Marvel’s Iron Man VR is a VR shooter game developed by American studios Camouflaj and Darkwind Media. Gameplay is presented from a first-person perspective, seeking the player to navigate the VR game space through flying mechanism and weapon system of the Iron Man suit. Enemies are primarily attacked in mid-air across various environments.
Iron Man VR Review: VR Reporter
Iron Man can navigate freely in different environments in the game access through a linear progression of various levels, interact with characters, take on missions, and unlock armor modes with upgrades by the story progression by completing challenge levels.
Released in July 2020 available exclusively in PSVR, immerse in PlayStation VR headset and be part of the Armored Avenger in a classic Iron Man Adventure. Use the two PlayStation Move motion controllers to ignite Iron Man’s Repulsor Jets and blast into mid-air with a wide selection of Iron Man gears.
The game release was significantly delayed due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The game has received mixed reviews from various review sites.
Update: the V1.06 Iron Man VR update provides lots of improvements such as loading times, game modes, skins, and new weapon selections. Players will also have the option to skip through cinematic without being forced to load the entire cinematic, which has cause some complaints from many users since its original release. The update also allows skipping through the game’s side-missions, allowing the player to access the core of the game quicker.
Game overview:
Tony Stark no longer makes weapons, and instead creates technology to fight evil forces as Iron Man. As a world-famous Super Hero, Tony is challenged by a mysterious ghost, who hacked into Tony Stark’s old weapon industry corporation. Her goal is to destroy Tony’s corporate locations from around the world, leading to escalate the situation to a final showdown.
The events of the gameplay take place five years after Tony Starks first became the iconic Iron Man figure. By this time, he has already establish himself as a world-famous hero. The game also references Iron Man being a member of the Avengers, including blueprints of Stark Tower’s transformation into the Avenger Tower where the player can locate.
Get ready to face off against one of Iron Man’s biggest enemy in high stakes, action-packed battles.
Our Review:
It’s certainly not easy to create a blockbuster super hero game in VR. Hardcore comic readers and pre-existing movies fans have high level of anticipation and expectation towards what and how their super hero will do in VR. Despite all the odds, the game certainly tops the chart from around the world, outselling Beat Saber in the US and Canada store charts for the month. Developer Camouflaj made sure fans would feel the authenticity of the iconic Tony Starks character.
The result is adventurous and captivating action game, features an amazing narrative of incredible performances and unexpected plot twist. This game is one of best VR games we have seen to date, and we absolutely love the voice cast by Jennifer Hale and Josh Keaton, Leila Birch. The game was directed by Ryan Payton, with script writing by Chritos N. Gage.
Iron Man VR takes place in the central hub in the garage of Stark’s Malibu Mansion in California. Inside the hub, you can change armor load outs, select mission to play, and explore the areas of the mansion such as basketball court and gym. You even able to pull some grapes out of the fridge in the garage snack on. The garage is also where you launch the menu and upgrade your suit with a fully interactive menu. To the left is where you locate the Gunsmith which AI handles Tony Stark’s weapon business. This is where you find interactive touchscreen table with catalog of your games enemies. On the right you will locate the globe which you launch future mission, which is also the place where Tony Stark’s AI assistant usually chills at. Behind you will see a loft filled with mini games and gym equipment such as free weights, boxing gloves, and arcades.
The game’s enemies lacks a bit of character, they are mostly autonomous drones. Successful completion of missions earns the player up to 5 research points according on their review score-based star rating. This can be used to purchase upgrades to Iron Man suit that can be installed inside Tony Stark’s garage between each mission. The upgrades can enhance the augmented ability of the armor, while adding auxiliary weapon systems that can achieve different levels of effectiveness in combat situations.
The full game takes around 8 hours to play. Yet to finish all the optional challenges and exploring all the environments could easily add a couple more hours of game play. New content is unlocked after finishing the game and the three difficulty levels. You do spend some time outside of the suit, spending most of your time inside Tony’s garage where you have frequent interactions with two AI characters, which the director has done a superb job building their characters and integrating them into the entire story, enhancing the experience beyond just a voice transmitting instructions onto the helmet.
You do repeatedly visit same locations several times throughout the game, yet the experience has been design so that it does not feel boring or repetitive. There is always some unexpected surprises as your revisit each scene, which add depth to the overall experience.
As good as script writing goes for the Iron Man VR game, the best is still to experience what it feels like to be Iron Man himself. Experience what is feels like to be a super hero, and allow near-death experiences to be part of the experience. There are tons of details in the game.
We have tried lots of VR games that simulates the idea of flying, yet nothing can be as unique as Iron Man VR that bring such exhilarating agility to the experience. Hold the PS Move controllers by the waist, and tilt backwards to aim your palms behinds you, while pulling the triggers to initiate the thruster and experience what it feels like to fly. This is the essence of the Iron Man VR gameplay. From this stance, twist your wrist to allow subtle turns in mid-air, point your palms upwards to go down, let go of thruster and then change direction with your palm to initiate boost and drifts in mid-air. After a few attempts, you will learn to master how to hover in one-hand, while combat your energy with the other hand. You can also change repulser to a chargeable beam, cluster bombs, missiles, and unlock bombs.
