We all know it, and we’ve heard it before. Games based on movies tend to suck – simply because they tend to try too hard to implement something new to the gameplay. Recently, good amounts of comic-based series’ have made their way onto the silver screen. But also something of note is the growing quality of movie-based videogames within the last few years. Just look at Activision’s Spiderman 2, a wonderful entry into the series’ gaming library, which at first glance seemed to be just another game based on a superhero. Instead, the game received critical success and high marks for its recreation of the feel of the movie, without sacrificing the quality of entertainment.
Releasing in theatres nationwide on July 8th, Fantastic Four has always been regarded as one of the most beloved series in comic book history. With 20th Century Fox already having much on their hands, it’s up to Activision to live up to the hype of recreating movie-based titles and showcasing them with critical success. Mirroring the plot of the film, the Fantastic Four videogame revolves around teamwork gameplay, an obvious gameplay element for this type of premise.
For those not in the know about the series, Fantastic Four is about four scientists that are nearly killed by cosmic rays during a particular mission. After the overexposure, these scientists gain new superpowers and become the Fantastic Four. First we have the indirect leader of the team, Mr. Fantastic who can stretch his arms and legs in any shape or form to any desired length. There’s Sue Storm, also known as Invisible Woman, who can stealthily cloak herself, and create or use energy barriers to her advantage. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, can engulf his entire body in flames at will. Finally, the Thing is a rock-like monster with superhuman strength and a courageous will to succeed. Together, they’ll need to cooperate to take down their nemesis, Dr. Doom, who wishes death upon everyone in the universe.
Advanced Media’s SF team had the chance to play a near final build of the Fantastic Four game at a recent press event at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Developed by 7 Studios and published by Activision, the Fantastic Four game features 10 different story missions, which includes sub-missions based on specific objectives players will have to unlock. All of these locales are presented rather impressively, with environments which include a jungle, space station, and even the comic-familiar vault. In fact, a good majority of the missions aren’t found in the actual movie, but rather taken as extras from the comic books themselves. According to Activision, the extra level additions were simply needed to please fans of the series. I mean cmon, who wants to play Dr. Doom and Dr. Doom only? You’ll fight nearly all of the F4’s most mischievious villains including Puppet Master and Diablo. During these battles, every single member of the Fantastic Four contributes to the dynamic boss battle in some way. Sure, they’re AI-controlled, but a two-player cooperative mode (which also allows you to switch superheroes) nixes that.
Nothing’s too big for the Fantastic Four.
F4 is a linear action game. You’ll wander through levels, destroy bad guys, open doors/switches, fight a boss, and then repeat. The uniqueness to the game lies in the control scheme and special abilities, which greatly differ between each member. The game allows for quick switching of characters on-the-go. Each enemy baddie will have specific weaknesses, and it’s totally up to you to figure out which character would be best in effectively taking that bad guy down. For example, for hard to reach enemies, it’ll require Mr. Fantastic stretch powers to damage them. All in all, you’ll need to stay on your toes to make sure you aren’t wasting time attacking a particular enemy with an attack that won’t damage them. The teamwork aspect of the game relies heavily on character switching during levels, as some of our superheroes won’t be able to tackle all the action alone. Using switches and opening doors will be just some of the tasks that will have to be divided between members. All of this is ton using the D-pad, a simplistic control scheme that needed to be quick in order to keep up to pace with some of the game’s action-packed levels.
This title isn’t a button masher. Rather, the amount of attacks each character can do is enough to stand alone as a fighting game. As previously explained, you’ll need to use all your abilities to destroy crazy robots, mummies, and even more creatures as the game progresses. The opposition will throw everything at you, and although not always intelligent, they’ll come in packs of 5-8, lowering chances of 1-on-1 battles. Some stages even include mini-bosses, most of which can be defeated with strictly brute force. These mini-bosses will come with their minions, enough to keep at least 2 of the F4 members busy – requiring a good sense of balance throughout the battle. When a boss is about to be defeated, a mini-game of sorts tends to pop-up triggering a quick task that must be completed to finally conclude the fight. When it’s all said and done, a boss finishing technique will be performed, ending all the mayhem. The system is nerve-wracking as well, since failure in performing these in-game, mini-boss mini-games will require the team to fight even longer to get it another opportunity. And this is only the mini-boss.
The real bosses are much bigger in size, and are nearly double the craziness of the mini ones. As always, teamwork is the biggest element during these battles, as you’ll need to switch between the four members to figure out which of them does the most damage to the enemy. The battles are always frantic, but everything seems to run smoothly without any noticeable slowdown.
Detailing more of the controls, F4 has quite the impressive amount of attacks for each character. Other than the basic block and two different punches, there are three upgradeable cosmic abilities, and six upgradeable combo attacks. By killing enemies, you’ll receive points which can be used to purchasing upgrades to your default attack arsenal, which you’ll definitely need during the latter part of the game. All of the expected moves are in there, including Sue Storm’s energy attack, Human Torch’s fireballs, and even Mr. Fantastic’s ability to grab items and weapons from far away. The controls are simplistic, and that’s what makes the game easy to pick up and play. Hence, it’s a blast mastering everyone’s abilities.
Other than the attack moves themselves, some of the intangibles that make each of these characters great at used for gameplay advancing objectives, which includes computer-hacking (Mr. Fantastic) and door-breaking (the Thing). These mini-games can range from simple puzzle-based ones to button mashing and timing mini-games. Although most of them are quick and easily forgettable, they’re a nice change of pace for the action-heavy overdose of fighting enemy packs.
Also included in the game will be an overload of bonus material. Aside from video interviews with Stan Lee and the cast of F4, the game will include bonus levels, gameplay modes, and readable comics for those who complete all the missions. There’s also an arena mode that Activision would like to stay hush-hush on, speculated that it might be a 3D fighting-game pitting the F4 against famous villains.
Mr. Fantastic and Human Torch bringing it.
Fantastic Four looks to be a promising game based on the movie, and we all shouldn’t be surprised if this Activision-published title gets critically acclaimed as well. With a release slated for June 27, the game will release before the movie on July 8th. But don’t let that stop you from giving it a long look.
Advanced Media will have our official review up of the final game very soon.
