Iron Man (video game)

Iron Man is a 2008 video game based on the film of the same name as well as the classic iterations of the character.^[2] It was released on May 2, 2008 to coincide with the release of the film in cinemas. The game is published by Sega, and was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (developed by Secret Level), PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii, Microsoft Windows (developed by Artificial Mind and Movement) and Mobile platforms.

The enemies are Advanced Idea Mechanics, the Maggia and the Ten Rings terrorist group. The supervillains in the game includes Blacklash, Controller, Titanium Man, Melter, and Iron Monger.^[3]

A significant feature has Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard and Shaun Toub reprising their roles from the film.^[4]

Plot

During a business trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate Stark Industries' new weapon, Tony Stark is kidnapped by the terrorist group Ten Rings, who orders him to build a missile for them. Instead, he and fellow captive Yinsen secretly build a powered suit of armor in the months following his capture. During this time, Yinsen also acts as Stark's mentor, showing him humility and telling him of the horrors his company has caused, making Stark reconsider his life. Stark impressed himself after finishing the armor, calling it "the future". Armed with a flamethrower, Stark uses the armor to defeat several terrorists and destroy their weapons stockpile, but Yinsen is killed during the escape. Stark then escapes from the Ten Rings caves, but his suit is destroyed when he crashlands in the desert. Upon being picked up by the Air Force and returning to the United States, Stark declares that his company will no longer manufacture weapons, a move disapproved by his business partner Obadiah Stane.

With the help of his personal A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S., Stark develops an updated and more powerful version of his armor, adding Stark Industries new repulsor technology and flight capability. While testing his new suit at Stark Industries, Tony is informed by his assistant Pepper Potts that armed men are attacking the facilities. Stark then decides to use his suit to deal with the attackers, and notices that they are Maggia soldiers. After the attack, Stark discovers that the Maggia is providing weapons for the Ten Rings, and he returns to Afghanistan to battle them. Using his new Mark III "Iron Man" armor, Stark destroys the Maggia's weapons stockpiles and an armored hovercraft. On the way back home he is confronted by the United States Air Force. A pair of F-22 Raptors are sent after Stark; one is damaged during the chase, but Stark manages to save the pilot. He then establishes contact with his friend Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, who learns of Stark's identity and cancels the jet attack.

Tony then returns home, where Pepper Potts discovers what he was doing with himself all alone. Rhodes then starts to help Stark with his desires, informing him of a weapons transport in Afghanistan. Stark follows the transport, destroying the weapons, defeating the villain Blacklash, a former Stark Industries worker, in the process, before proceeding to the Maggia's compound to destroy the rest of the weapons, and after infiltrating the mansion he confronts Madame Masque, who is killed when a wall falls on her. Stark then discovers the Maggia's last weapon: a heavily armed flying fortress. Iron Man then attacks the fortress and destroys it, ending the Maggia's evil once and for all.

While Stark was confronting Maggia, his corrupt business partner Obadiah Stane secretly recovered the first Iron Man armor in Afghanistan and started working with the company Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) to create a power source. After Rhodes informs him that A.I.M. has attacked a nuclear facility in Russia, Stark decides to confront them, also because A.I.M. was Stark Industries top buyers before he stopped manufacturing weapons. Iron Man ends the nuclear energy robbery and detects a strong radiation signal underground. After following this signal Stark is confronted by Boris Bullski, who created a titanium armor similar to that of Iron Man, thus becoming the "Titanium Man". However, Stark is able to defeat Bullski and then returns to United States. Rhodes then informs him that A.I.M. has attacked a military ship in the Arctic, and Stark once again prevents them from stealing nuclear energy, as well as defeating the Controller.

After returning to Stark Industries, Tony sends Pepper to hack the Industries computer and find the shipping records, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. However, the facilities are attacked by A.I.M. forces under the command of Titanium Man, who was actually sent by Obadiah Stane to steal the Iron Man suit. After discovering Stane's involvement with A.I.M. and the Ten Rings, Stark once again defeats Bullski. Tony then returns to his workshop, where he is ambushed by Stane, who steals his arc reactor to create a power source for his own armor. Stark is rescued by Rhodey, and is informed by him that A.I.M. kidnapped Pepper to use her as bait. He then uses his armor to save Pepper from an A.I.M. facility, and prevents the explosion of their reactor. Stark then decides that A.I.M. is a bigger menace than Stane, and decides to confront them first. He heads to their island and destroys their proton cannon, and later confronts and defeats the Melter. Stark then destroys a space tether, ending the A.I.M. menace.

Stark then returns to the United States and contacts Obadiah Stane, discovering that he kidnapped Pepper Potts. Tony then heads back to Stark Industries, where he confronts an armored Stane in the surrounding streets. Stane then flies to the top of Stark Industries, and Stark orders Pepper to overload the arc reactor at the building to damage the Iron Monger suit. The plan works and Stane is defeated. After the defeat of Maggia, Advanced Idea Mechanics and the Iron Monger, Tony Stark decides to continue helping mankind as Iron Man.

After the end, you can play the game again with various different armors from the classic Iron Man comics.

Reception

The Nintendo DS, Wii, PS2 and PSP versions all received generally unfavorable critical scores on GameRankings and Metacritic.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]} These versions suffer from gameplay, graphics and controls frustrations. The UK-based Official Nintendo Magazine rated the Wii version of Iron Man 15%, one of their lowest rating to date.^[20]

The Xbox 360 version received an average score of 46% on GameRankings and Metacritic, and the PS3 version received an average score of 43%.^[21][22] These versions were critically panned for frustrating controls, lackluster graphics, and repetitive gameplay, with Eurogamer awarding it 3/10^[23] and IGN 3.8/10.^[24] It was honored and awarded "Worst Game Everyone Played" by GameSpot in their 2008 video game awards.^[25]

Sequel

A sequel game, Iron Man 2 was written by Iron Man comic book writer Matt Fraction, and was loosely based on the film Iron Man 2. The game was released on May 4, 2010.^[26]

References

External links

• Official game website
• Iron Man: The Video Game at Internet Movie Database