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Another movie crossover reject.

It has happened again; just like it has happened so many times before. A blockbuster movie has been released simultaneously with a video game tie in and the game doesn't hold a candle to the movie in any way shape or form. Iron Man 2 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 features meager graphics, feeble voice acting, inadequate story pacing, substandard comedic timing, a some what tolerable story line and mediocre battles; this all adds up to basically just a poor game. There are a couple of decent parts to the game, but in the end it was not enough to save this game from my pile of games to trade in.

In Iron Man 2, you take on the role of Iron Man and War Machine, which is Iron Man's right hand man (bad pun intended). As Iron Man or War Machine you have to defend the world against domination by a power hungry maniac. Said maniac has stolen most of Jarvis, Tony Stark's personal computer assistant, and is using the information to build unstoppable killing machines. Well, obviously not unstoppable or the game would be unbeatable. The machines range from fully automated robots the size of a motorcycle helmet to a multiple story tall behemoth that has been magically fused with a human, and everything in between. Along the way Tony spouts his normal care free, super rich retorts and quips that make me laugh while watching the movies but make me cringe while playing the game because they are usually timed poorly or just plain annoying.

Controlling the main character(s) is where Iron Man 2 really shines and by "really shines" I mean "doesn't completely suck when compared to the rest of the game". I was able to fly with a push of a button and dodge somewhat easily and firing weapons was simple when latched on to a target using the auto targeting. Flying around shooting wave after wave of robots and helicopters gets monotonous after a while (not too long though because the game is really short). However, if you can manage to trudge through the monotony, there are some interesting boss battles. Even though battling was easily the high point of my time playing this game, I still had problems. In particular was the targeting. At times the targeting would automatically lock from enemy to enemy making it very easy to quickly deal with large quantities of enemies. Then there were the other times that this feature didn't work, causing me to have to manually lock on to each target individually. Very frustrating!

In between each level you go to Tony Stark's garage where you can create new weapon components, including modules and ammo, assemble these components, and then configure which four weapons you want on your robotic suits. To create the modules, ammo and upgraded weapons, you use "field data" which is currency gained by defeating enemies in a level while taking minimum damage. Once a weapon has been purchased (or with the initial weapons) you have two slots that allow you to configure the module and ammunition used with the weapon. The modules can help reduce the amount of time reloads take and the amount of ammo you have to shoot. Realistically, while this is a neat feature, this mode is not that useful. I think I adjusted my weapons once and didn't mess with it again. Of course, others may find it more useful than me; I just think the time it took to create this feature would have been better off spent on other areas elsewhere in the game.

For the truly hard core Iron Man fan, you are able to play using variants of the Iron Man suit from throughout the history of the comics, as well as, the movies. The suits can be unlocked based on how well you did on a particular level. While it does not really make a difference gameplay wise, it is nice that the developers paid homage to the roots of Iron Man.

To wrap things up, I have a few questions for you. Are you the hardest of the hard core Iron Man fans? Do you have more money and time than you know what to do with (if so, feel free to send me some)? Do you have a compulsion to buy every video game ever made? Did you play the first Iron Man movie based game and think to yourself "this game was fantastic"? If you answered yes to any of these questions then Iron Man 2 may be for you. For the rest of you, don't buy this game until it reaches the sub ten dollar price point or you are going to be very angry with yourself.