Lost in Translation? The Avengers Special – Iron Man 2

Welcome to Lost in Translation? – the Ready Up series where we look at the rocky two-way road of media adapted from videogames and games based on films and TV shows, in a bid to decide whether the juice was worth the squeeze, or if what made the source material great in the first place got lost in translation.

While Martin muses about the lack of an Avengers tie-in game, here in this instalment of LIT? we’re continuing with part two of our Avengers special by examining the pre-Avengers games featuring the rather kick-ass movie’s four super-powered stars: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor: God of Thunder and Captain America: Super Soldier.

Next to step into the steely gaze of LIT? is the second outing of everyone’s favourite snarky Shellhead, Iron Man 2. Heralded as somewhat of a stinker according to the good folks over on Metacritic, pulling in a ‘generally unfavourable’ 41 out of 100, Iron Man 2 was released in the UK on the day of its source material’s cinematic debut back in April 2010. According to Sega’s marketing folk, it looked rather like this:

Developed by Sega Studios San Francisco, then best known for the previous Iron Man movie tie-in and Golden Axe: Beast Rider (recipient of a 6/10 courtesy of our very own Laura), the studio was sadly closed down before the release of their swansong, Iron Man 2. So, did the game do the film proud? Or was what made (parts of) the film great lost in translation?

What it got right

Going ‘beyond the movie’ according to the back of the box, the videogame Iron Man 2 is actually set after its filmic namesake, probably out of necessity more than anything else – given its somewhat sparse action sequences, lengthy introspective periods and far too much of Mickey Rourke being stuck in a lab, following the movie’s plot would’ve made for an incredibly short game… but more on that later. So while the action takes place within the Marvel movie universe we’ve all come to know and love, the plot borrows more heavily from the Armored Avenger’s comic adventures – fitting given the story’s contributions from Invincible Iron Man writer Matt Fraction.

From a gameplay perspective the game is alright, but only just. The controls are very fiddly to get the hang of; with both analogue sticks and face buttons controlling flight, and all shoulder buttons having a combat function, it’s incredibly hard to pilot your character with any fluidity. Eventually you find a compromise but you can never recreate the sort of action you see in the film. Graphically the game isn’t too bad, with Iron Man and War Machine looking the part. The character models based on actors from the film (seen in cutscenes that bookend the stages) are okay – they’re just about recognisable, if never impressive, while the environments are pretty bland. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier looks cool, at least.

Where the game did impress me on some level was in the voice acting. It wasn’t until the end credits rolled that I realised Tony Stark was voiced by a pretty convincing Robert Downey Jr. soundalike in the form of Eric Loomis, who has since gone on to voice the role in the current Avengers cartoon series. The only cast members to reprise their role from the film are Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes / War Machine and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury who both do an acceptable – if not noteworthy – job, with the remaining cast being filled by less convincing soundalikes.

What it got wrong

So while the game as a whole wasn’t that bad, there are a few things that sullied the experience of suiting up as the eponymous lead. The key gameplay problem is how samey everything is. You target an enemy, get in close enough for your shots to count – amusingly, if you are 101 feet away from your target your shots miss, but 100 feet or less and they count – then lock on to the next enemy to rinse and repeat ad nauseam. Occasionally smaller Iron Man-esque foes will swoop in and require a quick melee combo, but all in all the gameplay is largely similar throughout, with more or less all enemies looking identical and attacking in the same patterns on each level.

Getting back to the game’s length, I mentioned that the game would be incredibly short if it followed the film’s plot, it turns out that even telling its own story, the game is INCREDIBLY short. With its singleplayer-only campaign clocking in at around five hours, if you paid full price for this game then, my goodness, you were stung. Yes, you can argue replayability exists in the form of tackling each of the three difficulty levels, ticking off achievements or trophies and playing through stages as either Iron Man or War Machine, but crikey the experience offered in Iron Man 2 is brief.

The Verdict

It’s a tough one to call. The movie is, in my mind, the weakest of the pre-Avengers movies, so does the game being a bit weak make it a good adaptation? Fine as a bargain-bin addition to your collection, but Iron Man 2’s generally low quality has to define this as lost in translation.