After entering each mission challenge, the first thing you will notice is Tony Stark’s breath reflect on the interior of the helmet. As the system activates, the HUD initiates and comes into view as your eye socket appears. This truly feels like you are inside an armor suit.
Full cast here:
Josh Keaton ... Tony Stark / Iron Man (voice)
Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale ... Pepper Potts (voice)
Leila Birch Leila Birch ... Friday (voice)
Chantelle Barry Chantelle Barry ... Ghost (voice)
Ike Amadi Ike Amadi ... Nick Fury (voice)
Leonardo Nam Leonardo Nam ... Arthur Park / Living Laser (voice)
Ali Hillis Ali Hillis ... Maria Hill (voice)
Dwight Schultz Dwight Schultz ... Willie Lumkin / Shield Agent E (voice)
Matthew Mercer Matthew Mercer ... Morgan Stark / Shield Agent A (voice)
Darin De Paul Darin De Paul ... Dario Agger / News Anchor #1 (voice)
Gwendoline Yeo Gwendoline Yeo ... Shield Agent C / Terrified Businesswoman (voice)
Kris Zimmerman Kris Zimmerman ... Shield Agent Z (voice)
Scott Whyte Scott Whyte ... Shield Agent B / News Anchor #3 (voice)
Sharon Muthu Sharon Muthu ... News Anchor #2 / Shield Agent D (voice)
Stephen Oyoung Stephen Oyoung ... Loudspeaker / Terrified Businessmen (voice)
Age: Teen (Mild language and violence). PlayStation VR is not intended to be used by children under age 12.
Requirement: PlayStation 4 systems, PlayStation VR, and Playstation Camera, Two PS Move motion controllers are requirement to experience Marvel Iron Man VR.
Pros
Cons
Conclusion:
Despite some minor hiccups such as load-time and PS Move controllers, the Iron Man VR game is truly marvelous. Developer Camouflaj delivered an outstanding class Super Hero VR gameplay experience featuring the one of the world’s most iconic Tony Stark himself. It is amazing to be able to fly like Iron Man, and experience the sense of humor of Tony. This adventure sets a new milestone for what Super Hero VR game should be like.
We weren’t expecting this game to feel too comfortable, yet the game was surprisingly easy to play without any issues. Only very rare occasion that induced a slight sense of dizziness in highly cinematic segments. The developer has done a great job to achieve a sense of flying without inducing feeling of nausea. The positional tracking of the head and controller is excellent, we never had to worry about positional tracking whatsoever.
This game isn’t perfect, but we think it should easily top of the list as a exhilarating Super Hero VR gaming experience. We absolutely love the voice cast and the story, and a lot of the attention to detail that can be found in various parts of the game.
User Reviews
Caroline Clouse
"I've never played a more realistic VR game in my life, especially one that functions so smoothly. I've also never felt more like a super-muscular man with flying powers, which is probably a good thing. In all sincerity, the graphics are top-notch, functionality is superb (sure you have to be patient during load times, but that's less a ding on the game and more a byproduct of inadequate hardware--PS4, catch up), and the narrative is incredibly compelling and clever. Writer Brendan Murphy deserves a slow clap for capturing the personalities and purposes of each character and also consistently evolving the storylines throughout the game. Oh, and the dialogue is on point and funny. Two thumbs up!”
Antoine Broadnax
Solid game I can see the devs tested us with this, I can see them adding a co op marvel game in the future, this game has a good story line a few Easter eggs hidden throughout the game, the voice acting was great the A.I. Friday and gunsmith excellent visuals, a solid first marvel game for this group. Even if you could see what the story was about the way it was told was great and to be apart of it being Tony was great, I can wait to see what's next.
Jack PRICE
It's an amazing game and I think I have an idea to make it a little bit better. You could have weapons on your shoulders that you activate using the O button on your right hand and X button on your left. You hold down one of these buttons and a targeting box comes up, you use your body to aim it and to fire you release either O or X. If you think this is a good idea may you please add it? Thank you for reading!
Pat Burton
It’s so cool the don the iron man armor, and some of the cinematic sequences are super exciting. That being said, the game’s structure feels clunky. The loading screens are super long and the story line is a little boring. Also, when navigating as Tony, your only movement option is snap to location. As a VR enthusiast, that drives me nuts and adds the the feeling of disjointedness.
D1llY W1llY
Fun, Except this game has one of the longest loading screens I have ever seen. you’re just awkwardly standing there playing with the wavy floor. Also, why is the story so boring? cool vr, dreaded story. it doesn’t even make sense. This game is too repetitive. it only has one thing to do. fight drones, and find ghost or lazar guy. this is where the game became extremely boring and it just dragged. the mechanics are cool in a way. I pre-ordered the game and all you get are decals you can already get normally by just playing the game and some tokens you can easily grind for. there was literally nothing special about the pre-order addition. Absolute waste of money. I had a meh time with this game.
