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Developer: 7 Studios
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Fighting
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 27 Jun 05
User Rating
8.4 (23 votes) -
- Activision makes full use of the Marvel licence with a heavy dose of superhero action, nifty combos and plenty of unlockable goodies.
More Screens (11 total)
Overview
First off, Activision knows its super heroes. With such hit titles like Spider-Man and X-Men Legends under its belt, it's hard not to anticipate a good ride when considering one of Marvel's most popular franchises. Sure, I could dote upon Fantastic 4's nostalgic appeal to comic connoisseurs. Or I could even bank on how awesome the movie is and how the actor's voices lent a great deal of authenticity to the video game. But that still doesn't cover much on the game does it? How does Fantastic 4 actually stack up on the PlayStation 2? Read on and you'll see.
Gameplay
Fantastic 4 has a lot going for it. It's easy to be really generic about that statement because when you have four dynamic super heroes that each play such an integral role in the narrative, you as the gamer are left with a myriad of opportunities to explore and tease all of their respective powers. It starts out as you would expect with a brief background check of each character and how they end up in the space station that will lead to our diverse heroes. Soon after they are transformed, they find themselves waking up at the care facilities. But watch out! Naturally, none of the defense droids recognize you as their entire DNA has undergone change. Therein lies the intro challenge of breaking out each character from their rooms and escaping to find each other. This orientation gives the player a great deal of time to experiment with what they can do. It also begs to mention that almost all of the environmental assets are destructible. Everything from a chair to a respirator can be demolished.
The game does a great job of rotating the characters into play to get you up to snuff with them. And when traveling as a group, you can easily toggle between heroes to achieve combinations of objectives. Especially with the 3rd person camera angle, getting around the pack is effortless. Each character can pull off their special power to help in a given situation. While a lot of times its just "more of the same" with enemy after enemy rushing in for some Clobbering Time, there are instances where certain characters must take over the show with their unique ability. For instance, Johnny the Human Torch can spot-weld a door open when all else fails. And since Mr. Fantastic has the brains of the operation afterall, he can hack a computer system along with the nerdiest of them. In-game icons that light up their objective points aid in pulling off these moves.
One of the best combat features is the combo system that allows the player to pull off all kinds of fun super hero attacks. The Thing, for example, can grabble enemies and take them out by pummeling, or he can throw the baddie into the air, which could lead to collateral damage on more enemies. All of their special combo moves can be upgraded as the game progresses. This adds a lot to the team aspect of the game as the characters can eventually combine their strengths for tag-team variations of attacks. The only drawback to this system is the learning curve. None if it is necessarily hard, but it is easy to get caught up in the moment of trying to jump, hold down R1 and pull off the Elbow Drop attack at the same time. Because the special moves are dictated by variations of a shoulder button plus the others, you might find yourself accidentally blocking or targeting one lone baddie when you had otherwise tried to take them all out with a bang. Even so, there are enough attacks at your disposal to button-mash your way through the horde of relentless enemies if you get between a rock and a hard place.
Coming from a flow perspective, the game itself is pretty linear. To keep up with the story, it just pushes the player along from stage to stage without many diversions. If it weren't for the dynamic team play or over-the-top attacks, it would have lost its luster. However, throughout the game are scattered hidden icons that unlock special features in the game. These extras can help out if the linear story ever gets old. But considering all you can do with each character and all of their attacks, combos and variations thereof, it'd be hard to get bored.
Graphics
It's hard to get really excited about the aesthetics because they're not much more than average. Better graphics can be seen for older titles even, but it doesn't hinder the game at all. The environments are almost completely destructible so you get chaotic feedback for everything. Character models make any graphical shortcomings forgivable, because how awesome is it to see a Gumby-type scientist and a hothead Human Torch rip it up?
Fun Factor
If you don't mind the linear story or hordes of enemies that just keep on coming, then Fantastic 4 has a lot to offer. With unlockables and upgradeable powers, there's plenty of replay there and enough to keep you fixated for a while. A lot of times all gamers want is a chance to put a beating on some baddies. If you're one of those, then you'll have a lot to do in this game.
Overall
Fantastic 4 does indeed have a lot to deliver for gamers looking for a classic super hero fix. The crazy action of just running through the stages smashing enemies into things is fun enough. Couple that with the combinations of attacks and character abilities and you've got yourself a pretty powerful title. The game pretty much follows a set path without deviating much, but with unlockable features its got enough to keep you busy until the next comic hero video game surfaces.
- Gameplay
7.0 - Graphics
6.0 - Fun Factor
8.0 - Overall
8.0
