Sure, the developer Next Level Games has a shaky history,
mostly working on games for the Wii, while Captain America will be released on
all three consoles. However, they
are the people behind Spider-Man: Friend or Foe, which came out for all three current generation consoles, and wasn’t
so bad. It also had superheroes
punching things, so at least the developer has experience with the cape &
tights genre.
Judging by the available footage and demos from industry
conventions, we can expect Captain America: Super Soldier to offer a varied experience in terms of
gameplay. The developers try to
feature all of Cap’s trademark powers, including acrobatics, martial arts, and
using his shield as a weapon. The
acrobatics involve timed button pressing to leap through certain sequences,
although Cap is animated in such a way that he’s very agile as he dodges and
fights. The martial arts will be
very familiar to players who’ve played third-person beat ’em ups like the
surprisingly good Wolverine: Origins
tie-in game. Timed attacks with
simple combos and counter moves will make up much of it. To make Cap’s signature shield more
than a typical “Block” feature, there’s an option for deflecting enemies’
bullets back at them, Jedi style, if your reflexes are good enough.
Of course, he’ll also have the ability to throw the shield like a boomerang, with time slowing down slightly as he aims, in order to make players feel like they have Captain America’s peak reflexes. As Cap beats up enemies, he’ll slowly fill up a Focus Meter that allows him to use special attacks, like targeting multiple enemies with his shield throws, and unleashing extra-powerful melee moves, or “Weaponizing” enemies to use their own guns against them.
The game is set in WWII to match the movie’s setting, rather
than a modern-day super hero story. This alone adds a bit of distinctiveness to Captain America; the WWII
setting has been done to death for shooters, but now we get a Dieselpunk
interpretation of it full or super-science and retro-futuristic weaponry right
out of the comic books.
With the Fourth of July weekend upon us, let’s show some
patriotism, and that Yankee “Can do” spirit. We’ll give this game the benefit of the doubt because that’s
what Americans do! We root for the
team of scrappy underdogs fighting for freedom, and that’s just who the
developer Next Level Games are. They have an uphill battle against the forces of movie studio meddling
and a strict release date, not to mention the Nazis, The Red Skull and the
forces of Hydra! So let’s stand
beside Captain America and his new game, because the only person who doesn’t
like Captain America is Adolf Hitler.
And you’re not a Nazi, are you?