Iron Man: The Game

The Urban Daily crew made its trek out to New York Comic Con a few weeks ago at the huge-as-hell Jacob Javitz Center. While GIANT was talking to all the stars, we hung out with the geeks, nerds and fanboys as they all crowded the place to get a glimpse of their favorite stars and comic icons. Sega made itself known by allowing all to get their fix of the new Iron Man video game.

The game is interwoven into the movie that hits theaters today (May 2nd) and utilizes the vocal talents of the movie’s stars, Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrence Howard, to make this action-packed game leap from the silver screen to your HD one in your living room. Speaking of action, as Tony Starks (aka Iron Man), you’ve turned over a new leaf from megalomaniac weapons supplier to the world to destroying your own stock pile while the powers of evil try and stop you. In a free-range world, you can literally go anywhere in the game during the levels, but expect at every turn an enemy to be coming at you with guns blazing and missiles aimed at your hot rod red armor (pause). The animation of catching missiles in mid-flight, destroying tanks with your own hands and ripping stealth fighter jets in half are some of the crazy things that this game offers. Too bad War Machine hasn’t had his own game, yet.

But can the video game break that dreaded curse of the movie tie-in? While Sega was mum on the additional villains involved and how it affects the movie’s introductory plot, the fans were wowed at Comic Con. Iron Man will be fun for any hardcore fan of the Stan Lee-created comic. The biggest drawback is the aerial controls. As Iron Man, you’re essentially a human airplane and the inverted controls would prove cumbersome for anyone just looking to play the game without being so technical. The learning curve should take you about 20-25 minutes to gain, but the biggest problem comes with the game’s targeting system. There isn’t much of a lock-on function for when in flight or with on-the-ground combat. Your hand/eye coordination better be on point or else this will be a tough game for you to crack.

On the plus side, there are enough unlockable extra to stop you from throwing this game in the scrap heap. As you proceed in the game, you’ll be able to try out new armor such as the Mark III, Extremis and the Hulkbuster. PS3 has an exclusive armor with Ultimate and Xbox comes with the Silver Centurion. With competition coming from in-house (The Hulk game is bananas) and from seasoned veterans (GTA IV, anyone?) – Iron Man: The Game manages to make a dent in the curse, but fails to deliver any new experience worth paying $.99 for.