Written by renowned Marvel comic writer Christos Gage, players will take the role of Super Soldier Captain America (set within the period of WWII) and test their skills as they battle infamous enemies such as Iron Cross, the Hydra Army and the Red Skull (though like the film Red Skull’s appearances are short but sweet).
Was it good?
Having seen the film and being a tad disappointed I went into the game with mixed feelings, but when all’s said and done it wasn’t a bad game at all.
SEGA and writer Christos Gage has created a good story line which doesn’t follow on from the film completely but it still creates a path that fans of the feature film will recognise and neutrals be entertained by.
For me though I enjoyed Super Solider more because it reminded me of Batman Arkham Asylum/City. To the point where some of the controls and moves are identical.
But if you are going to get your influences from a game you may as well get it from the best!
Chris Evans
Graphically the game developers have rendered the lead charcter well and along with the shield sound effects (which ping realistically when bullets hit it), Chris Evans also lends his vocal talents so it’s a lot more authentic.
However some of the enemies look a touch wooden and for a super hero he doesn’t move that fast up a ladder (plus he does look a touch camp when doing this) and has no ability to jump over obstacles, so the levels can get a touch restrictive.
Regardless of this the action is where the games at and this has a free flowing system that nearly competes with the aforementioned Batman. During combat you can pull off some pretty cool cinematic style moves with your fists or shield.
The developers have created several uses for the shield so you can smash your shield down on the group amongst a group of enemies to knock them over or you can throw your shield at them and watch it boomerang back to your waiting hand. Another major use of the shield comes when you can use it to deflect bullets back at people or perform finishing moves to take on some of the more challenging bosses.
Acrobatics
The games also tries to break up the action with acrobatic stages, where you have to reach certain points of a level by grabbing ledges or swinging between posts. This starts of being a welcome break from the action but soon starts to grate and distracts from the storyline.
Speaking of which the cut scenes are not bad at all and as stories go we have seen a lot worse.
Collectables
As with Batman the further you progress in the game the more points you can get. This eventually leads to upgrades of your primary combat and shield attack combos. There are not that many to get in all honesty and you do tend to feel that this part of the game could have been developed a little better, but none the less it’s another incentive for you to keep playing the game.
Another way to gleam points is to find dossiers, collectables, schematics and film reels. The latter also gives you a heads up on some of the aggressive tactics deployed by the harder opponents within the game.
Again this last part is straight out of Batman, you even get a super vision (i.e. like the detective mode) that allows you trace their whereabouts onscreen. Mind you I think they went too far with the dossiers and collectables because the whole game is flippin (pardon my French) overloaded with them! You can’t go more than 5 metres without picking something up!
On the positive side this does help with your gamer achievements and Captain America is literally ripe for getting a 100% gaming score (on the Xbox 360 version that I played).
Red Skull – !!Spoilers!!
Red Skull does make his entrance at some point but like the film this is short lived and fans may once again be disappointed by his weedy persona. The film and this game all seem to be heading towards a bigger and better sequel so maybe he will have more of a presence then.
Challenges
Another similarity between this game and Batman comes from the Challenges. Once you have finished with the main storyline, which in fairness does have at least a weeks worth of gameplay, you can take on a number of challenges, be it combat, collectables (where you have to pick up collectables without getting killed) or platform time-trials (i.e. take out the sniper at the top of the tower while testing your acrobatic skills).
These are fun to a point as you awarded a star rating depending on how quickly you can complete a challenge. Normally with the combat challenges you need to take out a number of waves of opponents (4 in this case) in a set time. Under four minutes will get you a gold star and this is the one you need to aim for if you want to get your gamer achievement award.
Multi-what?
There is no multiplayer, which is understandable as the hero likes to kick ass on his own, so you will have to make do with the challenges to make the game last a bit longer, but for a superhero game this is actually better than the film in some respects, though a touch repetitive at times.
Summary
I have to admit I enjoyed the game more from having seen the film first (even if the film was disappointing), but to be honest if you fancied giving this a blast I would certainly recommend that you rent it before buying. However if you liked any of the Batman games I believe you will also enjoy Captain America Super Solider, and if you wanted to get your first 100% on a game this one is ripe for the taking.