Iron Man Member Review for the Xbox360

Well, let me start by saying that I do like this game. It's fun, fast and entertaining . . . .though briefly. This game is, like many of the movie tie-in games, short and shallow. Does that mean it's not fun? Absolutely not! If you can look past it's flaws you'll find a very likable game. On to the review.


GRAPHICS: First off this game does look very, very good at times. Then there are the times when it looks not so good. Some levels suffer from bland texture work and some very flat environments. Some of the best levels are the ones without buildings and by that I mean tall skyscraper-esque ones. The lighting is also among some of the best. Likewise Iron Man is highly detailed and well animated, which is a stark contrast to the generic baddies you'll be mowing down over the course of the game. Good news is, is that you'll usually never get close enough to see the enemies anyways, since most of your time will be spent in the air. Explosions are handled quite nice and give off some cool effects. Though there is some serious slowdown issues that rear its ugly head throughout the game, it's hardly game breaking badly. Actually there was one point where the slowdown was so bad, I thought I accidentally paused the game. Seriously, it stopped still, no movement, nothing for about 2-3 seconds. Then it continued on as normal. This isn't frequent, but you'll know when it happens. One of my big gripes with this game is the lack of game engine cinemas. I mean come on, do we really still need grainy, low quality CG cut scenes? What is this 1997? Other than that though, they serve their purpose.

SOUND: Pretty much what you'd expect from a game like this. Explosions are loud, repulsor blast sound like they should as well as the unibeam. RDJ does a decent job, if albeit phoned in sounding. The music is decent, but nothing spectacular.

GAMEPLAY: This is one thing that will take some time to get used to. You will need to have patience to learn all the techniques of combat. Once you get the hang of it, you'll hardly ever have a major system shutdown. The transition from ground to flight is relatively smooth. Though there are a few hiccups here and there, but nothing you can't fix with some tweaks at the options menu. Flying and shooting is pretty simple as well as targeting enemies while hover strafing. Some of the trickier moves, like the missile catch, will involve some practice to perfect, but once mastered it becomes a useful mechanic you'll use many times over the course of the game. The suits you unlock really don't effect the core gameplay and act more like skins then new suits. Too bad, since the whole concept of acquiring and upgrading the suits could have been so much deeper then it currently is. It does give me hope for the next Iron Man game though! When it comes down to it, the game is only as good as the person playing it. If you take the time to learn, you'll enjoy this game much, much more.

VALUE: Here's where it really hurts the game. There's very little in the way of replayability once you've completed you initial time through. Yes, you can go back and do the One Man Army missions to earn new suits, but other than that, not much else. It's also really hard to recommend a game that's only 6-8 hours, depending on your skill, for $59.99. If this game was $39.99 it would have been easier to recommend. Do I regret buying this game, not at all. But I wish I would have gotten a little more for my money though.

OVERALL: If you're an Iron Man fan it's a no brainer, buy it. If you liked the demo, buy it. If you liked the movie, buy it. If you have a casual passing interest, rent it or wait for it to hit the bargain bin in a few months.

Thanks for reading my review!