The Invincible Iron Man

The Invincible Iron Man
North American box art.
Developer(s)	Torus Games
Publisher(s)	Activision
Release Date(s)
Game Boy Advance	NA: December 15, 2002  EU: February 21, 2003
Game Boy Advance	NA: December 15, 2002  EU: February 21, 2003
Platform(s)
Genre(s)	Platformer
Rating(s)
ESRB	04

The Invincible Iron Man is a Game Boy Advance side-scrolling video game that stars Iron Man from the comic books. In the game, robbers steal Stark's Iron Man suit. Fortunately, Tony has another one, and sets out to stop the thieves from using the armor for evil.

Gameplay

In the game Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, will move right and left through seven side-scrolling levels in order to stop the thieves that just stole one of his suits. He can jump using the A button and press it again to holster him even farther into the air. Pressing the R button will send you left or right while in the air or on the ground, which is needed in order to pass by wide gaps. In each level the player will find emblems of the character. Collecting them will unlock images from the comic books as well as descriptions.

Plot

Tony Stark is alerted that his Iron Man armor has been stolen from Stark Enterprises. Tracking down his technology to the harbor, Stark dons another Iron Man armor to retrieve it. Battling operatives of Advanced Idea Mechanics upon his arrival, Stark comes across his cousin Morgan Stark, who the former defeats easily in a battle. Despite getting back his armor, Iron Man discovers that Morgan uploaded the armor's data systems, which would give the benefactors the ability to reverse engineer his designs and turn them against Stark.

Iron Man follows the transmission to the woods, where he encounters a robot army commissioned by an unknown mastermind. The Blizzard appears, and as Iron Man gains the advantage, the villain flees. Chasing the Blizzard to a wintry habitat, Iron Man fights his way through the Blizzard's defenses before encountering him again. The Blizzard explains that when Stark's technology is finally replicated, an unstoppable army will arise. As the two battle, Iron Man disables a chamber that regenerates the Blizzard's powers and neutralizes him. Iron Man discovers a back door to a tower, and enters it to uncover the culprit.

After Iron Man breaks through the tower's security, the Crimson Dynamo reveals himself as the one who orchestrated the theft. Now armed with Stark's armor calibrations, the Dynamo fights Iron Man to a standstill. However, Iron Man exploits a weakness within the Dynamo's armor by overloading it with his energy blasts, helping Iron Man secure the victory over the Dynamo. This results in the armor releasing energy, triggering explosions throughout the tower. Iron Man escapes, as the Dynamo is seemingly killed in the process. In its aftermath, Iron Man ponders if another such incident could have a different outcome.

Development

The Invincible Iron Man was developed by Torus Games under the direction of Bill McIntosh, with Torus's Kevin McIntosh, Activision's Marc Turndorf, and Marvel's T.Q. Jefferson serving as producers. The game was designed by Jim Batt, programmed by Grant Davies, and features art by Andrew McIntosh. The music and sound effects were respectively created by Ed Colman and James Langford. The levels were designed by Craig Duturbure, Alex Hutchinson, and Van Ricketts. The Invincible Iron Man was announced by Activision on October 8, 2002, and shipped to North American retailers on December 20. It is the first handheld video game to feature Iron Man as a playable character.

Reception

Frank Provo of GameSpot gave The Invincible Iron Man a positive score of 7.3 out of 10 but criticized the game for being too short, saying: "Fans of the Iron Man character or just comics in general will enjoy The Invincible Iron Man. It's one of the few side-scrolling action games that's genuinely fun to play and that also delivers a faithful interpretation of a familiar character. Just keep in mind that it's over far too soon". Craig Harris of IGN gave the game a score of 7.0 out of 10, saying: "The game's a little too short, and there's not much else to discover gameplay-wise beyond what the first level offers, but for what it is, The Invincible Iron Man isn't too shabby. The art and animation is the real charm here, with shooting action — as simplistic as it is — that's pretty satisfying".

External links

• The Invincible Iron Man at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• The Invincible Iron Man at GameFAQs