Platform | Release Date
PS3 | July 15, 2011
X360 | July 15, 2011
Developed by Next Level Games
Published by SEGA

The Pitch:

Become Captain America, the ultimate Super-Soldier, as you face the Red Skull’s army in this gripping original third-person action adventure set in the darkest days of World War II. Wield Captain America’s legendary shield to take out enemies at a distance, interact with your environment, and deflect incoming fire back at foes as you traverse Hydra’s massive castle to save the world from Cap’s villainous archenemies.

Optimistic onlookers have suggested that Captain America: Super Soldier looks like something of a Batman: Arkham Asylum clone. Those positive folks, those silver-lining men and women, are not wrong. This brand new Sega published Marvel movie tie-in certainly does resemble the Dark Knight’s greatest achievement if you watch a few trailers, but scratch below the thin veil of quality and you’ll soon discover yet another licensed turkey.

The game’s combat is probably the source of much of this comparison. Captain America has always been a hands-on superhero – never afraid to throw down and kick some ass with both shield and fist. You have control over both here, and the initially promising combat system allows you to string together punches, rebounding shield throws and a few grapple techniques alongside acrobatic dodging. Unfortunately, its absolute lack of depth shows itself not far in. Where Batman’s terrific animation linked together moves seamlessly, Cap is a clunky oaf who reacts far too slowly to player input.

In fact, the basic movement mechanics struggle with this too. While moving our hero around a battlefield is, almost without exception, an exercise in sticky rinse and repeat; navigating around the endless corridors is even more ropey. Cap moves as if his feet are attached to lead weights. That is until he moves into one of the QTE platforming sections.

At frequent intervals you are required to surmount what look like Prince of Persia style challenges. Pipes, ledges and chunks of wall all present themselves in sequence, and the player gets ready to engage their brain. Wait! Don’t be too hasty. Turn off that thought engine, take the key out of your intelligence ignition, and instead prepare to press a single button repeatedly as a Cap leaps around with only the most meagre of considerations for your desire to interact. These look flashy, but ultimately offer no substance or challenge. This is gaming without the need for thought.

Which might be just as well, because if you actually decided to engage your brain then you might realise exactly how boring this whole affair is. When you aren’t running through another hallway, you’re repeating the same fighting scene again, and when you’re not doing that your trudging through the constantly recurring hacking mini-games. Want to put two wires together a couple of hundred times? Or would you rather match a pair of characters from a jumble? Then Captain America: Super Soldier is the game for you!

Collectables are littered around levels. I mean littered quite literally, this stuff is like garbage. Dossiers, ceramic orbs and other Nazi crap offers reward that contribute to the scant upgrade system. There are nine upgrade options in total, each of them pretty much as useless as the other. As one of the four or five different enemies approach you it might strike you as a good idea to throw your shield at them. It is, especially if you’ve upgraded it to strike four or five of them in a row. There is far less advantage offered, however, by the painfully slow shield slam attack, or any of the similar additions offered through upgrade.Somebody will punch you before you drag your hand out of the air. It makes Captain America look like a child practising their best slow-motion moves to an episode of Power Rangers. It’s ridiculous, as is the degree of stamina and dedication required just to endure this mind-numbing dullness.

There is a small set of people who should be given praise for the content you’ll find on your Captain America: Super Soldier disk. Is it the folks behind the superfluous Challenge levels? No. Is it the authentic voice actors? No. Is it Christos Gage, whose involvement in the story hopefully involved an automated ‘Out of Office’ reply being sent back to the script writers, save his career from the blight of this derivative tale? No. It’s the texture artists. They did a really great job. Cap’s costume, and the materials draped around the world he inhabits, look absolutely excellent. Congratulations guys. Good job! You should probably have a word with your boss about that game engine though. Ooft! What a piece of shit.

If Next Level Games were attempting to convince you that this game is comparable to Batman: Arkham Asylum, then I can only hope that they did not succeed before you could resist picking it up at retail. The combat might look a little bit similar, but that’s it. It bears no resemblance in terms of gameplay quality, originality or intelligent design. Those who might move to defend this game will tell you there’s nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, they are incorrect. There is nothing right with it. It is vacuous and almost entirely without merit. Except those textures. There’s some really great textures.

Related Posts:

Prototype 2

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon – Review

Ms. ‘Splosion Man – Review

Call of Juarez: The Cartel – Review

Operation Flashpoint: Red River – Review