Every kid wants to be a super hero. Proof in point: You can go to the local park, witness munchkins running amok, jumping off playground furnishings as if they were flying, and making hand gestures as though shooting fireballs at the enemy neighborhood kid. For those lacking youth and imagination, video games fill this void, at times allowing the escape to a new world, where, if we wanted to, we could become the superheroes of our dreams.

Fantastic 4 (F4) is yet another Marvel comic making its way onto the silver screen this summer. Instead of a single burly do-gooder with special powers and super strength, F4 offers players a variety of superheroes, each with their own attacks and abilities, giving everyone a chance to connect with their favorite member of the space mission gone wrong.

Where there are cosmic storms, there's bound to be some genetic mutation afoot…

F4 is the interactive cliff notes to this summers blockbuster hit. The game itself is a duplicate of the movie, with added enemies and scenarios from the comic book. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm are all members of a space expedition that, through an accident, became infused with a rapidly approaching cloud of cosmic energy, allowing each member of the team specific powers that they will soon use to fight crime.

After waking from the accident, Reed Richards finds that he can become extremely malleable and instantly takes charge in the new crime fighting group with the ego-driven name, Mr. Fantastic. Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, attains the ability to bend light around herself, giving the appearance (or disappearance rather) of invisibility. She also gains the ability to create force fields, allowing her to take a more defensive approach. Johnny Storm, is both fiery in attitude and powers, able to engulf his body in flames, fly, and shoot fire balls at his enemies as the Human Torch. Ben Grimm as the Thing, is not the guy to tick off, as he'll use his super strength to hurl you fifty feet. Hurting him back would prove to be quite difficult, as his entire body now consists of a stone-like substance.

But these fantastic four weren't the only ones on the cosmic space mission. Victor Von Doom accompanied the team as the fifth member in space and was transformed into an electricity wielding and creating, metal alloy skinned threat. Dr. Doom enters the scene as the team's arch nemesis, though not to be outdone by other baddies like Mole Man, Diablo, and the Puppetmaster.

Fight like you're fantastic

Combat in F4 is quite simple. Simply pressing the X button will allow any character to perform a light attack. For a heavy attack, try pressing square. The triangle is used to jump, while the circle is used as a grab, which is effective when many destroyable objects are around. Just pick up and throw. The shoulder buttons come into play as well, as the L1 can be held to lock onto enemies or R2 to block an attack.

It might seem like combat would be difficult what with having four superheroes to play, but switching between characters is as simple as pressing a different direction on the D-pad. By pressing up, Reed is selected and all other characters are controlled by the computer. Press left to take control of Sue, down for Ben, and right for Johnny. However, you can only control those characters that are available within the particular level.

Each character has a variety of upgradeable combos that can be performed depending on which combos are unlocked. By pressing R1 and a combination of square, X, or circle, each character can perform an arsenal of cosmic combos. After defeating enemies, points are awarded, which can be used to buy more upgrades, making combos more powerful as the game progresses.

F4 is more of an action game, built upon a series of linear stages, which are designed to help you follow a certain path where you will confront enemies, mini-bosses, and bosses. The game itself is split up into ten story missions, which are then divided into a series of sub-missions. For instance, after the intro, the game is centered around the big lug Ben and his melodramatic, "I'm such a freak I'm going to break a lot of stuff," campaign, where the other characters have to fight the enemies that Ben leaves behind as he runs to his happy place.

Aside from combat, each character can interact within each level depending on the events that are occurring. Hot Spots can be located throughout levels and are special places where players can perform context-sensitive animations for special hero maneuvers, such as smashing open doors or hacking a computer system.

So is Fantastic 4 really…fantastic?

Gameplay can be summed up simply with one word: childish. The combat system is designed so that the gamer must supposedly learn the combos to be able to live against hard to defeat enemies. However, the entire game can be played through as a button masher or just by using the primary attack buttons X and square. The Hot Spots just add even more redundancy, making short interactive games that you must finish to continue on with the game, such as spinning the left analog stick as fast as you can within five seconds. So challenging! Maybe tapping the X button is a little harder for you then? Leave this one to the kids on the playground.

On terms of graphics, CGI cut scenes are somewhat fun to look at, but of course nothing Square Enix quality. Once the actual gameplay hits, the graphics change quite a bit, looking as though the game was rushed to be released… maybe in conjunction with a movie of the same name perhaps? Characters slightly resemble their real-life counterpart actors, but, alas, Jessica Alba's character of Sue Storm looks practically nothing like the bodacious babe. Sorry guys.

Even though she may not look like Ms. Alba, Sue Storm sure does sound like her. All characters voices are performed by the actual actors of the movie. This would add more allure to the game, if the music didn't mimic the movie. Yes, I know that's the point of the movie-made-into-a-game, but with simplistic gameplay, the music doesn't quite fit.

Instead of staying home and playing this game, might I suggest searching for cosmic rays yourself? It might just be more productive. This is a definite rent before buy title. If you loved the movie and you've always been a fan of the comic books, Fantastic 4 might still be a let down.