Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Is there any hope for planet Earth? Tin head despot Victor Von Doom, in his quest to take over the world, has managed to tick off one of the most powerful beings in the universe, and only the Fantastic Four stand in the way. An epic setting for what might have been a pretty good game. Unfortunately, what we get is a pretty limited effort that rather begs the question: is there any hope for movie license games?

The Fantastic Four arrive outside a secret underground research facility. Why? Well, strange things are afoot, and when strange things are afoot the best place to look for answers is a secret underground research facility. You don’t have to be a super-stretchy scientific genius to work that out. But, you can be a super-stretchy scientist in PlayStation 2’s latest movie tie-in, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. You can also take the part of the super-strong Thing, the super hot Human Torch and the occasionally invisible Sue Storm.

If you have seen the movie then you will have some idea about what’s going on. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t worry about the game giving it all away, because it doesn’t. In fact, the game seems to have little connection to the movie. There are no set pieces from the film, few cut scenes, no movie clips, and even the actors have opted out. All we seem to be left with is a short, fragmented story wrapped up in an unoriginal game that may just keep you busy for part of a wet weekend, if you rent it overnight.

In the game our four heroes battle the alien Skrull race, and Von Doom. Von Doom has discovered a source of cosmic energy, the same energy that gave the four their powers, and with it intends to rule the world. As you play, you look down on the four main characters and battle through swathes of enemy aliens and robots. Each character has their own abilities, essentially different ways to thump bad guys, as well as special abilities that can be gained as you level up. The special abilities are generally finishing moves and area effect attacks that come in handy as the forces of evil often descend on you thick and fast.

Battling bad guys, taking down the odd boss and getting through locked doors are the challenges here. There are doors that require a bit of a bash, some that are vulnerable to force fields and others that have weaknesses to electricity or fire. Figuring out which character to use to get through the doors is, pretty much, the extent of the challenge (and yes, you probably have figured it out already). Fighting is little more then button mashing, and occasionally unleashing a special move, when all the mashing has built up enough cosmic power to activate the ability.

Rise of the Silver Surfer basically takes the enjoyable X-Men games of a few years ago, and reworks them for the Fantastic Four. The X-Men games, both Legends and Rise of Apocalypse, were fun because of all the characters you could meet and unlock. In fact you could play as some of the more obscure favourites from the Marvel universe. There were also heaps of costume changes and unlockable art. With Rise of the Silver Surfer you are limited to the main characters, and there are just three costume changes and three art sets.

With all its faults, the game is not unplayable. For younger fans of the movie, there are aspects to enjoy. But it may well be that this is what we all have to get used to - a game totally aware of its limited shelf-life, a game designed specifically for the rental market. Hire it, play it through, and take it back. Don’t worry about a learning curve, or ten minute cut scenes, because they just waste time. Play it with your friends, or your little brother or sister, finish it and wait for the sequel.

In the end Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a pretty weak effort. It has a poor story, basic and repetitive gameplay, the saves are few and far between (meaning, if you mess up you get to go back twenty or thirty minutes to the beginning of a level) and very limited rewards. It’s sad, but there seems to be little here, in either content or intent, to allay the bad reputation that games based on movies have acquired over the years. However, in the same way that there are good and bad movie adaptations of comic books, there may still be hope for games made from movie licences - just not here.