Tony Stark’s Iron Man has always been a popular character, especially following Robert Downey Jr.’s performance in the MCU. Unfortunately, the Marvel character has always had trouble getting his feet off the ground in a modern, standalone, AAA game. Of course, there have been two licensed Iron Man titles adapted loosely from the MCU’s Iron Man and Iron Man 2, as well as an Iron Man VR that released a couple of years ago. But having released to mixed receptions, there has not been another Iron Man experience that could rival that of other contemporary superhero games.
However, if recent rumors are eventually confirmed, it seems as though the character has been trying to break back into a standalone game for some time. Indeed, Mad Max’s Avalanche Studios had reportedly had an Iron Man game in the works before its cancelation, demonstrating the desire for another Iron Man game to be made back in 2012. Now, the latest rumor comes from industry insider Jeff Grubb, who claims that EA Motive’s next game after the Dead Space remake will be an Iron Man game. If true, there are many features that Motive could translate from Dead Space to Iron Man.
Motive’s Rumored Iron Man Game Would Be Bolstered By the Dead Space Remake
If no developer had already been rumored to helm Iron Man, the quality to expect would be unclear. Instead, now that it is understood that EA Motive is rumored to be working on it, there is a great deal of expectation that is placed onto the developer. Before its Dead Space efforts, even Motive may have been a developer whose quality output is unclear, with only a couple outings in the Star Wars universe to its name. However, Motive has been remarkably transparent about its development on the Dead Space remake, a title that seems to emanate quality and polish.
Motive’s Dead Space could have been a simple remaster or a remake without bells and whistles, but instead it has chosen to fully refurbish the original game with immersive lighting, sound, art, mechanics, and more. For example, Motive’s Dead Space features the ALIVE system, a brand-new mechanic that represents limbic behaviors in Isaac Clarke’s movements, expressions, and dialogue. Isaac’s breathing will reflect his anxiety, and Isaac’s movement will reflect his fatigue, for example. If Motive can emulate what it feels like to be Isaac in a science-fiction engineering suit in zero-gravity, it will be fantastic to see what the developer can create with Tony in a billion-dollar armored suit.
Iron Man’s Suits Should Make Players Feel Like a One-Person Army
One of the most defining features of Iron Man is his diverse catalog of armored suits. Iron Man and Dead Space would not likely share much else in common besides Tony’s suits and Isaac’s RIGs, but that is a wonderful foundation that Motive could build from. These suits of armor are an extension of Tony and, while each has a distinguished look or color, they are also equipped with unique armaments and capabilities. Tony is encased in the armor and able to fly, charge repulsor blasts, or fire mounted turrets and guided missiles, for example.
In making these features succinct, something to consider is sound design. Jet propulsion and unibeam repulsors are highly distinct in sound design, which is an area of expertise that Motive has a particular competency in. Motive previously developed Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Star Wars: Squadrons, both of which have incredible sound design that immerses players in the Star Wars universe.
Motive’s accessibility features and all the emergent detail it is putting into Dead Space would be great to witness in an Iron Man game, so hopefully the rumor of its development is true. An Iron Man game has been canceled before, but what Motive achieves with Dead Space may establish it as the perfect developer for the task.
An Iron Man game is rumored to be in development.