GENRE
	Action Brawler
	DEVELOPER
	Seven Studios
	PUBLISHER
	Activision
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-2
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
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I’m a huge Fantastic Four fan. I was looking forward to the movie, but kept my expectations low as the director’s highest achievement thus far has been last year's subpar comedy Taxi. Even with low expectations, I was disappointed since it was not true to the comic book or standard film conventions for that matter. However, I figured the game would be, at the very least, mindless fun. It is, and it goes beyond the movie to offer some plotline hearkening back to the comic book.

visuals

The visuals are a mixed bag. All the character models look nice and are detailed to mimic their movie counterparts, but some glitches occur, especially with the camera. Animations are top notch for the team. Mr. Fantastic has the best animations for his power. His stretching limbs fly about fluidly to strike enemies and grab objects across the screen. Johnny also looks good as he flies around setting things on fire. However, as you play, you'll notice that the camera tends to get stuck behind a pillar or at an ankward angle, which sometimes hinders the gameplay by turning you around in the opposite direction in an attempt to re-focus the camera. It can also cause screw-ups that result in death by pitfall or hazard. The textures are smooth, but this is nullified by choppy framerate. At times, a load of enemies on screen, such as the Diablo boss fight, will stagger the framerate into unplayability. It seems like a good effort was put into making a solid graphics engine, but it was perhaps rushed to meet the movie's deadline.

audio

All the voice actors from the movie have stepped in to lend their voices to the characters. For some reason, talent seems to fly out the window when Hollywood actors step into a recording studio for a video game. The voices, though passable, are excessively mediocre; in some cases, one wonders if the talent was there to begin with. Sometimes samples are repeated over and over during the combat, which is also irritating. Music isn’t anything remarkable; like the voices, it’s passable. Overall, the audio didn’t receive very much attention.

gameplay

I thoroughly enjoy brawlers. As repetitive as they may be, I always find myself entertained by the genre. This is another one of those fun brawlers that, although it gets old if you have to re-do a level, is fun through the initial play of the game. It doesn’t offer quite enough variety to up the replay value as opposed to a game like X-Men Legends, which, incidentally, it clearly draws much of its inspiration from, but it is certainly worth playing through for some mindless entertainment.

X-Men Legends is ultimately the better game. Unlike Legends, Fantastic Four does not offer a level-up system, as wide a variety of impressive powers and characters, or as smooth and satisfying a combo system. It is essentially the poor man’s version of Raven’s game, but entertaining nevertheless.

Each level starts you off with a designated character as per the storyline. For example, the first level starts you off with Ben Grimm as you repair the team’s ailing space craft. As you move along, you get a crash course in each character as they move out of Victor Von Doom’s medical facility. Each character has his or her own special abilities, some more impressive than others.

The Human Torch is the most aesthetically pleasing of all the characters with his flashy fire powers, but he is extremely weak and will get slammed down quickly by enemy fire. His long range powers are useful if you need to hold out for a while. He can shoot fireballs in rapid succession at the expense of a small amount of your fantastic power meter, which depletes as you use your special abilities.

The Invisible Woman has some impressive abilities as well including an invisible shield, a long range grab, and invisible force projectiles. He defensive abilities allow her to stay alive a lot longer than Johnny and her powers look impressive on screen. Every time you switch her to powers mode, she goes invisible, which looks cool.

Mr. Fantastic’s powers aren’t quite as dazzling as Sue or Johnny’s, but Reed can certainly hold his own. His melee abilities allow him to tackle several enemies at once. He can turn his hands into hammers and spin his rubber limbs around to nail enemies all around. He can also stretch across the screen to pick up objects Unfortunately, throwing objects is annoying because the game lacks an auto targeting system, which means your objects will often go flying in the wrong direction unless you take the time to line yourself up. Reed can take a fair amount of damage as well, which makes him the most rounded of the four characters.

The Thing is hindered by his size, which makes him slow. Despite his lack of speed, his is still the most powerful character, but not powerful enough to make him a preferred character over the other three. His special abilities cover a large distance and usually involve some sort of quake induced by a titanic smash to the floor. It is surprisingly underpowered for the amount of fantastic power it takes to complete. Ben can clean up enemies rather quickly compared to Johnny and can take a lot more damage, but he’s cumbersome, which makes him a backup character for a hard fight.

Level design is less than impressive. One level on the streets of Brooklyn requires The Thing to pull down several fire escapes that some tommy gun snipers are standing on. However, if you’re in co-op mode, the action continues while the camera focuses the animation on The Thing tearing down the fire escape, which exposes your partner to damage. Annoyances such as that don’t speak well for the level design and objectives.

Furthermore, the boss battles are less than impressive. The Diablo battle is the clearest example of a lackluster fight. You simply run around the level hoping to be in the right place where Diablo will appear and then you beat the heck out of him. Sometimes he’ll turn into a giant monster, which will quickly decimate you and is nearly impossible to attack without taking massive amounts of damage. I had to repeat this rather lengthy boss fight two times before I completed it, which was a nuisance. Like much of the game, the boss fights seem rushed.

A slew of extras can be unlocked such as comic book covers, movie clips, and cast interviews. Another bonus is an interview with Stan Lee. Bonus levels are also available. There’s enough here to please Marvel fans and regular gamers alike.

Once you’re through the main game, you don’t feel very accomplished. It’s a fairly bland game, but still entertaining while it lasts. Seven Studios tossed in some neat things like the combo system paralleling that of X-Men Legends: when you hit an enemy with two characters’ powers at the same time, you will achieve a combo with a specific name such as “Burning Rubber.” Still, there’s not enough polish here to lift it out of mediocrity. It was likely rushed to come out alongside the movie.

multiplayer

The game provides the most fun as a multiplayer title. The co-op mode is nicely executed, offering 2-player scenarios at all times. Even at moments in the movie that focused on one character, the game still offers an opportunity for Player 2. For example, when you’re leaving the hospital early in the game, one player uses a member of the Fantastic Four, while Player 2 takes control of a Doom Bot. It works, but four player combat would have been nice.

There is also an Arena mode with bonus levels. These levels offer new objectives and extra challenge. In Arena mode, you can also take on a survival test, which pits you against wave after wave of enemies until your life bar runs out. It’s a nice bonus, but not enough to drive the replay value through the roof.

overall

F4 is an amusing adventure, but it is clearly lacking polish. It needed a couple more months in the development labs to be up to par, but the release date of the movie probably played a role in its presumably premature release. The main adventure is fairly long, and the hard mode is actually quite challenging. Bonus material is excellent and worth the trouble to unlock, so there’s enough here to keep you coming back. I’d ultimately suggest you rent the title until it goes on sale or starts popping up on eBay for a bargain price. It’s certainly not worth the $50 price tag, but it is reasonably fun while it lasts. If a sequel is in the works as the development team has suggested, more polish and variety is necessary to match the software that inspires it: X-Men Legends. I suggest going with Legends before F4--it’s clearly the winner in terms of Marvel action brawlers.

7.5/10