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Iron Man
Xbox 360 £40 Sega

Loosely based on Marvel Studios’ new movie, this third-person action game is intertwined with plotlines and characters from the Iron Man comic book history. 

As Tony Stark’s alter ego you’re decked out in a hi-tech suit and armed with a variety of weapons. 

Take on an array of missions in battles against soldiers, enemy superheroes — including Titanium Man, Madam Masque and the Controller — military tanks, helicopters, jet fighters and more, all armed to the teeth with our hero in their sights.

Iron Man’s armour is your core strength and is fully customisable. Before each mission you can buy suit upgrades. 

The cash you need to purchase these is earned by completing a mission’s main and secondary goals, as well as finishing chapters within a set time or seeing off a certain number of enemies. 

Previously completed missions can be replayed to make sure any missed secondary aims are sorted the next time round. 

You can roam anywhere you please, with the action switching back and forth between ground-based combat and open-air flight (Iron Man’s super-suit lets him fly, too!).

Graphically the game is pretty good, although Iron Man himself is detailed and sharply defined with fluid movement, which contrasts with the somewhat muted environments. There’s great voice acting by the stars of the movie, Robert Downey Jnr and Terrence Howard. 

The fab abilities afforded to you by Iron Man’s suit do come at a price — learning how to control the whole shebang soon has you wishing you had an extra pair of hands. 

But perseverance brings rewards, if you can get over that frustratingly steep learning curve without throwing your Xbox out the window . . . 






Hollyoaks — The soap scooped the most trophies at the British Soap Awards. They included best actor for Dancing On Ice star Chris Fountain and best actress for Emma Rigby, who plays recovering anorexic Hannah Ashworth.
Jacqueline Wilson — The author of Tracy Beaker has been made a Dame (the girly equivalent of a knight) by the Queen for services to writing. She’s sold more than 20 million books. 
HSM3 — The cast have started filming the third instalment of the hugely popular film series. Vanessa Hudgens, who plays Gabriella, said this movie would see the characters making “tough decisions”. We just can’t wait! 






TV scandals — ITV is in hot water after it was revealed Ant and Dec were given a comedy award that should have gone to Catherine Tate in 2005. But the BBC isn’t doing much better — they kept cash from phone-ins which should have gone to charity.

Monster Mob

by John Pickering 

© All copyright D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd., 2008