The first time
that the team concept – particularly a quartet of players – showed up in an
action-adventure game, it was fresh, exciting and entertaining. That was long
ago, back when Gauntlet first appeared. There have been some refinements to the
concept and Activision’s X-men pulled it off back in 2005.
Well, 2K got
the license from Activision and has released a game (*cough* *cough* move tie-in
*cough*) that falls short of the mark. Innovations are not so much innovative as
clunky, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer strays far from the movie
storyline in an effort to bring more to the game, but instead merely muddies the
pond, and gives a story that is lacking in cohesiveness and instead feels like a
level crawl.
As someone who
has read the comics, and has several of the first Silver Surfer titles (Marvel
Comics Group Fantasy Masterpieces starring the Silver Surfer, Issue 1 came out
in 1979), there is enough story in the Surfer’s tale along to inspire
Shakespeare. It is a tragic tale, told with pathos that should inspire a story.
Instead we are treated to a rambling game that throws the Fantastic quartet in
against the Skrull to start with, in missions that are strictly a dungeon crawl
interrupted only by Johnny Storm traversing a lava flow in flight while dodging
defense systems. When you finally get to the end of the Skrull mission (the game
does have save points along the way), you find a Super Skrull, genetically
altered to have the powers of all four of the good guys – you know, like Johnny
had at the end of the Surfer movie. It does not take a rocket scientist to see
how the Skrull is linked, and once you take down the source of his
invulnerability, he takes damage in a hurry.
And then the
game quickly moves back to the New York home of the quartet and preparations for
a wedding. But unlike the movie, the ceremony is interrupted by clanky
cybernetic warriors that can easily be plowed through.
Then Johnny is
off on a timed mission chasing the Surfer again, without any story arc to
substantiate it.
The whole
notion of role-play is given a cursory glance. There is not a lot of thought
that needs to be put in to leveling up the powers of the characters. And the
cosmic powers come in two varieties – solo skills and linked skills. The first
is somewhat self explanatory. Johnny can hurl fireballs or “flame on” and fly,
Sue can turn invisible or cast energy-draining bubbles at enemies, Reed can
periscope up and punch and do several other rubbery things, while Ben Grimm (aka
The Thing) is the quintessential melee tanker class.
Then there is
Fusion mode. Reed and Sue team up and Sue creates a shield that Reed grabs and
uses like a hammer; or Reed grabs Johnny and then Johnny forms a fire tornado by
dashing around Reed; or Johnny creates a fire wall and then Ben uses his
shockwave attack to push it toward enemies.
Powers are tied
to a mana bar, called the Cosmic Power bar. As you use your powers, it winds
down. Once drained, it must replenish before special powers can be used again.
In the original Spider-man comics, Spidey’s web was a scientific discovery that
Peter made. The web material was contained in little packets that he had
attached to his wrists. He could run out of web material. The Fantastic Four,
though, are genetically altered. There powers are constant, and under control –
most of the time. Ben is not a pile of rocks until his mana drains and then he
turns human. Now, understandably, this is a game and someone has apparently
written a decree that states superheroes can’t be super all the time. The
unfortunate aspect of that is that the industry is buying into that notion,
rather than try to invent ways to challenge the heroes’ abilities through clever
game elements.
The game has
tokens to collect and there are other collectibles as well. Cooperative gameplay
is part of the outing. Plug in another controller and you can take on the
characters. If less than four are playing, the D-pad will allow you to jump to
an unused character. Death is not a factor. As long as one member of the team
survives any encounter, the fallen team members will jump up after a few moments
of taking a dirt nap.
Visually the
game is nice, but it is also repetitive. The environments start to look the
same, just as the enemies look alike. The sound does not do much to pull this
game out of mediocrity. The dialogue is emotionless and even the attempts at
witty repartee fall flat.
Fantastic Four:
Rise of the Silver Surfer does not do the movie justice, does not do the F4 team
justice, and does not explore the complex character that is the Surfer. This was
a game that had the potential to be a lot of fun. It was on the next-gen
consoles, it had great characters and a solid comic-book pedigree to draw from.
Unfortunately 2K’s first outing with this wonderful team of heroes falls flat.
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Gameplay: 6.0
The controls are
decently responsive and only seem to give a hint of trouble when you try to
switch between characters on the fly. The user interface is easy to navigate,
though. Unfortunately, the game mechanics are rather repetitive.
Graphics: 7.0
Good animations,
decent texturing, but there is a sense of sameness and the enemy hordes are
clones. This does not really seem to tax the PS3 system much.
Sound: 5.8
Clichéd and full of
one liners that seem to try, grudgingly, to interject some witty repartee
between the members of this unique quartet. Unfortunately, most of these fall
flat.
Difficulty: Easy/Med
Concept: 5.2
Well, this attempt
fell flat through a rambling storyline that tried to do too much and missed the
core story it was trying to tell.
Multiplayer: 6.5
Remember how, with
Gauntlet, you have to stay close to your teammate so as not to stretch the
camera too wide and render both players immobile? It’s back.
Overall: 5.5
There was a wealth
of material here that it seems the dev team tried to cram into the story.
Instead of a well-scripted tale, this game is a random (repetitive) level run
that loosely fits some story, if you can find and hold on to the main thread. It
is hoped that the dev team learns from this and does justice to the franchise
with the next outing.
