With a high-budget, summer blockbuster film on its way to theaters next summer, Captain America needed to have a new video game to coincide with its release. That’s just the way Marvel does it with their trademark heroes. Unfortunately, Sega, the company creating these games for Marvel, has not had the greatest success thus far. A so-so Hulk game and two sub-par Iron Man titles can attest to that. So it’s obvious that many fans wonder if Captain America will be done justice on consoles. After getting a look at the game, Captain America: Super Soldier, last month, Sega’s upcoming adaptation has a ton of potential, and looks to cater to both videogame and Captain American fans alike.
First off, it’s very hard to look at Super Soldier and not think of last year’s smash-hit title featuring DC Comics’ big star, Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game involves Captain America infiltrating and then roaming through a World War II Hydra Base just like Batman did with the asylum itself. The close-quarters combat also looks to be combo-based and fluid just like Arkham Asylum. Super Soldier also has a detective-mode type of vision that allows Cap to see important objectives or enemies. However, Sega is not sure if the vision will be exactly the way it is now in the final build or if it will be changed to something still relatively similar.
All of that said about the similarities, Super Soldier does have its own element that gives it that Captain America feel. When in combat, Captain America is much more acrobatic and agile. He will do various forms of flips and spins to avoid blows and get around opponents. The animations feel extremely loyal to the source material, as if the fight sequences were ripped straight from the comic book. Cap will also have the ability to block bullets with his iconic shield and even deflect them back at enemies if the player times it right. The shield can also be thrown to take down one or more enemies at a time before whirling back into Cap’s hands. In addition to taking down foes, shield tosses will be able to drop down platforms and hit switches in order to progress through the game’s puzzle-solving sections.
Super Soldier will also have platforming sections that further show off Steve Rodgers’ acrobatic skill. But players won’t have to worry about screwing up a sequence and having to do it all over again. Instead, a poorly-timed button press will simply stall Captain America, making him look less graceful. Sega claimed that the reason why is because this is Captain America, the legendary super soldier. He’s too highly skilled and trained to screw up and kill himself doing jumps and flips.
At the end of the demo, Captain America is about to head through a massive double-door from a courtyard when an explosion blows the doors open and sends Cap staggering back. After returning to his feet, Cap is confronted by an adversary in the form of a humanoid robot. It was then that the very first villain for Super Soldier was revealed. Arnim Zola, one of Cap’s classic foes, stood before him. The demo then faded to black and ended, but Sega promised that more of Captain America’s biggest enemies will be making appearances in the game.
So after getting a look at Cap in action with Super Soldier, it can be said that the game is showing a lot of promise. Despite its similarities to Arkham Asylum, it still has enough of that Captain America feel to give the game its own identity. The action feels like it was taken right from the pages of an issue of Captain America, and the platforming and puzzle-solving sections seem to add a tiny bit of diversity to the title. It will be interesting to see what other features, villains, and maybe even allies will be added to the title as development moves along. For now, fans can take a tiny sigh of the relief knowing that the game has the potential to do Captain America the justice he deserves. Captain America: Super Soldier will be dropping July 2011 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP.
