefully they will have enough time to put a bit more care into it. If so, maybe third time could actually be the charm.
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