Review: Iron Man 3 "THE OFFICIAL" (mobile) GAME

written by Justin Prince (@Prince_Justin) 

In anticipation of the Iron Man 3 midnight showing tonight, I wanted to leave you g33ks with my review of the “OFFICIAL” Iron Man 3 mobile game. Don't worry guys; it’s free (well FREEMIUM). Seems like more of these games are going the FREEMIUM route to entice folks who want to enjoy an on the go experience with familiar characters. Last month there was Injustice: Gods Among Us released for the iOS platform, mostly in anticipation of the console version. Many of these freemium format games follow a simple rule that involves time/waiting. Whether you expend energy or just have to wait a minute in between doing missions or upgrading components… in a sense it’s the Farmville formula. Simple right?

Story:

Um… what story? You are Tony Stark and A.I.M. is attempting to do some bad shit, you have to shoot some guys and avoid trucks and planes and missiles. There really isn't much of a narrative, go from point A to as far as you can go and take out some baddies on the way. Occasionally you’ll get missions from J.A.R.V.I.S. and Pepper, but nothing too major. Tony interjects some witty Stark-esque quips here and there. It’s throw away, not really that important, so… story? Then again, you can’t expect too much of a narrative from games like this, in a sense this is a Temple Runner clone.

Presentation:

Here is where this little mobile game shines. The graphics are phenomenal, and especially on a little iPhone, the visuals look stellar. Crisp textures and detailed character models make for a pretty experience. There is a wide range of armors to equip and for the Iron Man aficionado; this can be a visual buffet of awesome. Levels are straight shots with two separate altitudes; you are either flying at near ground level or flying high alongside billboards. Levels, while detailed, can get boring fast. There isn’t much variation to them.

​at least visually the game is pretty...

One little bit I wonder about is, if this is the “OFFICIAL” mobile game for the movie, they didn’t go the extent to at least secure the rights to the likeness of RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow. What we get is “generic goatee guy” with “generic red head girl” with horrid voice actors. It’s weird.

I feel like this review is really short… please excuse the length of it…

Gameplay:

It’s Temple Runner.

Okay… Okay… don’t give me that face; I’ll go more in depth. You tilt your device to pitch left or right, forward momentum is constant and your goal is to get as far as you can without depleting your life bar. Hitting obstacles or taking damage from enemies whittle away at your life bar. When you are flying at ground level your main obstacles are cars, trucks, and walls. When flying above, you face planes, missiles, drones, and enemy units. The battles are cumbersome and not very intuitive. You tap or swipe to attack; you also build up a special attack meter to take out multiple baddies at once. It’s not that fun. Controls are clunky at best, frustrating at worst. I hate it when a game is difficult not because of a challenge but because the controls are so bloody broken. I take back my earlier statement of this being Temple Runner because at least the aforementioned game is playable with intuitive controls. Tilting to pitch never seems to work like I’d want it and I’ve been frustrated many a time attempting to dodge a missile or a fighter jet to only be hampered by the controls.

If you have an expendable income and don’t mind throwing money away at a mediocre game, you can hit the in app shop and purchase the in game currency to help build more armor and level up your armaments. But hey, that won’t be me.

Verdict:

It’s free, I can’t complain too much, there are far worse out there in the mobile game sphere, but I doubt I’ll continue playing it.