Iron Man 2 Review

Check Price On AMAZON Iron Man 2

This summer is seeing a surprisingly large amount of quality titles on all the major consoles. It's a bumper crop for videogames in a season where I usually play some crappy movie tie-in just because it was the only thing out. And it's this great string of games that makes Iron Man 2 that much more of a let down. It's a mediocre game that you shouldn't waste time on when you could be playing something awesome.


Iron Man 2 for the Wii and PSP is developed by High Voltage Software, and looks to use the engine for The Conduit. Much like the previous game the story is separate from the film, though it's hard to tell whether it's supposed to take place after the movie, or if it's just an original story. Not that it matter much because the story is told by cardboard cutouts of the film's actors. What makes it funnier is that sometimes they stuck game models in (Did Scarlett Johansson not approve her likeness?) and it clashes with the realistic images of the characters.



The game is very basic. Iron Man runs through the level shooting down everyone he sees on his way to an objective. Usually this is a computer terminal that he has to hack. Sometimes there's a boss (which is cool because it's often a classic Iron Man villain like the Crimson Dynamo) and ol' Shellhead has to defeat him, too.

On the Wii, players use the nunchuk to run around, and the Wii remote to aim. The A button fires primary weapons and the B button does secondary (which can be switched between different types of missiles and lasers). The PSP version uses the analog stick to move and the buttons to aim, the classic clunky interface. The difference between the games is night and day. It doesn't make either more difficult because there's a lock on mechanic, but man does the PSP version feel wonky. Plus, I can't change my control scheme, so I couldn't make the analog stick aim and just use the buttons like WASD controls, which would have been way better.


Iron Man 2 isn't terrible, but it rarely gets exciting. It's fun to blow up tanks and trucks, and Iron Man has all his powers like his repulsor shots, and his unibeam laser. But the whole game feels repetitive. You see the same enemies over and over again, and even though they get bigger guns and more armor as you go, the gameplay stays the same. The PSP version features even fewer guys than the Wii game, so a lot of times areas just seem empty because there aren't artillery trucks rolling up and dumping out bad guys.


The boss battles are the highlight of the game because they require the player to be more strategic. Though that usually just requires targeting specific points on the boss. They're usually some sort of giant robot though, so the scale of the game increases, making it feel more like a superhero Game.






Ultimately even the boss battles can't save Iron Man 2. And it feels like Iron Man 2 was supposed to have co-op. I can choose to play as War Machine, and upgrade him too, but I never get to experience them teaming up to kick ass like they did in the film. I just get one or the other. Iron Man 2 (IGN)

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Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is  even more varied, challenging, and fun than its superb predecessor,  making it the new standard for platformers.

The Good

• Levels have tons of different  objectives, all of them fun                                      
• New power-ups spice up the  action                                     
• Later levels offer a sizable  challenge                                     
• Stunning visuals that are a  marvel to look at                                      
• Catchy soundtrack that combines  classic Mario songs with new material.                                    

It may be easy to take one look at Super Mario Galaxy 2, see the same  gravity-altering traps and spherical worlds from its predecessor, and  dismiss this as a by-the-numbers sequel to the superb original. But by  assuming you know what to expect from Mario's latest adventure, you  would be doing yourself and this game a great disservice. This is not  only the new standard against which every 3D platformer must now be  judged, but it also seamlessly integrates so many elements from Mario's  2D roots that it stands toe-to-toe with even its genre-defining  progenitors. Every aspect of this game is absolutely bursting with joy.  The vibrant artistic design immediately welcomes you into this colorful  world, and the catchy soundtrack deftly mixes classic tunes with new  compositions to provide the perfect backdrop for your goomba-stomping,  star-snatching fun. But it's the expertly designed levels that will keep  you coming back, even after you've seen everything this game has to  offer, just to experience it one more time. This is an instant classic  that belongs alongside the best games Nintendo has ever created.

Things are once again rotten in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser has taken  Princess Peach prisoner for the umpteenth time, forcing Mario to  momentarily put his plumbing gig on hold to rescue his fair lady. The  best thing that can be said about the story is that it mostly stays in  the background. A few lighthearted exchanges between Mario and his foes  precede major battles, but there is only a brief break in the action  before you get back to flinging fireballs and cracking shells. In fact,  Galaxy 2 is much more streamlined than its predecessor. The elaborate  hub world that has appeared in each of Mario's previous 3D adventures  has been scrapped and replaced by an easy-to-navigate map that lets you  hop right into the next level. Galaxy 2 has less downtime than the  original, ensuring you're always engaged and entertained. 

And you'll be happy to jump right into the action because Galaxy 2 is a  long and often challenging adventure. There are lots of different  activities to take part in, but everything comes with the same prize: a  shining star. It takes 70 of these celestial bodies to make it to the  end of the game, but there are many more hidden throughout the universe  waiting to be discovered. No matter what you're doing in Galaxy 2,  everything feels just right, thanks to the ultraprecise controls. It's a  breeze leaping between walls, performing deadly butt-stomps, or jumping  across lava-filled pits. There is an unabashed joy in movement that  makes even running around the colorful worlds and taking in the  uplifting atmosphere feel special. The camera does an admirable job of  framing the action, giving you a clear view even when you're dancing on  the ceiling in a reverse-gravity room or leaping between floating  meteors in space. There are a few times where the angle is less than  ideal, making it difficult to line up an exact jump, but for the most  part, the camera performs its duty with flying colors.

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Ghost Recon Future Soldier

Ghost Recon Future Soldier has some similar features to the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) franchise that preceded it, but this is definitely not just a sequel with a slightly different name. 

With a host of new items at the Ghost's disposal, as well as a new emphasis on four-player coop -- rather than the squad commands from GRAW -- the hope is that this will be the game that brings the franchise to the next level

Future Soldier takes place about ten to fifteen years in the future, giving the Ghosts access to technology that is currently only in the experimental phase. This means that on top of weapons that are far too devastating, the Ghosts will have access to tech like optical camouflage, which essentially grants the player limited invisibility. In the demo the camo was used extensively to sneak up on enemies and perform stealth take downs, sometimes at a distance, and sometimes up close and personal (something that would have been suicide in previous Ghost Recon games).

  

It dramatically changes up the pacing from the previous games, which generally were only stealth in so much as you didn't make any sound until all hell broke loose. 

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