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Lessons Learned From Iron Man: The Video Game

Michael McWhertor — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:40:02 +0000

Sega is quite aware that the first Iron Man video game it published wasn’t too warmly received by critics, something the developers of the second game based on the Jon Favreau films are trying to address.

“The good news is that everyone in the known universe told us what was wrong with the first game,” said Kyle Brink, creative director at Sega Studios San Francisco, the team working on Iron Man 2: The Video Game. Sega Studios San Francisco is the re-branded Secret Level, the team that worked on the original Iron Man and Golden Axe: Beast Rider for Sega.

Yeah, I know.

But Brink says that there have been some personnel changes at the studio, including his own hiring as the studio’s creative director. The Iron Man team is listening to complaints, things like having to half-pull a trigger on the Xbox 360 or PS3 to make Iron Man hover.

“The controls were a big issue in the first one, so we completely revised the controls here,” told us during an interview at Comic-Con. “They’re based on the top 20 games out there, so they should be immediately familiar to people and they’re consistent across all movement modes out there.”

“We also brought the range in tighter, because in the first you were hunting pixels,” he adds, addressing one of our own gripes about the original.

Two New Screens for Golden Axe: Beast Rider

Owen Good — Sat, 03 May 2008 20:00:00 +0000

SEGA America’s blog gives gamers a look inside work at Secret Level, which just finished Iron Man for them and is cranking on Golden Axe: Beast Rider. A cool Flickr slideshow shows the team and some concepts, both in hard copy and rendered on computer. And two new screen caps, which is the video game porn you’re here for.

Blogger SegaDawg didn’t get any looks at the gameplay, but does write:

I did see a demo of Tyris riding one particular beast that will deal some severe swipe damage with its claws. There are several types of beast mounts in the game, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, and my bet is that there will be points in the game where you have to ride a specific beast in order to accomplish certain goals — but that’s just a hunch.

Inside Secret Level [SEGA America Blog, via Gaming Bits]

The Iron Man Trailer Of Cinematics You’ll Want To Skip

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:40:28 +0000

The uncanny valley in video games is only made deeper when polygons attempt to recreate celebrities, as illustrated by this Iron Man story trailer. The odd lighting on robo-Terrence Howard isn’t helping, but I remain convinced that Sega can make up for the PlayStation 2 travesty that was Astro Boy with the similarly jet-booted Iron Man. The game certainly looks like it could be competent, but we’ve been burned by movie-to-game adaptations plenty. At the least, the trailer gave me a cheap Halloween costume idea, requiring nothing but a halo of LED lights and a heather blue thermal shirt.

Iron Man Behind-The-Scenes

Mike Fahey — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Developer Secret Level displays a pretty firm grasp on the abilities of Iron Man in this developer diary for the game of the same name. It does an IM fan proud to know that the dev team, purchased by Sega specifically for this project, had to figure out a way to create gameplay that Tony Stark couldn’t just waltz through. Not only do Secret Level and Sega understand Iron Man, they also understand that it isn’t a real developer diary until it’s narrated by Electric Playground’s Victor Lucas. It’s true!

Golden Axe: Beast Rider Official

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:20:13 +0000

Sega’s recently trademarked title Golden Axe: Beast Rider is featured in the latest issue of Play magazine, finally giving gamers a look at the next-gen follow-up that was announced in May of 2006. According to Xboxygen’s report, originally in French, the game will feature Golden Axe hottie Tyrus Flare, feature heavy levels of violence and even sport some much needed nudity. The mature action RPG, in development at Secret Level, was originally slated for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3, but Xboxygen writes it’s now a 360 exclusive.

We’ve contacted Secret Level to learn more about the game’s PS3 status, but for those without access to a copy of Play, a single photographed screen shot is available at the link below.