|
 |
Fantastic 4 Playstation 2 Activision  Although I'm apparently the only critic on the planet who thought that 'Fantastic 4' was an entertaining film, I still approached the tie-in game with some skepticism. I mean, let's not be coy: games based on films range almost without exception from "dreadful" to "decent-idea-pity-they-didn't-have-time-to-do-it-properly". Hence I was genuinely surprised when the opening animations to 'Fantastic 4' were fluid and well-made, with 3-D models that actually resembled the actors from the film. Was I about to face that rarest of beasts: the film tie-in game that was actually - whisper it quietly - genuinely worthwhile? Well, no. It takes a while to realise it, though. After a short level on Von Doom's space station (where you play as Ben Grimm impotently trying to lock windows against the cosmic storm that will subsequently give the characters their superpowers) you get a level with each of the titular four in which you learn their individual abilities. There's Dr Reed "Mr Fantastic" Richards (who can stretch, squeeze through tiny gaps and hack computers), Sue "The Invisible Woman" Storm (stealth, psychic shields, energy bursts), Johnny "The Human Torch" Storm (fireballs, flight) and Ben "The Thing" Grimm (massive strength, ability to uproot things and bash merry hell with them). As the game progresses you can upgrade your abilities and learn new combo moves with entertainingly devastating results, and after the first level you'll work as a team, switching between characters as the situation warrants (although, Johnny's fireballs notwithstanding, there's not really a whole lot of difference). So there's a germ of a good idea here and it could have turned into a decent game: however, then it turns into a bog-standard platformer where the object of every level is to fight wave after wave of identical enemies, open doors, retrieve objects, jump over the occasional pit of spikes (spikes?) or fight the odd raptor (excuse me?) and eventually fight a boss. Also, neatly mirroring the way that the film has been unflatteringly compared to fellow Marvel Comic property 'Spider-Man', the game's very linear locations (sewers, corridors, alleyways) are going to irritate anyone who enjoyed Spidey's far more open, free-roaming levels. It's also odd just how flat the voice acting is, since the characters are voiced by their film counterparts. I didn't try the two-player option, but did have a bash at the deathmatch option where you can fight the aforementioned wave after wave of identical enemies, and accidentally saved over my story-mode game in the process. From this I learned that while the game's broadly entertaining the first time around, doing levels again is an exercise in frustration: this is not a game that rewards replay (although there are some unlockable levels for those who complete the game on medium or hard difficulty settings - and good luck with that). Mad 'Fantastic 4' fans might enjoy this, provided that they'd never played another game in their lives, but it's hard to imagine that anyone else would find much to enjoy here. However, if you've got eight hours that need filling I guess this is a decent enough, if somewhat soulless, piece of gamery.  |
|
The latest issue available now!     |
All content copyright dB Magazine