Review: Iron Man VR Handles Great and Digs Deep into a Hero’s Roots

A successful tech demo that allows one to truly feel like Iron Man, the game is also a strong superhero narrative in its own right.

Iron Man VR
Photo: Sony Interactive Entertainment

A successful technical demonstration that allows players to truly feel like the titular character, Iron Man VR is also a strong superhero narrative in its own right. Opening with a tutorial that creatively introduces the player to its various mechanics, the game offers a playground with which to become accustomed to Iron Man’s abilities. And once you’ve left the confines of Tony Stark’s luxurious Malibu mansion by the bay, you’re placed in a plane that’s being shot out of the sky by an antagonist who’s using Stark’s own weapons of war against him. But Iron Man VR isn’t solely content with simulating the experience of being an iconic superhero. Rather, this is a game that puts the player in Stark’s shoes in all facets of his life, across a narrative that challenges the problematic morality of the character.

The game’s virtual-reality experience is nothing short of phenomenal: From either seated or standing position, the player uses the PlayStation Move motion controllers as Iron Man’s thrusters and blasters, allowing for fast flight across impressive vistas, as well as aerial combat against drones and enemies, all seamlessly rendered and executed without causing motion sickness. Facing the controllers backward and pressing the triggers propels Iron Man forward, and facing them down thrusts him up into the air. At any point, the player can press a button to hover in place, or raise either controller to engage in combat, causing Iron Man’s open palms to fire blasters or his closed fists to shoot different missiles depending on your unique hand motions. It all feels instantly natural and easy to learn, though difficult to completely master. The movement speed might be unmatched for a VR title, as the game effectively simulates the sensation of being Iron Man, of staring through his helmet’s heads-up display (HUD) as you fly around large and detailed skyboxes, above cities, and through canyons.

The most well-known depiction of the Marvel character is Robert Downey Jr.’s lovable playboy from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. An argument could be made that this take on the character is so dependent on the actor’s charisma that it’s impossible for the fiction to truly engage with the comic character’s often antagonistic legacy, or the grim reality of such an individual. Contrast this with the different Iron Man comic runs that show him as an alcoholic misogynistic prick with daddy issues and a history of violence. (Iron Man is the villain in the Civil War comic crossover, after all.) A key thematic difference between the 2008’s Iron Man, the film that effectively launched the MCU, and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is that the former film believes that a wealthy neoliberal playboy emboldened with expensive gadgets and a penchant for violence is the solution for society’s ills whereas the latter doesn’t.

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Iron Man VR isn’t sure either. Here, Stark has turned his back on selling weaponry. An emblem of pacifistic heroism, he’s nonetheless forced to fight enemies harmed by his business after his jet is downed by supposedly decommissioned Stark drones, putting love interest Pepper Potts in the crosshairs. From this point, the game splits into missions that send Iron Man around the globe attempting to stop attacks on cities and well-known Marvel locations like the SHIELD Helicarrier and sections where the unarmored Stark grapples with his history from within his mansion and, later, the dilapidated cave where his superhero identity was born.

While the game’s combat segments are visually impressive and a great deal of fun, with varied enemies and locations, sections where Stark is disempowered stand out for taking advantage of VR as a medium to tell the man’s story. A late-game stretch where Stark, trapped in collapsing subterranean cavern, has visions of those who perished because of his arms sales is unusually dark and mature for superhero game fare, taking advantage of mechanics popularized in horror titles like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood instead of mainstream VR titles.

Further, Iron Man VR smartly uses two B-tier villains as Stark’s nemeses. The first, Ghost, a victim of warfare disfigured by one of Stark’s weapons, wishes retaliation and control on the protagonist. She essentially represents Stark’s superego, while the second antagonist, Living Laser, is an id-driven monster empowered with the kind of technological abilities as Iron Man but with no moral center or humanity, lashing out at innocent people instead of coming to their aide. The game suggests that this is what an unchecked Stark could have become. The finale, a large-scale battle with the physical manifestation of Stark’s unchained ego, completes the trifecta, defining Stark’s greatest enemy as the war-loving individual he grew out of. Iron Man VR treats the character and mythos with an unusual level of respect and self-examination, rendering it more interesting than any of the Iron Man films.

Sony Interactive Entertainment did not respond to our requests for review code. This game was reviewed using a retail copy purchased by the reviewer.

Score: 
 Developer: Camouflaj  Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment  Platform: PlayStation VR  Release Date: July 3, 2020  ESRB: T  ESRB Descriptions: Mild Language, Violence  Buy: Game

Ryan Aston

Ryan Aston has been writing for Slant since 2011. He lives in Perth, Western Australia.

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