Fantastic Four: The Movie (Game Boy Advance) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

Before the Toby McGuire Spiderman and even before Star Wars and every other special effects summer blockbuster there were superheroes. The best known of these was probably Superman (played by the late Christopher Reeve and due a reworking next year) but there were also several outings for Spiderman and a TV series for The Hulk. Now, of course it's a whole different ball game and comic book adaptations come along more frequently than Computer Animated Features. They're also of varying quality even with today?s standard of CGI and general movie trickery. It's this which has, allegedly, kept Fantastic Four on the shelf until now and, unlike George Lucas who just 'jumped in', producers have waited until now so that the visionaries who bring these characters to the screen may have a fighting chance at realising most of their everyday fantastic happenings. Back here on earth though this is simply another GBA movie tie-in and gamers want to know the answer to one question: Good or Bad?

Gameplay

While you have the opportunity to play all four of the lead characters most of the game takes place with just a couple of superheroes travelling through each level, occasionally dealing with storylines taken directly from the movie. This is clearly an attempt at a kind of 'Lost Vikings' style of play with each member helping the other through a variety of 'puzzles' in order to get to the next level. The brainteasers in question however, are incredibly simple and generally involve you standing on a pre-defined area, pressing a button and unleashing one of your abilities. It's all colour coded and, if you're really stuck, the on-screen text will generally let you know exactly what to do. Outside of this there's also battling, in fact most of the game involves combat in one form or another but even this has been watered down. In the second level for example you are involved in a street brawl but the same two assailants attack you the whole time.

Occasionally you'll get to play as all four of this superhero quartet, which is generally when you have to destroy a boss. Now you would assume that this would force you to utilise the various powers but it's more a case of spreading out the damage, sharing the various health capsules and biding your time. It really doesn't get any more complicated than that so, once you've completed the game, and with the absence of any multiplayer, that's it. There's no incentive to go back because you've done it all. That is if you've managed to stay awake through it all.

Controls

As we've grown to expect with most recent GBA titles the first level is as much a tutorial as it is a game and almost every move is accompanied by on-screen text explaining what's going on and how to utilise the current player?s various powers. To be fair though it's not too complicated with most of the combat degenerating into a simple button bashing competition and the 'puzzles' solved with a single interaction.

Graphics

Not really what we've come to expect from the GBA with some sections looking decidedly Gameboy Color like in design. The main characters too, move awkwardly at times with their movement more akin to action figures as opposed to 'real' superheroes. The highlight is probably the cut screens lifted from the console versions although there are not nearly as many of these as other movie tie-in games have demonstrated recently.

Sound

This is one of the worst games for audio that I've heard for some time with the 'soundtrack' more like a simple backing beat than anything approaching a score. The sound effects too are generic with only a few sampled voices to give you any reason to have the volume up at all.

Final comments

There are so many missed opportunities in Fantastic Four that it's difficult to know where to start but one thing is obvious: the lack of development time. The outcome is a game that's far from fantastic with uninspiring gameplay and a stale, boring storyline. Yes you do get to play all four of the leading characters but they never really do anything apart form beating up henchmen and, as much fun as that sounds, it simply becomes very repetitive. There have been several rays of light with movie tie-ins over the past few months and for a while at least it looked like developers were learning from their previous errors. Sadly Torus Games have brought it all back and as a gaming public you really deserve better than this. You have been warned.

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Game Rating

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Pro: Not Much Really.
Con: Far Too Short.
Final score: 4.5

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