Iron Man 3 Review

Remember that moment in the Iron Man movies where Tony Stark has to wait 30 seconds before he can do anything after a fight, or pay out some money to skip ahead to battle? Me neither. That's quite a prominent feature within the latest game though, Iron Man 3.

Deviating away from the path that really didn't work for Gameloft's Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3 is an Endless Runner. Or should that be an Endless Flyer? Everyone's favorite billionaire superhero is stuck in an Endless loop of flying across the skies, or very low to the ground, in an effort to collect Stark Credits and defeat various metallic enemies. It's not the worst Endless Runner/Flyer out there but it's such a waste of a great franchise.

Controls are of the tilt variety with taps and swipes initiating an attack on the many robots that Stark comes across. Combos are accrued through continually attacking with a constant swiping motion proving the best method. As well as enemies that can be destroyed, missiles and fighter jets also feature requiring a quick tilt in the opposite direction in order to avoid them. Tilt actions are a little twitchy and not immediately intuitive but after a time, they work well enough.

A series of challenges work to encourage players to keep playing with simple objectives such as "Fly X length" or "Collect X number of credits". Occasionally, players are asked to fight against a boss, one of the villains from the comic book, in order to complete a challenge. The same fighting rules apply, however, but at least it adds something to the storyline.

The storyline suffers mostly from the fact that the game's Tony Stark looks and sounds nothing like Robert Downey Jr. Similarly, Pepper Potts looks nothing like Gwyneth Paltrow, although, at least JARVIS sounds familiar. That and it's basically just a loose set of connections between the various challenges and the reasoning why Iron Man needs special crystals to carry on. Yes, as mentioned previously, timers play a big part in Iron Man 3. After each session, players have to wait for a timer to run out before they can play again. Also, upgrades can be bought with credits but then players have to wait for the timer to finish there.

It's not the longest of waits but it's still an irritant and one that feels like a cheap gimmick to encourage players to spend real money on crystals to speed up progress. Such micro transactions are ever prominent throughout Iron Man 3, such as when it comes to unlocking upgrades or new suits. Grinding is possible but it'll take a long while to achieve. Bear in mind, to unlock all suits at once, it costs a rather eye-watering $99.99.

As an Endless Runner, Iron Man 3 is a middling proposition. Not awful but also not worthy of note. As the game of a huge movie, though, it's a waste of a great franchise, and one that is bound to disappoint.