Poor, poor Fantastic Four. Stan Lee's crime-fighting quartet has never starred in even one good video game. Their PlayStation game, from Acclaim, is a side-scrolling abomination. Activision's 2004 movie inspired release fared better, but didn't achieve comic book-adapted glory. This year brings the latest failure, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a game that suffers from numerous issues.
A lack of background info makes the game feel disjointed. Instead of an opening narrative, it hurls gamers into the thick of the action and forces them to figure things out on their own. Now, considering that the game shares its likeness with a big-budgeted film of the same name, one might think that it would contain film clips; that is not the case here.
In addition, the in-game combat grows monotonous quick. Players can select any of the Fantastic Four with the D-pad, whether they make use of Mr. Fantastic's stretch abilities or The Thing's brute force. However, another game, last year's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance by Activision, already put this feature to better use, adding an expanded cast with their multiple superpowers. Here, the lack of variety hurts the game, following the formula of "go into a room, beat up bad guys, bash equipment and boxes for tokens and repeat".
Silver Surfer also suffers from an average presentation. The graphics don't look bad by any means, but they don't amaze either. Aside from a few bosses, most of the enemies basically look the same. 2K Games also seems they took a rain check in the sound department, using ineffective sound-alikes for the characters (no sign of the movie cast) and a routine hero-related soundtrack. No variety can be found in the sound effects either. When Johnny lights up his flaming powers, it sounds like a barbecue grill switching on instead of a huge burst of energy.
Aside from the lack of variety in gameplay and presentation, Silver Surfer also stalls in multiplayer. Four players can hook up and battle hundreds of enemies. Gamers looking for online action won't find it here at all -- this game doesn't even support leaderboards or downloadable content. The extras offer very little reward -- only a virtual shop to purchase alternative costumes and comic book covers, along with a few hidden (and useless) Doom spy bots. Even additional comic book villains can't compensate for the glaring flaws.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer doesn't bomb like the PlayStation release, but it still feels average, thanks to its unimpressive presentation, lack of online options and bland gameplay. Even the most keen comic book fanatics and Jessica Alba fans will leave it on the store shelf.
Final Score: 5 (out of 10)
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