Iron Man 2 Video Game Trailer Hits The Net

The trailer for the Iron Man 2 video game has been released, and while it’s pretty cool, it doesn’t really tell us much about the story.

It’s got Iron Man bashing tanks, fighting giant robots, wearing what appears to be Hulk Buster Armor, but not fighting Whiplash or Black Widow (or teaming up with her, no one’s clear on her deal). I wonder why. Perhaps Kyle Brink, Creative Director at SEGA Studios San Francisco,  who recently spoke with IGN, could fill us all in.

To begin with, Brink harbors no illusions that the first Iron Man movie game was any good. “First, I’d like to make clear that we built this game content and gameplay from the ground up. We’re not editing or changing the first game in order to make this one. It’s more accurate to say that we built Iron Man 2 with the first Iron Man game as a reference point, he said. “The primary failings of that game in the eyes of players and reviewers can be boiled down to three things: repetitive gameplay, erratic difficulty, and counter-intuitive controls. There are plenty more, but those are the big ones.” Asked how the new game would be similar to the first, his answer was, “There’s stuff that Iron Man has to do or he isn’t Iron Man. You’ll fly, you’ll hover, and you’ll run. You’ll shoot a variety of high-tech weapons. Aaaand that’s about all that’s the same.”

When asked about improvements to the first game’s engine, Brink replied, “It’s actually two generations beyond the first game. We’ve added significantly to the melee system, enemy behaviors, dynamic lighting, destructible environments, hero controls, interiors, and physics.” He added, “You’ll fight in twilight and underground as well as in daylight. You’ll tear up the environment, blasting through walls and sending debris flying. You’ll blow the lights out in an area, then see by the light of your repulsors and the fires of destruction. Enemies will pursue you through destroyed obstacles. Truly colossal enemies will crash through buildings to get to you. Some enemies have mobility that rivals your own, and will chase you through the skies to engage in high-altitude beatdowns.”

I’m sure we all want to know what suits we’ll get to use, “First of all, if you see a suit in action in the Iron Man 2 film, it’s in the game. I’m not allowed to say right now what suits that includes, but if you pay attention to the film press, you’ll know a lot about the suits that will be in the game,” Brink said. “You’ll have access to Tony’s lab, where you can assemble weapons to your liking. Then you can arm your suits with those weapons, load in your choice of melee styles, and go to town. As I touched on above, there will be epic weapons with truly impressive battlefield results. You’re Tony Stark, after all.”

Brink also answered my earlier question, “You’ll be playing a new story, not reliving the movie, and you’ll do it in the world of the movie.” He went on to say, “This game exists in the movie universe, but tells a new story. It’s not meant to explicitly parallel nor follow the movie. Think of it as another story you could tell with those characters in that world with a bigger special effects budget.” When asked for the set-up, he replied, “Tony is doing the playboy thing on the outside, but he’s taking the hero thing seriously on the inside. He’s at a charity banquet when he gets the word: the Stark Archives, repository of all his shelved doomsday weapon ideas, is under attack.” Brink added, “The genie gets out of the bottle, and it’s up to Tony Stark to put it back.”

The game will be released April 2010. Head over to IGN for much more of the interview.