Games based on comic book licenses have a somewhat dubious history, with the bad outnumbering the good, almost to the point of absurdity – I mean video games are practically tailor made for superheroes, but less than 10% are actually any good. It doesn’t help when a game is tied to the release of another adaptation, in this case a movie, as the result is an undoubtedly rushed, bland experience. Rise of the Silver Surfer does little to buck this trend at all, offering extremely limited action sequence, cut-and-paste level design, many lacking filler segments, and worst of all, strays from the source material to the point where it leaves out many of the good bits of the film. It is quite clear that Visual Concepts is out of their element.
Rise of the Silver Surfer essentially follows the same narrative path as movie of the same name, but throws in a bunch of filler segments featuring villains from the comic book that feel completely out of place, and manages to leave out certain characters from the film that made it potentially watchable. Reed Richards and Sue Storm have decided to tie the knot, which provides the perfect opportunity for Dr. Doom and the Silver Surfer to join forces on wreaking havoc on the poor people of Earth, thus beginning another tired foray into the action genre.
Silver Surfer's mum used to use half a dozen cans of Mr Sheen on him at bath time
After selecting a member of the group to control (which is seemingly irrelevant when playing alone), Rise of the Silver Surfer starts with what could be one of the most poorly animated pre-rendered sequences we’ve seen in the last ten years. It seems like the animation team did not realise that a model can move and speak at the same time, giving the characters something of a robotic appearance. Rise of the Silver Surfer is essentially a dungeon crawler in its early levels, with a very basic action system and the rudimentary RPG-lite system of powering up certain abilities and unlocking new powers. Players have access to basic strong and weak attack buttons which can be alternated between to create combos, as well as a number of powers that tie in to each character’s abilities, such as the Invisible Girl’s ability to turn invisible (never would have guessed – Ed.). One can switch between members of the Fantastic Four on the fly, which comes in handy when there is a puzzle that only one particular member can solve. Other sections of the game will set a member of the group off on their own – one section, for example, has the player flying the Human Torch through a fiery tunnel, using the SIXAXIS to control his motion.
What one quickly begins to realise within about 3 minutes of roaming around rooms that look the same, fighting enemies that look the same, and watching a screen with rather lacking graphics, is that Rise of the Silver Surfer is not a very good game. There’s no real variation in the level design – it’s a real cut and paste job, and many of the moves and combos between the members are ridiculously basic, making this one of the dullest beat ‘em up experiences of the year. The fact of the matter is that between Human Torch’s fireballs and The Thing’s smash attack, you don’t really need to use the other characters, except where you are forced to. This is a stark contrast to the basic principles behind the Fantastic Four – that being that they’re a team that works together. Should you be able to stick with Rise of the Silver Surfer’s drudging mediocrity, you’ll find that it’s not an altogether lengthy experience either at six hours. There’s a bit of artwork and supplementary material available to be unlocked, for those obsessive-compulsive types.
Invisible bike? Bet Reed Richards wouldn't be happy.
Rise of the Silver Surfer isn’t exactly a powerhouse in terms of presentation either; it merely looks like a PlayStation 2-era game running in high definition with a few extra shader effects generously layered on top. The character models are particularly lacking in detail – The Thing looks vaguely reminiscent of the Poo Monster from Conker’s Bad Fur Day, while the Invisible Girl’s hair is wonderfully rigid – it almost looks like a helmet perched atop her head. Level design and texturing are particularly bad in the early missions – running through underground bases with lots of stone walls and shiny metal doors is okay, if kept brief, but making us endure it for an hour? No thanks. Not a single one of the actors from the movie was on hand for voice-overs, so sound-a-likes have been used, but they don’t do a particularly good job.
Perhaps the most disgusting thing about Rise of the Silver Surfer comes when one realises that last year’s Marvel: Ultimate Alliance offered a far more comprehensive Fantastic Four experience – and that’s within a package full of other superheroes. Ultimate Alliance features deeper combat, far more interesting story and better four player co-operative play – we really recommend that if anyone needs a dose of Fantastic Four, they opt for that package instead. Rise of the Silver Surfer on the other hand just feels rushed and under developed in almost every aspect – it’s probably the most blatant cash-in adaptation we’ve seen in years. Visual Concept’s failure in the action genre is all too familiar – much like Tiburon’s failure with Superman Returns last year – it is pretty evident that once you go to sports development, you don’t come back. Ultimately, Rise of the Silver Surfer has no redeeming features whatsoever, and would be best left on store shelves for its inevitable bargain binning.
Hopefully one day there shall be a good one.
As for this game though, there was a fair bit of hype for it, I was reasonably interested in it for a while, IGN's preview was quite positive. Looks like I should wait for Potter.
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