The Invincible Iron Man (video game)
The Invincible Iron Man is an action video game published by Activision and developed by Torus Games for the Game Boy Advance in 2002. It is a one-player side-scrolling action game in which the player battles various villains from the Iron Man comic book series. It was the only Iron Man game published by Activision. Gameplay. The basic design is that of a platform game, where players use Iron Man's repulsor blasts and shoulder tackle to knock out his enemies, but each use drains the armor's energy, which is slowly  recharged automatically or replenished by items scattered throughout the levels. Power orbs allow to unleash a massive chest-mounted cannon or to detonate a bomb that clears the entire screen of enemies. Iron Man's jump ability is actually a boost that can fly short distances. Villains include Iron Man's cousin Morgan Stark, Blizzard, and the Crimson Dynamo. Plot. Tony Stark is alerted that his Iron Man armor has been stolen from Stark Enterprises. Tracking down his technology to the harbor, Stark dons another Iron Man armor to retrieve it. Battling operatives of Advanced Idea Mechanics upon his arrival , Stark comes across his cousin Morgan Stark, in which the former defeats easily in a battle. Despite getting back his armor, Iron Man discovers that Morgan uploaded the armor's data systems, which would give the benefactors the ability to reverse engineer his designs and turn them against Stark. Iron Man follows the transmission to the woods, where he encounters a robot army commissioned by an unknown mastermind. The Blizzard appears, and as Iron Man gains the advantage, the villain flees. Chasing the Blizzard to a wintry habitat, Iron Man fights his way through the Blizzard's defenses before encountering  him again. The Blizzard explains when Stark's technology is finally replicated, an army will arise that would be nigh impossible to stop. As the two battle, Iron Man disables a chamber that regenerates the Blizzard's powers, enabling the hero to neutralize his longtime foe. Iron Man discovers a back door to a tower, and enters it to find out who is the culprit. After Iron Man breaks through the tower's security, the Crimson Dynamo reveals himself as the one who concocted the entire scenario. Now armed with Stark's armor calibrations, the Dynamo fights Iron Man to  a standstill. However, Iron Man exploits a weakness within the Dynamo's armor by overloading it with his energy blasts, helping Iron Man secure the victory over the Dynamo. This results in the armor releasing energy, triggering explosions throughout the tower. Iron Man escapes, as the Dynamo is seemingly killed in the process. In its aftermath, Iron Man ponders if the next time could have a different outcome. Development and release. "The Invincible Iron Man" was developed by Torus Games under the direction of Bill McIntosh, with Torus' Kevin McIntosh, Activision's Marc Turndorf, and Marvel's T.Q. Jefferson serving  as producers. The game was designed by Jim Batt, programmed by Grant Davies, and featured art by Andrew McIntosh. The music and sound effects were respectively created by Ed Colman and James Langford. The levels were designed by Craig Duturbure, Alex Hutchinson, and Van Ricketts. Reception. "The Invincible Iron Man" received "mixed or average" reviews according to Metacritic. Frank Provo of "GameSpot" criticized the game for being too short, saying: "Fans of the Iron Man character or just comics in general will enjoy "The Invincible Iron Man". It's one of the few side-scrolling action games that's genuinely  fun to play and that also delivers a faithful interpretation of a familiar character. Just keep in mind that it's over far too soon". Craig Harris of "IGN" said "The game's a little too short, and there's not much else to discover gameplay-wise beyond what the first level offers, but for what it is, "The Invincible Iron Man" isn't too shabby.". Provo and Harris praised the game's visual presentation, singling out the detailed and multi-layered environments and the large, colorful, and smoothly animated character sprites. Code Cowboy of "GameZone", however, disliked the environments  as cluttered and making navigation difficult. Tom Bramwell of "Eurogamer" also observed that the amount of environmental detail made background and foreground objects difficult to distinguish. While Provo deemed the audio to not be up to the same level as the visuals, he acknowledged that the sound effects were loud and the music was fitting without being annoying. Harris considered the music to be "nice", but felt that it looped and repeated too frequently. Code Cowboy found the music average, but spoke positively of the sound design. However, he expressed distaste toward Iron Man's grunting while leaping, likening it  to "a Klingon with a migraine".