Marvel Comics’ Star Spangled Avenger headlines the new third-person, action video game Captain America: Super Soldier (Sega, reviewed for the Xbox 360, rated: Teen, $49.99) that, unfortunately, suffers from brevity and a lack of inspiration.
Through a story penned by comics scribe Christos (Avenger Academy) Cage and tied to the new movie, a solo player controls the pumped-up, acrobatic and shield-wielding hero.
With voice and likeness from Hollywood’s current Captain America Chris Evans, he single-handedly tries to bring down an organization similar to the Third Reich in 1944.
As the plot twists unfold, it’s the fascist organization Hydra and its leader the Red Skull that Cap battles in a World War II setting.
Well, battles might be too strong of a verb here folks.
From the first mission, stuck in Castle Zemo on the Bavarian mountains, it was a bit befuddling to control one of the more physically aggressive superheroes in comicdom as he searched for chotchkies and piles of paper rather than fighting waves of Hydras’ elite.
Although the Nazis (I mean Hydra) were apparently meticulous records keepers, they did not have access to file cabinets. So our Captain has to look for abandoned dossiers, dumped all over locations, to not only help his bosses, but also to help accumulate bonus points to upgrade his shield and abilities.
Now, comic book lovers won’t mind the search. They also can collect and watch scratchy black-and-white film clips of the development of the Mastermann Project (spearheaded by the eccentric scientist Arnim Zola) and listen to Baron Zemo (a classic Captain America villain) read from his journals.
More on the comics’ cool front, Captain comes in his movie costume, and players can eventually unlock his more traditional comic duds or his Ultimates’ comics garb during the action.
Those who can get past the chronic scavenger hunt will also find the close quarters combat often stunning in a watered-down, Batman: Arkham Asylum sort of way.
A simple mash of a couple of controller buttons has Cap gliding over enemies’ backs to shield smack them in the head, somersaulting into delivering devastating kicks and ducking punches to counter with a fist to the gut — almost always in slow motion to savor the fist to the face moments.
I’ll admit to lazily spending most of the time winging his boomerang shield around and targeting thugs from long distance. It takes out the snipers quickly and just watching it bounce off four soldiers like a pinball is kind of slick.
However, gamers will not appreciate the too-short adventure (around five hours with this slow poke in control). Even with some added enemy wave challenges, the overload of simple action seems built for the younger tween rather than saavy teen.
For example, platforming areas, where the hero must jump and swing around, only requires a button push and not much timing or thought. Or, a player uses tactical vision (a radar goggles mode) and a map to easily find out where he needs to go next. Also, hacking mini games and many battles (even against the mighty Baron Von Struker) takes very little effort.
Ultimately, Captain America: Super Soldier will only thrill the most impatient fan that has just seen the movie and has an extra $50 burning a hole in his wallet. For those able to wait a few months, this game will pale in comparison to the upcoming superhero epic Batman: Arkham City.
• Joseph Szadkowski can be reached at jszadkowski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.