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Lunch » Tags » Video Games » Reviews » Captain America: Super Soldier [PS3]

Captain America: Super Soldier [PS3]

1 rating: 3.0

Video Game for PS3

Captain America: Super Soldier is a third person single player video game loosely based on the film Captain America: The First Avenger. The story of the game takes place during the events of the film, explaining Captain America's adventures aganist … see full wiki

Tags: Games, Video Games, Comics, Ps3, Marvel, Playstation 3 Games

1 review about Captain America: Super Soldier [PS3]

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The Captain's extra duty continues as he makes his way to the gaming world.

Sep 18, 2011

by Madpenguin
posted in Speech Bubbles: Comics & Graphic Novels

Rating:

Taking place in Europe during World War II, a group of soldiers are attacked by a gigantic mechanical looking monster. Steve Rogers aka Captain America springs into battle and he comes upon another mechanical looking being with devastating weaponry. After defeating the creature, he's briefed by Intel and is sent into battle against the organization called Hydra. Rogers begins his one man espionage to destroy anti-air equipment in order for the allies to invade, and put an end to Hydra which is being commanded by the Nazi Red Skull. -summary

Video games to movies have a notorious reputation for being very bad films, and as a result, I normally cringe whenever I hear of the transition taking place, like-wise for movies to video games. It's rare to almost non existent a movie would make a good game much less great; this brings me to Captain America: Super Soldier, which is based on the film Captain America; The First Avenger. The game is basically a side story to the film, that follows Captain America's mission to dismantle the terrorist network Hydra, and surprisingly, it's a good game, in fact, a lot better than I thought it would be. Sega did a pretty good job capturing the fighting skill and acrobatic ability of the Star Spangled Avenger. If only they had focused on the action aspect a lot more than anything else, and not have spoonfed another aspect of the game, it could have made a truly worthy installment into the action/adventure genre.

Gameplay:

Captain America: Super Soldier is a single player action game from a third person perspective and takes place over I think 13 chapters, (I completely forgot after I went to sleep). Captain America is armed with his iconic, indestructible shield and there aren't many moves for him in the very beginning. While battling the enemies and picking up items such as dossier forms and other objects like urns and schematics; there's a point total that begins to increase which act as experience points, and when the player makes it to the certain point max, then moves can be added via upgrade. And as many other games that uses this system, the point total increases greatly after each upgrade. Earning points can be a pain and will take way too much time in your standard hand to hand battle, therefore, Captain America's other skills have to be quickly mastered.

Along with the health bar, there's a secondary bar called the "focus". When this is powered up, Captain America can execute devastating blows that increase experience a great deal, and it depletes one bar. There's also a secondary more devastating attack that depletes two bars. In order to build up this bar, you must fight defensively by blocking and then counter attacking, in addition to evading opponents attacks via dodges, somersaults, and countering from there as well. It may sound like quite a bit, but it's pretty easy to master by the second chapter, and once this part of the game play is down to a science, then racking up points can begin.

There are several moves at his disposal before the upgrades. He can grab and beat opponents, and when certain enemies are knocked down but not out, they can be finished with mounted punches which multiplies the experience points. To include on bigger opponents and even on some bosses, when the enemy is grabbed, the player moves into a short mini game similar to God of War. On some occasions, these interactions display some really cool cut scenes that shows off Cap's vicious fighting skills (the ending for the Baron Von Strucker battle as well as a cut scene against Madame Hydra really stands out). His shield can also be hurled to take down opponents and it can also be used for long distance to blow up explosive drums which takes out scores of enemies. But it's rather unclear if that's a good choice of action. I don't recall a massive increase in experience doing this. So instead of going that route, I just jumped head first into battle and fought the hordes of enemies.

The upgrades add a great deal to the combat, with Cap being able to land stronger counter attacks, his shield hitting multiple enemies before returning, using the shield for bum-rushing, and even slamming the ground with the shield for small seismic attacks that stuns most enemies. However, the best use for the shield is the projectile deflection. This is the most important skill to master, because it sends most projectiles back to the sender causing good damage. This is very crucial for several boss battles. There's another aspect to the game called "Tactical Vision". This allows Cap to see from a different perspective and allows him to locate certain objects that will assist him in battle like exploding drums and platforms to leap to. But in regards to the combat it feels undercooked.

The enemies can be relentless, and this is the best part of the game at times. The AI uses the numbers game every chance it gets. It's pretty easy once the moves are mastered, but it's the bigger characters that cause the most problems, as well as beings with ESP attacks. The AI really isn't cheap and dealing with the grunts overall shouldn't be much of a problem. However, it's the boss battles that truly stand out which can be pretty difficult at times; with the furious fire fight with Madame Hydra being the real stand out, since she orders the soldiers to gang up on you very heavily while shooting from a distance. The good thing about this is that the enemies projectiles can kill each other, and I found myself working this into a strategy.

As good as the game play may sound, it's also what holds the game back. Unlike superior action games like God of War or Ninja Gaiden: Sigma, Captain America is severely lacking. There just aren't enough moves and the lack of chains to rack up very large combos brings down the action a great deal. There's too much of an emphasis on counter attacking, and it can take too long to earn the rest of the moves. This is indeed an area that could have been improved.

