Iron Man 2
Many of the main characters from the movie will show up to play some part in the game. Don Cheadle and Sam Jackson reprise their roles as Rhodes/War Machine and Nick Fury which added some credibility to the otherwise weak voice acting. Credit has to be given to the actor portraying Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark; he sounds a lot like Mr. Downey and even comes close to mimicking his performance as Tony Stark. The character models resemble their movie counterparts but by no means look good. Pepper Potts and Black Widow are laughably bad looking, while the rest of the characters border mediocrity.
The game is also prone to texture fade in, most noticeably during cutscenes. The transition between playing and cutscenes were often met with five to ten seconds of the game freezing up. While playing through the game I experienced several strange camera jerks or a cut away that would leave me with a quick view under the level before popping back into the proper viewpoint.
If the actual Iron Man had a targeting system similar to the one found in the game, his run as a superhero would be extremely short lived. The actual target usually appears to be slightly off center and when an enemy is moving quickly it barely keeps up with them. The main problem with the targeting system is that it gives the impression that Iron Man is locked onto the enemy when this is far from the case. Firing at a moving “locked on” enemy will always result in firing behind the enemy’s current movement. Unless the enemy is moving directly at Iron Man or staying still they are quite hard to hit using the in game targeting system. I found myself opting not to use the targeting system unless enemies were directly in front of me.
As you progress through the game you will unlock different armor for Iron Man which can then be used in any mission. Instead of choosing from the library of Iron Man armor you can also choose to play as War Machine before a mission starts. Surprisingly choosing War Machine over Iron Man will actually slightly change how a level plays. These differences are not significant enough that they completely change how a level plays out, but dialogue and cutscenes are slightly different. Nicky Fury will react to the actions of War Machine slightly differently than he will Iron Man, and Cheadle has some dialogue that cannot be heard unless you play as War Machine.
Iron Man 2 is slightly better than its predecessor mostly due to the improved controls. It is now quite easy to maneuver Iron Man, whether he is hovering or flying at top speed. Alternating fire between multiple weapons while using melee moves is quite simple to do and made the game much more enjoyable to play through than the last installment.
I found myself enjoying being able to customize the loadout of Iron Man’s suit at the menu between levels. It was a nice touch to be able to choose exactly which weapons I wanted to equip to each Iron Man suit. If Sega had constrained the player to a set of unchangeable weapons, this would have been a very different and much likely a more boring experience. Through experience gained during each mission you can invent or upgrade existing weapons, ammunition and even Iron Man’s ark reactor. These changes can really beef up Iron Man and help you breeze through each level.
Iron Man 2 the game is a large step up from its predecessor but stills falls quite short of the bar set by other games recently released. Previously released comic book based games like Batman Arkham Asylum or even X-Men Origins: Wolverine has raised my expectations of superhero games and Iron Man 2 ultimately falls short of them and can be categorized under crappy movie tie in game.
