Captain America: Super Soldier

Air dropped behind enemy lines, Captain America, the genetically enhanced super-soldier is making his much overdue entrance into the current generation of video games by the  hands of SEGA. The first of the Avengers, Captain America is tasked with eliminating Red Skull and his army by any means necessary.

Steeped in the dark days of World War II, Captain America: Super Soldier throws players into the role of the man himself, equipped with superior physical dexterity and acrobatic prowess. Not breaking any new grounds in the visual department, the core of the gameplay experience lies with a free-flowing combat mixed with the versatility of shield wielding that takes an influential bite out of the Dark Knight’s last outing in Arkham Asylum.

Captain America blasts onto the scene diving headfirst into enemy territory without a parachute. Of course parachutes are for sissies. Crash-landing shield first into an enemy filled room, the Captain shows us his over-the-top combative skills. Already downed foes squirming about on the ground wounded from your grand entrance are treated to a brutal night-night blow to the head from the Captain as a finishing move for good measure.

Adding more depth to the gameplay, Captain America has a blowout of attacks and defensive maneuvers at his disposal. Initially we were shown the standard shield deflection attack where timing is key. Once fired upon players are able to time a deflection attack causing the bullet to return to its sender with bad intentions. In another scenario, while surrounded by multiple threats the Captain was able to perform a free-flowing barrage of attacks that again reminded us of the combat from Arkham Asylum and this certainly was not a bad thing. Rolling, diving and performing acrobatic physicality the likes of a gold medal gymnast and there is just something special about this one.

One of the highlights of the demo came when Captain America needed to hightail it out of an exploding building and this is where we were introduced to the platforming attributes of the game. Based on the rhythm of your movement the Captain performs some amazing platforming death defying acrobatics that if done carefully seem effortless even if there are no explosions in your living room. Just as you hit the next object the idea is to hit the button with perfect timing maintaining this rhythmic motion while death whispers in your ear.

As much as I want this title to be the surprise hit that was Arkham Asylum, there doesn’t seem to be that engrossing atmosphere which sets the experience apart from most super-hero titles that have graced our console experience. Will Captain America make the grade? We certainly hope so.

Platform: PS3, Xbox360, Wii, PSP, DS
Genere: Action
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Release: Jul 19th 2011