Iron Man & X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal
Reviewed by Diane Cote
You can expect some compromises when you play portable. The Game Boy is
a 7 year old, 8-bit game system, after all. However, there is absolutely no
excuse for a video game as horrible as Iron Man & X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal,
even if it's for the Game Boy. The technology we're talking about may be a bit
creaky but everyone knows quality platforms have been made for the resilient
portable for years. Heavy Metal does not belong in that club.
This is a cartridge that will have anyone who purchases it, grinding their teeth in
utter frustration. Acclaim has truly outdone themselves. The characters are
embarrassing stick figures, the environments are extremely simplistic, the animation
is atrocious, the sound and music understandably terrible (not many good sounding
Game Boy titles, I'm afraid) but most heinous of all is Heavy Metal's ridiculously
old school game play.
You know the drill. You run, jump, float and shoot your way to and past a series of
bosses. You pick up power-ups. You find the occasional secret. And generally you
try hard to keep yourself interested. For the record: I was bored out of my tree.
In Heavy Metal, the bad guys are a mixture of supervillains from the Iron Man
and X-O Manowar mags but I'd be hard pressed to tell one confusing blob from
another.
I can think of at least 20 better Game Boy titles to hunt down off the top of my
head (and many more after that). Don't give Heavy Metal the time of day, gamers.
It's obvious that the developers didn't care about you when they were making this
"adventure," so why should you care about them and their game?
Even on Game Boy, we have our standards. Am I right or am I right?
I'm giving Iron Man X-O Manowar 3 out of 10