Iron Man for Windows PC - Play Through the Movie!

It's pretty much a given that video games based on movies are not very good. In fact they are notoriously bad, time and again. Such is the case with this PC game version of Iron Man, which is based on the new hit movie with Robert Downey, Jr. This game is also available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the old Sony PS2. This PC game version is just a port of the PS2 console version, and it's not a very good one.

So what do you do in this game? Basically, you play through the movie. Your first mission is to blast your way out of the cave, just like in the beginning of the movie. Then you have to go through some unavoidable training sequences which are quite long and boring. Finally, you go through a series of missions where you just fly around blowing up stuff and fighting things that were not in the movie. If you haven't yet seen the movie, this game would contain a few spoilers.

Since this is a PS2 port, it is very weak from a graphics standpoint. The in-game graphics are OK, but they still look like something from a PS2 game. That might have passed a few years ago, but nowadays people expect a lot more. Even worse are the cutscenes, which are horribly pixilated and jagged. They are downright blurry, and just bad for the PC. You can tell that not much effort went into spicing things up for the PC release of this game, and its getting dismal ratings everywhere I read reviews.

The sound effects in this game are OK, and you are in constant radio contact with other people while you play. You have to listen to their instructions for some missions, though everything is really kind of obvious. I did like hearing the Black Sabbath song, Iron Man, play in the first level. The actors from the movie did not do voices for this game, as some of them are quite noticeably different.

Despite having graphics that may have looked good five years ago, this biggest downfall of this game is the gameplay. It's just not that much fun, and it's way too easy. I found myself burning through the missions without much effort, and those missions became more tedious than challenging as the game progressed. I don't know if this was intended to be played by youngsters, but I think most serious gamers would blow through this whole game in a weekend.

Even if you are a huge fan of Iron Man, I would stay away from this PC game. I can't believe the makers would port the skimpy PS2 version instead of the Xbox 360 or PS3 one. Basically, they are cheating PC gamers out of all the good stuff. I hear those other console versions aren't all that great, either. In short, I loved the movie but got very little out of this game. It's be in the bargain bin before the movie comes out on DVD.