Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer review

Gamestyle really wants to erase the summer months of 2007 from our memory and from the video game records. What a terrible few months it has been, the usual drought has become a raging famine with a constant stream of film tie-ins failing to provide any interest. Unfortunately Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is no different and might just be the worst of the bunch.From the off Silver Surfer sets alarm bells ringing, with little introduction you find the Fantastic 4 outside a cave, moaning about weddings before plunging into level after level of repetition. With these types of titles the presentation tends to be the saving grace, however on the Wii it is sadly lacking with no redeeming qualities present- was the film as bad as this? The story as it goes sees the Fantastic 4 investigating what is wrong with planet Earth, of course theres plenty wrong with our planet but for these four superheroes something closer to home is amiss. There are no positive aspects from the gaming experience on offer here. Even the novelty of having some Wii specific motion controls fails to lift the game out of the gutter. After pressing the A button a few times you can then take advantage of the chain by replicating the repetitive movement onscreen. This fails to camouflage the fact that Rise of the Silver Surfer is an old-fashioned button basher, with no challenge or depth. Every level unfolds exactly the same, following the simplistic formula of clearing a room until the door is unlocked, and then repeat, again and again. Adding more annoyance is the reliance on you having to kill everyone before the door unlocks, so you cannot scream enough is enough and run towards the door for salvation. Occasionally the door will lock behind you, confirming there is no escape from the torture 7 Studios have decided to inflict on anyone stupid enough to purchase this game.Having the option to switch characters amongst the Fantastic 4 at any time should introduce some variety and forward thinking, however 7 Studios have ignored this staple gaming dynamic. Whether this was due to budget or time restraints frankly does not matter to Gamestyle, what you have instead is an empty vessel and a master exponent of video game torture. Another bitter aspect of Silver Surfer is the intelligence of your teammates and those you face across every level. The AI is terrible and follows the same pattern as you grind your way through oncoming soldiers time and time again. Your superhero pals are little better, failing to work together as a unit and proving more of a hinderance as you nurse them through each stage.Visually the game is poor, even by Wii standards. Adopting a Baldurs Gate perspective to display the action should have meant a decent looking title. However the detail and finishing is extremely poor, harking back to the 32bit era and comes complete with a juddering frame rate and limited perspective, as very often you cannot see with is at the end of a room without moving there. You even need to select the option to load a previously saved game, before going back to the menu to prompt this to be used to continue your Fantastic Four experience. The save system is also extremely basic with checkpoints existing (if youre lucky) once or twice during a level. And in the Silver Surfer the levels are not only repetitive, but consistently long and depressing. So quite often you are faced with a dilema of quitting but losing any progress youve made during your current session, or slogging onto that vital save point.Really, The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a mess and a frighteningly terrible video game. Even if we paid a fiver for this, Gamestyle would feel cheated and frankly you deserve far better, and so do the Fantastic Four.