Games

Fantastic Four

Platform: Xbox, PS2, GameCube, PC
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Activision

Activision has had no small amount of success with their Marvel movie tie-ins. The Spider-Man games successfully created a way to let you swing around a virtual New York, while games like X-Men Legends managed to cram multiple characters and storylines into a pleasantly playable confection.

The Fantastic Four movie hasn't fared as well in the reviews, but has Activision managed to pull off another winner with the videogame adaptation?

Almost, is the answer. Taking the teamwork and interplay of the four superheroes as its launchpad, the Fantastic Four game is a destructive melee combat game that borrows elements from Devil May Cry and the Hulk movie game, but still manages to retain a vague flavour of its own.

For those unaware of Marvel's first family of superheroes, the Fantastic Four are a quartet of scientists and astronauts who develop the obligatory superpowers after a close encounter with a cosmic storm. If you want to know more about each character and what they do...well, take a gander at our handy movie feature.

After a series of short introductory levels in which the abilities and powers of each hero is explained and practiced, the game wastes no time in sending the adventurous quartet out to tackle a parade of comic book supervillains.

The story of the movie forms the backbone of the game, but writer Zak Penn (who also penned the X-Men movie sequel) monkeys about with it enough to squeeze in lots more action and more nods to the comic. For fans who felt the movie fumbled Doctor Doom, the game also offers such classic foes as Mole Man, Annihilus, Diablo, Puppet Master and Dragon Man.

Though there are half-hearted nods in the direction of stealth, using Invisible Woman's unique powers, the core of the gameplay is combat. It's the usual selection of light and heavy attacks, a spot of grappling and throwing, with special moves and combos unlocked through exploration. Hot spots in each level are marked out for each character, and activating them starts up a small (and rather pointless) mini-game. Reed must connect lines to "hack" into things, Johnny must time button presses to build up his heat, Sue and Ben both require you to waggle the stick or hammer a button to summon up the extremes of their powers.

It's shallow, yes, but the game does mix things up a bit by allowing you to swap between whichever characters are in play with the D-pad, and also call for help or offer support to your allies via a bit of shoulder button juggling. The teamwork aspect is constantly used to deliver new challenges, making it impossible to just pick your favourite character and hammer your way through the levels.

For example, a street battle against one of Mole Man's enormous monsters (rendered in true Jack Kirby style) requires the four to distract the creature long enough for the Invisible Woman to pin its arms to the floor with forcefields. That done, the Human Torch can then blast the weak point on the beast's neck with his fireballs.

Any characters not under your control will get on with things using a small amount of artificial intelligence. You'd never want to rely on them for progress, but you'll never find yourself picking up the slack for their performance either.

Much like the film there's nothing terribly wrong with the game, but there's nothing terribly right about it either. It feels a little rough around the edges at times, the camera controls are irritating and the gameplay is strangely balanced. When a slap from Reed Richards' rubbery hands causes more damage than a fireball, or when the Human Torch is incapable of flying over simple obstacles, you know you're being hemmed in by restrictive game design.

That said, Fantastic Four is an acceptable action game that has lots to offer fans of the comic (moreso than fans of the film, strangely) and there are enough collectables and unlockable extras - including movie clips, comic pages and even bonus levels in Doom's home nation of Latveria - to keep you on the joypad through to the end.