Iron Man Ultimate Review

A few months ago I was sifting through my toy box and came across an old Hasbro figure of the Ultimate version of Tony Stark. The sculpt, while not quite spot-on, was pretty good. I was curious to see how this version would translate to a video game. So I picked it up and gave it a go.

This version of iron man is not from the MCU, but rather from the original Ultimate Marvel comics run by writer Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Andy Kubert (Avengers: Origins) and Pasqual Ferry (Wolverine: Origins). It’s a slightly different take on the character’s history and, interestingly, it seems to have a better grasp of what makes him tick.

In this version, Howard and Maria Stark are brilliant scientists who work on projects ranging from shock-absorbing bacterial armor to figuring out how to induce limb regeneration. Their son is a genius who shows great promise as an inventor, but he is not well-liked by his peers. In fact, he is a bit of a rebel.

After a scuffle in which bullies attempt to force him feet first into a lit furnace, Tony is saved by his friends and a regenerative serum. The serum is not only successful in preventing the burns, but it also causes his lower body and legs to regrow. As he stands up, the lower part of his body glows a glowing white, and his friends are dumbfounded.

He is soon contacted by the military, which wants to use his prototype power armor. They convince him to let them take the suit for a test flight and disguise him and his friend James Rhodes as robots. But the military’s test is not without risk, as it seems that the regenerative technology can also affect their brains and cause them to become inebriated.

While the story is a bit off, the action is pretty fun. Unlike other games that force players to grind through battles in order to unlock new weapons, this one rewards the player for every blast they land. The game does have a few annoying elements, like an odd minigame where you must hit a series of arrows that appear on screen in time with a music track. And the AI of enemy soldiers is a bit wonky, often dropping like wingless flies rather than engaging in any form of combat.

By level three, though, something starts to click. The game moves to larger battlefields where there are multiple enemy installations to destroy, and the missions are much more dynamic. And the more you play, the more you earn to upgrade your repulsor, ballistics and explosives systems.

The only problem is that I think I’m going to have a hard time giving this game up, even with its flaws. I love the way that it looks, and I feel that its design is better than the majority of video games released this year. It just takes a little while to find its footing.