Can the Iron Man video game beat the curse of the movie tie-in?

vashivihan · 04-30-2008, 10:25 PM

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t was tough being an Iron Man fan back in the day.

While the kids who were into Wolverine got to see their boy slice up hordes of awesome ninjas, Iron fans got to see beads of sweat roll down alcoholic alter-ego Tony Stark's forehead as he fought off Jim Beam. While the Spider-Man crowd was thrilling to Todd McFarlane's exciting new style, we were watching Stark's own armour give him crippling nerve damage.

The indignity extended to video games. During the Atari 2600 era, you could have a bleeping, blorping, barely comprehensible adventure as Superman, or you could scale the Daily Bugle building to do battle with the Green Goblin as Spidey. As an Iron Man fan, I had to use my imagination - I taped a hand-drawn Iron Man logo over the label on my Berzerk cartridge, and pretended the sentry robots were AIM Mandroids. Good game.

Only now, in 2008, are the Iron fans getting some love. Our hero is hitting big screens in an A-list blockbuster feature starring Robert Downey "Greatest Actor of His Generation" Jr. under that wicked red-and-gold carapace. And modern realities of tie-in merchandising provide an embarrassment of riches: along with the Iron Man movie, we finally get an Iron Man video game.

Just as I've been obsessively refreshing the Iron Man page on superherohype.com three times a day for the past year and a half, I jumped onto Xbox Live and grabbed the Iron Man demo the minute it was released; I had to know how the ultimate personal weapons platform came across in his own game.

My impression is that it's not too bad. The brief level they give you is a generic go-there-blow-things-up scenario in a drab desert canyon setting, so no points awarded for flair; but controlling the suit felt pretty good once I got the hang of the controls. Maybe it was just my inexperience, or the nature of the demo level, but the game seems to be more conducive to Iron Man being a sort of mobile turret - fly to the engagement point, then swivel and blast until all is rubble - than the acrobatic jet-tuxedo of my imagination.

At least the worst sins of games he's previously guest-starred in - making him an underpowered chump who can barely fly and is vulnerable to normal thugs' punches - are not repeated.

Playing the Iron Man demo got me thinking about other superhero games, specifically games based on superhero movies. These games start out hobbled; as tie-ins to live-action movies, they are necessarily limited to a very literal, "realistic," movie-like esthetic. Many of the wider, wilder design choices in look, in environmental design, in plotting, in modelling, in game mechanics are unavailable, because they'd remove the game too far from its big-screen parent. Within that limited framework, then, what makes a superhero-movie game succeed?

Simple answer: allowing the hero to kick ass in the way he's supposed to kick ass, allowing the experience of being that character to be as cool as you'd imagine it might be. The Spider-Man 2 game is a high-water mark in this department. Weaknesses in its mission structure aside, it managed to evoke wonderfully the mad joy of having every vertical inch of Manhattan as your personal web-swinging playground.

The Hulk games present another instructive lesson. The virtual worlds of video games tend to be bounded by the kinds of barriers that divide our physical lives: insurmountable walls, chasms that must be crossed by bridges, locked doors that need keys. So, what do you do with a character whose fundamental defining trait is utter unstoppability?

Traditionally, you cheap out - The Hulk, throughout his video-game history, came across as not much tougher than your average in-game tough guy, thwarted by locked doors, bothered by bullets, impeded by piles of crates - and the games sucked. Only when 2005's Ultimate Destruction actually engaged the heart of The Hulk did the joy come through.

Iron Man's success or failure as a game remains to be seen, but the demo has me cautiously optimistic. The character fundamentals of high mobility, near-invulnerability to bullets and constant armour upgrades as a way of life seem to be in place. But blowing up a bunch of generic tanks is one thing, and honest-to-Kirby super-battles are another; if Iron Man can achieve the transition from tactical combat to one-on-one hero/villain grudgematching, if it can make me feel like I'm kicking ass as Iron Man, it just might be the game I've been waiting my entire life to play.

is this game open ended? linkage

AoWFraggit · 05-01-2008, 12:40 AM

well, seeing as no one gives a crap about movie titles...

...the world may never know.

Subarnu · 05-01-2008, 12:51 AM

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But blowing up a bunch of generic tanks is one thing, and honest-to-Kirby super-battles are another...

So does this reference to a Nintendo character mean that Iron Man is coming to the Wii?

SlowDeer · 05-01-2008, 01:01 AM

Honestly, I don't know if I will ever buy a movie game. There are just so many good games already out there to play. Only move game I will play is Harry Potter and I basically just watch when my GF plays that.

linuxghost · 05-01-2008, 02:26 AM

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Originally Posted by AoWFraggit

well, seeing as no one gives a crap about movie titles...

...the world may never know.

Seconded.

sagema · 05-01-2008, 02:39 AM

Can the Iron Man video game beat the curse of the movie tie-in?

Two words, "Hell No."
Counter Attack, "If it happens. It won't be Iron Man."

Adamquest64 · 05-01-2008, 07:25 AM

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Originally Posted by Subarnu

So does this reference to a Nintendo character mean that Iron Man is coming to the Wii?

I think he's saying "Kirby" as in "Jack Kirby", legendary artist from comics' silver age. Not pink Kirby.

gpoleweski · 05-01-2008, 08:26 AM

It always was coming to the wii wasn't it?

GaryT85 · 05-01-2008, 09:37 AM

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Originally Posted by gpoleweski

It always was coming to the wii wasn't it?

as far as i know, yes it was..

its actually out tomorrow if anyone is going to get it

Budo · 05-01-2008, 01:01 PM

Played the demo on PSN, and I thought it was pretty boring. It was pretty generic in gameplay, and the graphics (ground textures) were very washed out.

The only movie to game adaptation I can think of in recent memory that's been good has been the Riddick game.

lordrrr · 05-01-2008, 02:36 PM

No I played the PSN demo and it was s**t

I loved Iron Man for SNES though.

gpoleweski · 05-02-2008, 07:29 AM

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Originally Posted by Budo

Played the demo on PSN, and I thought it was pretty boring. It was pretty generic in gameplay, and the graphics (ground textures) were very washed out.

The only movie to game adaptation I can think of in recent memory that's been good has been the Riddick game.

What about Goldeneye 64!?

Smaug · 05-02-2008, 07:48 AM

The Lord of the Rings games were good.

blueovalboy7 · 05-02-2008, 08:17 AM

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Originally Posted by Smaug

The Lord of the Rings games were good.

Agreed.

ka6_jeram · 05-02-2008, 11:42 PM

I saw the Iron Man game in Gamestop near my place and the picture behind the cd case is not really attractive as if it was a DS game.

linuxghost · 05-03-2008, 12:39 AM

What I want to know is if the Iron Man trailers on youtube that say "wii" are ACTUALLY of the Wii version. The graphics look much better than the average Wii game.

ka6_jeram · 05-03-2008, 12:50 AM

Yup, I'm also really curios about the trailer. The quality is really not the average Wii graphic and why there is no review from either Gamespot or IGN?