The platforming aspect is a big issue. There are parts in the game where Cap must traverse from one point to another by pole vaulting and even scaling walls. However, this part isn't exactly manual, instead, it uses a system that reminds me of Dragon's Lair. An area will light up, and you simply press a button to get from point A to B, which happens to be only one button. There's absolutely no skill on the player's part and all of these obstacles will be done in one shot. I would have no problem with this, but some of these segments are way too long, and it hurt the pacing for me. Adding to the ailments are the "puzzles". This is another damaging area that requires no thought whatsoever. Cap will be forced to sabotage equipment by causing power surges when he merges the electrical current from two opposing power sources. There are other little segments like these, but the problem is that there are way too many and there's no challenge to them at all. Now I don't have anything against easy puzzles in a game, because one thing I can't stand are ridiculous over the top puzzles, but this portion could have redeemed the game play since the action loses its appeal on occassion. I really think the developers should have just spent more time on the action portion and limited these sequences a great deal.

The plot is pretty straightforward as Captain America interferes with Hydra's plans on every turn. The story and the plot receives twist when some of his allies are captured, and he seeks to rescue them from Arnim Zola's mad experiments.

Controls:

This is an area that stands out rather well. Once the controls are mastered, then dodging around during combat and pulling off counters will be a breeze. The projectile deflection may seem unresponsive, but it mainly requires practice. When an enemy is aiming at you, there are two lines acting as cross-hairs drawing a bead on the player. The key is timing and practice, and this is really crucial for boss battles. But you'll get so much practice from the grunts, that by the time you make it to the bosses that require lots of deflection while you're battling hordes of enemies, you should be pulling that tactic off even under intense pressure and taking little to no damage at all. The game will walk you through the controls and provide footnotes on occasion.

Graphics/Music/Sound:

Visually, I can't say too many bad things about the game since it uses the 3D environment rather well, and the character designs for certain individuals look good. The characters faces such as Arnim Zola and Red Skull mimic the movie good enough. Madame Hydra who does not appear in the movie from what I remember has her signature green hair and outfit from the comic. Captain America looks good and he's pretty well built like in the movie. The animation in the movements is pretty fluid, and it's noticeable when Cap is performing his acrobatics which can be cool to watch. Madame Hydra moves with a nice sleekness when she engages in battle, and Arnim Zola in his robotic form moves as clunky as a robot should when running. Cap's movements during the action sequences and different positions he takes when deflecting certain projectiles has a good amount of detail. The areas where the battles take place look pretty nice as well. There's a stage where Cap is battling enemies in a trench, and the narrow, dirty passages coupled with the night time view adds a grittiness to the setting. I found the explosions to be done rather well, and the cut scenes can look really good when Cap goes into the single blow, slow motion segments.

Now the one area that bothered me on occasion was the camera view. The camera can be manually controlled, and Cap can be spun around with the camera fixed back into the behind the character view. But there were times when the camera felt stuck in some areas when there was a lot of activity, and I found myself having to dodge blindly to find where I was at. This is something that could be a problem under serious pressure. The sound effects have their moments, with laser's sounding completely different from gun fire, and the sound from the shield deflections being noticeable.

Chris Evans along with several others reprise their roles from the movie. They sound pretty well but I enjoyed Audrey Wasilewski's performance as Madame Hydra during her boss battle the most. Kai Wulff as Baron Von Strucker seemed to be the perfect fit since I really liked him too. The music mainly stood out for me during certain boss battles though since it gave off an intense feel. During the game, the BGM is hardly noticeable and it only picks up when enemy is in the area. If the music for battle is still running, then there's someone out there you can't see.

Final Thoughts:

Captain America: Super Soldier is good for those who love playing games alone since it doesn't have an online feature. I found it to be a good experience, and I came into it with very low expectations. The game has issues which keeps it from being nothing more than average. It's a good title to run through in between those really hyped new releases. I would only recommend this as a rental to most, but fans of the movie and the character should give it a look. If there was a sequel for it, I would probably get it.

Pros:
-Pretty good combat system, visuals, straightforward

Cons:
-Entire gameplay needs improvement, minor camera issues, a little too easy

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FM_ALEX September 24, 2011

Haven't played this one but I might try it out.

Madpenguin September 24, 2011

And more than likely you're going to enjoy it, probably more than I did. After really thinking about it, it plays like a watered down Batman Arkham Asylum but it's not a bad title at all.

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woopak_the_thrill September 18, 2011

I am very wary of games based on movies. This does sound decent, but your comparison to God of War, I think I'll pick that game up instead. Nice review!

Madpenguin September 18, 2011

I thought you played God of War already. Well, if you still own a PS2 then I highly recommend picking it up along with the 2nd one. But if you plan on buying a PS3 or already have it, then just pick up the collector's edition which has both games on it. It's far superior to this and most action/adventure games.

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woopak_the_thrill September 18, 2011

yeah, I did play it already and sometimes I like re-playing my fave games. Much like I still own TEKKEN 2 up to the current version. MK is also one game I always pick up occasionally on PSOne.

Madpenguin September 18, 2011

Yeah I do that to, but I'm replaying and rewatching everything mainly for reviewing sake. It's also my way of saving lots of cash.

woopak_the_thrill September 18, 2011

I am currently replaying NEED FOR SPEED CARBON and LEFT FOR DEAD again for the millionth time LOL!...man, those games always hook me!

Madpenguin September 18, 2011

Speaking of Need for Speed. I have to review the latest one. I had a review for that one all said and done on epinions months back within the same week of the release date. I posted the review and it disappeared. I was so damn mad I didn't even bother to write it again. I haven't even attempted since. I haven't played Left for Dead, because I don't think it was for the PS systems.

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