Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer game misses the mark

Griffin McElroy and Evan Minsker took on "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" for the Wii and PS3 respectively. The following is their harrowing true story.

GRIFFIN: I never liked the Fantastic Four, I'll admit it. I mean, they were two boring scientists, an egotistical fathead, and a space pilot with a third-grade education. And their powers were pretty unevenly distributed, don't you think? One can turn invisible, one is a paperweight, one can... stretch, and then one can fly around and shoot fireballs and is also on fire. Seems kind of unfair, don't you think?

It's hard enough to make a video game based on a comic book, but also limiting the game by tying it down to a movie is just suicide. Not to say that the game follows the movie much, as I doubt the titular heroes run around a mechanical dungeon, fighting off pink and green armor clad baddies for hours on end.

I played it on the Nintendo Wii, and they tried some neat mechanics with the controls. Key word being "tried." The movements for using special attacks just feel tacked on. And Evan is right, the terrible AI renders the three characters you aren't controlling dumber than Solomon Grundy. Whoa, I crossed my comic book references. Forgive me.

Even if the controls were better, and the story were better, the game would still be boring. The open-ended, Gauntlet-style, mash em' up style of the game has become popular in Comic Book Franchise games as of late (see X-Men Legends, or Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which is a much, much better example of the style.) But Fantastic Four just gets it so wrong.

So, I'm sorry to say this to you, true believers, but skip "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." It's just another reason to tread lightly through the minefield of movie-based games. Grade: D

EVAN: It really baffles me, honestly. There are some incredible things that can be done with video-games, but if it's involved with a new film, you can kiss that goodbye.

I mean, there's so much that you could do with a "Fantastic Four" video game like "Rise of the Silver Surfer." Admittedly, the movie isn't too great, but this is the game designer's chance to make it even better than the movie. I mean they have over 40 years worth of comics to go off of. They could at least try to get the dialogue right.

But they didn't. The dialogue is even cheesier and tackier than it is in the movie (which is saying something). The Thing knows only terrible puns and Sue Storm only comes across as dumb and vain.

Characters and story aside (because I could go on for hours about how the Silver Surfer doesn't have minions since he in turn is actually just a minion himself), the gameplay is really just pathetic. They do a decent job at trying to incorporate the teamwork factor into the fighting sequence, but it's honestly a terrible system. You just mash a bunch of buttons and hope that you don't die. Heck, if you're the Human Torch, enjoy your three seconds of "Flame On," because that's about how much time you get to use your super powers.

Plus, since it's your job to control every character, you can pretty much guarantee that the other Fantastic Three are going to walk into a laser or stand too close to a giant villain or something. It gets pretty tedious.

This game is in the same ranks with "Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Carribean 3," and every other video game that was based on a film. The game is OK at best, but it could be so much better. Grade: C-