Leading toy brand Hasbro announced their first Augmented Reality toy at the New York Toy Fair earlier this year.
Iron Man is probably a good pick for the first release in their Marvel Hero Vision range of AR products. He is a firm favorite with the kids and because of Tony Starks Hi-tech background it makes sense for him to be the first superhero to get the AR treatment.
Included are an Iron Man Mask, AR goggles, Iron Man Gauntlet, Three AR markers, Infinity Stone, and full instructions. You need a free app to use it which can be easily downloaded to your Android or Ios smart phone.
The majority of the more recent smartphones are able to run the app, as long as they are using Android 5 or iOS 6 or higher. The app is comparable to Snapchat’s type of Augmented Reality in which objects are put around a room.
The phone goes inside the goggles that go inside of the Iron Man mask. One issue that we have heard mentioned is that if you have a plus-sized iPhone or larger Android there’s a likelihood it might not fit inside of the mask.
The AR is accessed through your phone so an Internet connection, Bluetooth or Apples ArKit Tech isn’t needed to play with the toy.
Gameplay is very simple and this is really designed for young players. The set up is easy, once you have downloaded the launch app you place the three plate sized AR Markers anywhere in the room. You put on the Iron Man Gauntlet, Slide the phone into the goggles and put on your Iron Man mask and you are ready to go.
A digital overlay appears and you need to protect the 3 markers from Thanos and his evil minions. This is done by using the gauntlet to shoot the ‘baddies’ this is done by aiming your gauntlet palm up at the enemy. If they attack you you can block them by turning the gauntlet face down.
The game has 10 levels and after 3 levels you need to take the phone out of the goggles to upgrade Iron Man’s Armor. This was apparently an intentional addition by Hasbro so that kids had a break from the phone so that they aren’t looking at a screen for hours at a time.
Hasbro have commented that the game has hours of game play and that there will be be more Infinity tokens coming out in the future that are going to be compatible with the Iron Man set.
Conclusion
Its the early days of AR tech and without a doubt there will be huge improvement and these sort of products will be not only common but much improved. This one offers basic game play and also requires the use of a parents smartphone which they might not be overly happy about. The price is pretty reasonable though and if you have a spare phone you can trust the kids with this might be fun if you have a young Iron Man fan in your family.
