Fantastic 4
Ages: Teen

Fire and Ice, brawn and brains -- elemental and human powers that make up the Fantastic 4.

Four astronauts get bombarded with radiation and become the Fantastic 4. Reed -- the brains and team leader has undergone a physiological change that lets him stretch and compress his body. Ben becomes the Thing -- incredibly strong with skin that looks like a navel orange. Sue becomes the Invisible Woman - Ouch! She gains invisibility and a force field that protects her and whoever is within the field. Johnny becomes the Human Torch and can envelope his body in flames and throw projectiles of fire. This allows for colorful actions as the Fantastic 4 use their skills to defeat super villains.

There is a tutorial that helps you get the hang of using the different powers of each character, and how to change from one character to another -- the last one is easy. But not so easy is remembering all the different moves after seeing them once on the TV screen. Which by the way, has the kind of resolution that makes reading the small icons which indicate button presses most difficult. This is further exacerbated by there being no list of button combinations in the manual. Sure, default game controls are listed, but when dealing with multiple combos for four characters, I want a simple list that I can refer to. I know that game makers may think that their players don't read manuals -- but many of us do.

There are mini games for specific for each character. They are mostly the same -- they just get harder. And they break up the flow of the game. Controls are frustrating when trying to position characters or move them quickly. Too often you get a face full of your character when you need a distance view to respond to the attacks.

You can play the game in two player co-op mode - I couldn't find another player, so you are on your own on this one. There are three choices regarding the difficulty and a survival mode where you battle waves of enemies. For me there were enough in the regular mode.

The game would have been even more fun if I could have remembered all the moves. The graphics for the Fantastic 4 are well done, and if you are playing because you like the Fantastic 4 you will get your money's worth.

Reviewed by: Editor - 10/05