Iron Man

So, if you can get past Iron Man's steep learning curve and a little bit of tarnish in the visual department, what are you left with? A game that's far from perfect, but still better than a lot of movie and comic book tie-ins that have come before.

It can be fun for a bit, but considering you'll be done in two or three hours, I'd save your money and put this one on your Gamefly or spend a weekend with a free rental from the store.

If you can get past Iron Man’s head-scratching learning curve, what are you left with? A game that’s far from perfect, but still better than a lot of movie and comic book tie-ins that have come before ( *wink* Catwoman).

As movie tie in games go, Iron Man sits neatly on the pile and follows the formula of being decidedly average at best.

In essence, if you absolutely loved the film to bits and absolutely must have an Iron Man game to go with it, then Sega have done as good a job as they can of producing a playable version of the movie.

Die hard fans of Iron Man will really appreciate the smooth controls and frantic gameplay. After all, the game feels like you've stepped into the toughest part of a comic. However, if you're just a regular gamer, you're going to want to pass on this title. The repetitive missions, terrible story, and ugly cutscenes are not worth your hard earned cash.

If you can persist though, the frantic arcade pacing and frenetic aerial combat in large open areas is quite enjoyable while it lasts.

Iron Man only just scrapes itself above being a typical movie tie-in title by virtue of some nifty flight controls and the excellent suit. The missions are fun but repetitive and with a lack of a proper checkpoint system and muddy backgrounds, this fails to take off into the stratosphere of a top-quality 360 experience.

Not a complete disaster but still a long way short of fun. It's just...okay. [July 2008, p.80]

While there was a lot of potential here for a quality licensed video game, it ended up being marred with problems with the controls, frustrating difficulty and lame environments.

Iron Man's high-flying new adventure is hindered by erratic difficulty and repetitive level design.

An irritating experience that unfortunately has to go down as a Marvel disappointment. [June 2008, p.68]

After the movie turned out to be such good fun, the game landed with a heavy thud, failing to offer anywhere near the same level of enjoyment.

Even with all that fanboyism, I came into this game with optimism tempered by mediocre expectations. It failed to meet even them. The game is just plain bad. It feels underdeveloped, hacked together and downright shoddy.