An interesting premise meets a flawed presentation.
Iron Man, another game you could have predicted what it would turn out like. Yes, it's based off a movie and yes it is mediocre. To begin with the story, I skipped all the cutscenes. Not only were the characters and voice acting bland, but it put me to sleep. That being said, the gameplay is a little bit better.
But before I venture off into the gameplay let me go over the graphics. Iron Man himself looks pretty slick, with his shiny armor and, for the most part, decent animation he is the highlight of the game (of course). The enemies though don't fare as well. Ground troops look like 2D sticks with guns, and a single death animation. Then you have a variety of ground vehicles, air vehicles, and a couple turrets. They are all square which lucky for the creators is easy to do but unfortunately doesn't make the game look the least bit creative. You will fly around in boring areas: the cityscape, the desert, and of course there has to be an ice level.
As Iron Man you have repulsors (basic automatic fire that you'll constantly fire), an alternate fire (based on your selection, it can be a couple missles or a grenade, and so on), and the ability to fly. You can hover, gain altitude, or propel yourself forward like a bullet complete with afterburner. Most of this works pretty well except for close-range, but since you hardly ever melee (yes you can punch and grapple) that function is useless.
Here is how you'll play, hold RT (repulsors) throughout the entire level, of which there are 13, occasionally press Y (alt. fire, usually a set of missles) when you can use it, and either tap or hold LT to control your altitude. All you have to do is look at your mini-map, decide your current objective (the yellow dots) and head there, destroy the entire area usually, and complete the level. Boss fights do not hold up well. There usually is no strategy whatsoever, you just repulse and fire your missles, they'll move around, keep constant fire on them.
I've kept this short game, all 4-5 hours of action, and made the review way too long. Simple solution here: rent it, get achievements or enjoy playing as Iron Man, and return it. Do not buy this game, as it has no replay value. You can get an easy 850 gamerscore in one play-through, or a full 1000 if you want to try it on the hardest difficulty (which IS pretty tough). Either way, it is forgettable.
[I originally reviewed this game on GS; May 9th, 2008.]
