  'Aaaand one and two and three and four!' Mr. Fantastic's workout routine differs vastly from your typical gym-goer.
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Fantastic 4 for the PC could rather be called "Generic 4" instead. Yes, that is a rather harsh way to start a review, but this game has enough rough edges and bland game play elements that it has earned such an opener. But first things first. The game is loosely based on the recent comic-to-film adaptation of the Fantastic 4 comics and thus various aspects in the movie are presented within the game, such as using the voices of the actors from the movie, certain settings and environments and some elements of the plotline. But the similarities to the movie are only superficial as the developers have added additional opponents and scenarios in order to create a more extended video game play time.
The game itself is pretty much a standard beat-em-up sort of experience, where you play as the four members of the Fantastic Four: Reed Richards aka. Mr. Fantastic (the stretchy guy), Sue Storm aka. Invisible Girl (well uh, the girl who can turn invisible), Johnny Storm aka. The Human Torch (the guy on fire) and Benn Grimm aka. The Thing (the big, orange, rock skinned guy who "clobbers" things). Using these characters, one will punch, smash, explode, light on fire, throw around and generally just destroy all available enemies and objects. While this description may sound somewhat appealing, the actual execution of these activates is somewhat lackluster. One has at their disposal a number of punching and grappling attacks (with a few combos thrown in for good measure), but they really just result in you standing in front of an enemy and hitting the necessary buttons repeatedly until they are defeated. There is even a block button, but for the most part it didn't seem particularly necessary to use it.
Of course, your characters are superheroes and thus have cool super powers, which should have been the main appeal of a game such as this. Unfortunately the powers just aren't handled with much finesse or imagination. Regardless, the superhuman abilities available to you are as follows: Mr. Fantastic has a long attack range and can use specialized attacks based on his elongated nature. The Invisible Girl can obviously turn invisible (which is only really used for some mediocre stealth sequences) and can create force shields for attack and defense. The Human Torch can fly (or more specifically, hover) and can throw fire balls and other related attacks. And finally the Thing is just big, strong, ugly and has some goofy looking wrestling type moves. In addition, these powers can be enhanced and new ones unlocked as progress through the game is made. But in the end they still feel as if they just look different while having the same purpose and effect (that being to do more damage than standard punches and throws). Another game play mechanic that has been included is the ability to change between characters on the fly in order to adapt to different situations. Or at least that's the idea. In reality, it didn't seem particularly important or necessary to do so, and it was possible to complete entire levels generally using just one character. There are also various mini puzzle elements to engage in throughout the game. But yet again, this game play element seems good as an idea, but feels tacked on and superfluous in execution as they are fairly run-of-the-mill endeavors that do nothing to enhance the experience of being a fantastic superhero.
But all is not entirely bad. A brighter point in the game play are the mini-boss and main boss battles. During these fights a little more thought and strategy is necessary to be successful, as different characters and their specific powers must be used together (and sometimes in certain sequences). Plus, the bosses themselves are taken from the pages of the comics themselves (Moleman!, Diablo!) and have their own powers and personalities which ads a bit of flavor and excitement when compared to the standard hordes of mindless robots and evil henchmen (aka. cannon fodder) you encounter throughout the rest of the game. Also, there are a number of extras to be unlocked throughout the game, such as actual comics from the recent Ultimate Fantastic 4 series, that help improve the value of the game as a whole to some degree.
The graphics of Fantastic 4 are a solid... mediocre. One would think that the added graphical horsepower available for the PC version would result in some more engaging visuals, but that just isn't the case. For the most part, the character models, environments, special effects, etc. are all serviceable and adequate, but lack anything resembling fantastic. Plus, the actual control of the characters feels somewhat too light and elastic, and the same for each character. The Thing is made of rock, but responds on screen in much the same way as The Invisible Girl, who is obviously much smaller in stature. Lastly, as somewhat of a side note, there are some strange inconsistencies in quality with the graphics in the cut scenes. For instance some character models are done very well and resemble the actors from the movie accurately (Mr. Fantastic), but other do not (The Invisible Girl - no digital Jessica Alba eye candy here unfortunately!).
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The sound for the game is good enough, and it earns points by using the voices of the actors from the movie. But yet again, there are issues with the game is this respect. Of note are some strange pops and hisses during cut scenes and a rather hollow, unsubstantial quality to some of the combat sounds.
Overall, Fantastic 4 just isn't that great. Sorry. It is passable as a button mashing brawler with a few interesting concepts (namely the bosses and that fact that you control four, old-school comic characters), but suffers from a variety of game elements that just weren't done quite well enough, such as poor control mechanics, middle of the road graphics, lack of variety with the combat and more. It should please those gamers just looking for something very simple and middle of the road to distract them for a little while, or perhaps some hardcore fans of the comic series wishing to step into the shoes of their favorite foursome, but that's about it.
