Four to keep you floored

Fantastic 4
PS2

The game: Battle your way through Dr Doom’s legions of robots and other monstrous foes, re-enacting key moments from the film.

The play: In the game, you’ll control four different heroes, each with unique powers and abilities.

All four heroes aren’t available to you at all times and, in most of the levels, you’ll be limited to one or two characters. Switching between heroes can be done quickly and when your teammate is not under your direct control, he or she is controlled by the artificial intelligence – which can be annoying when they occasionally stand by and let you take a beating.
Each character has three special cosmic powers that can be unleashed with double-button presses, as well as combination moves done by pushing the two attack buttons in different order. A worthy point of note; you can grapple or combination-grapple with your team-mates.

The terrain: The targeting system in the game is disappointing as it is sometimes difficult to lock on to anything. Characters sometimes clip through solid objects and enemies can get stuck in the air (or in corners). Things often look so similar that after a long fight in a room you can’t tell from where you came – there’s no mini-map for guidance. Character voices are aligned to the movie actors, but the ho-hum sound effects made me take notice of the soundtrack – boring.

The experience: Though Fantastic 4 does allow for a co-op beat ’em up, it’s fairly bland compared to other titles on the market. On the flip side, at least you can win it through this column..

– Sqn-Ldr Nick Hogan