Twenty-odd years ago I used to collect the weekly Transformers comic (UK run, not US), and at first, I paid very little attention to the second strip they were also running in the second half of the comics.  It was called Action Force, and as I’m sure you know, it chronicled the adventures of an elite military group or…something.  I wasn’t really much of a fan, but I did start reading it one day when I was bored and realised it’s actually a pretty decent comic.

Some time later, they decided to scrap the Action Force stories and started running Iron Man instead.  And I was a bit miffed to be honest, because I was starting to get into it by then.  But what the hey, I started reading Iron Man.  It was there, so why not right? And I was hooked instantly.  Action Force rapidly becoming an unimportant memory for me.

Unfortunately, a few years later, Iron Man also stopped appearing in the Transformers comics, in favour of having two Transformers stories running in tandem.  And, at the time, I didn’t know anything about comic book stores.  All I knew was about getting them from the local newsagents.  Yeah you’re right, I lead a rather sheltered life in those days.  But hey, I was only five, cut me some slack.

Now, fast forward twenty-some years and we’re back in 2008.  And for the first time we see the insufferable, and utterly irresistible Tony Stark making his big screen debut.  So, of course, next comes the slew of Iron Man video-games, across every console we know of, and probably a bajillion or so others that we know nothing about it.  So, the question becomes, after twenty-whatever years, was it worth the wait?

Well, the film was great.  Even my three year old daughter loved every minute of it.  But that’s a story for another time.  And website.

I can’t comment on the, so-called, next generation variants, but the Wii game lived up to just about everything I could have wanted.  Graphically speaking it was an amazing thing to behold.  Pushing the Wii to, and perhaps even beyond, it’s perceived limits, and yet not showing any strain.  Though, on a few rare occasions, the game did freeze up on me and I had to restart the console.  Which was frustrating, but it’s happened on other games as well so I wouldn’t put too much stock into it.  It could just as easily have been a scratch or smudge on the disc.

The interesting thing was that, unlike almost every other Marvel game (seemingly) ever made, Activision had nothing to do with this one.  For whatever reason, this time the rights went to SEGA.  Something which did throw up a certain amount of concern after my recent experiences with a certain other game which you can find reviewed (by me) further back in the Wii section of this very website.

However, a twenty-or-so year wait was impetus enough for me to put my reservations on the back burner and hope for the best.  And I was certainly not disappointed.  From the opening cinematic to the climactic showdown with the Iron Monger, I was completely hooked.  The control system was simple and effective (though whoever thought it would be a good idea to have the wii-mote control both camera and punching could do with a few stiff words) and there were some rather inventive game mechanics to firmly elevate this long overdue game way above the shameless cash-in level.

For example, via use of the thumb pad on the wii-mote you can alter the priority of the systems of your Iron Man suit.  By default, each of the three sub-systems (Propulsion, Armour and Weapons) is set to a maximised level.  Each taking an equal share of your power supply.  But with the press of a button you can overcharge your propulsion system to fly faster and use your entire suit as a weapon, smashing into and through most enemies.  Overcharge your armour so it can sustain more damage for longer.  Or activate the Uni-beam in the armours chest plate.  A weapon which takes some time to charge, but is absolutely devastating.  And, of course, you can revert everything back to its default level.

Also, as your progress through the game you earn upgrades to the armour itself, the weapons systems (of which there are three.  A rail gun, missiles and the repulsors in your palms) and unlock new skills such as Iron Mans infamous ground breaking (in the literal sense of breaking the ground) shock-wave punch, as well as a collection of other Iron Man suits.  Notable, the War Machine skin is lacking from the game, which was mildly disappointing, but easy enough to let slide taking into consideration the overall quality of the game.

We even have some of the cast from the film returning to add their voices to the game.  Including Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr.  Though, for whatever reason, he was only used for the voice of Stark in the cinematics whilst the in-game voice work was not.  An odd decision, but not a major concern.

In closing, the only real disappointment with the game came in the fact that it took place over a series of linear levels.  After seeing the way Spider-Man has been opened up as a free roaming, mission lead environment by Activision, this was mildly disappointing, but again, not a major issue.  Other than that, this was a nice return to form for SEGA and we should look forward to any future Iron Man installments.

Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 9/10
Audio/music 9/10
Plot/Scripting 9.5/10
Overall 9.5/10