The latest Marvel series about the Falcon and the Winter Soldier figures, despite not shining with the same force as WandaVision, it has left me with Captain America’s jumpsuit. And since we re-analyzed the classic Captain America and the Avengers from Data East a long time ago, this time I opted for a game that my mind had completely forgotten: Captain America: Super Soldier from 2011.
Edited by SEGA a decade ago and under the development of Next Level Games, a studio that can give you a jewel like Luigi’s Mansion 3, but also a blushing product like Metroid Prime: Federation Force or one that was canceled at the end, like the recently remembered one Super Mario Spikers, that adventure of “Cap” was not well received, something similar to the uninspired Spider-man: Friend or Enemy that he developed in 2007 happened to him. But, what were the problems of this Supersoldier? Was there really nothing salvageable about the game?
Captain America was inspired by the Dark Knight
As a general rule, any video game on a license is inspired by the mechanics that prevail at that time. And in the case of this official Captain America video game, the influence is quite evident: Batman Arkham Asylum, from 2009.
We refer, of course, to the mechanics of their combats, which has since marked a whole wave of games thanks to the success of their choreographies against countless enemies at the same time, penalizing those who beat the buttons that try to anticipate the counter- attacks or other types of technical movements.
This is applied in a lighter and less polished way by “Capi” , without being as agile (or of course as versatile) as the Dark Knight game. The reason is very simple: Batman has more gadgets, while Captain America only has his shield. But … what a shield! Anyone knows that.
Initially we have few movements, but as we gain experience from documents or defeating enemies, for example, we will be given access to different improvements, among which the possibility of bouncing the shield on various targets , carrying out a counter -attack (frankly useful against enemies who shoot us, since we return the bullet and kill them instantly) or hit the ground very hard to stun nearby rivals. The game keeps getting better as we go along.
Let’s not kid ourselves either : it’s a far cry from Rocksteady Studios’ Arkham level. And certainly the way this Captain America: Super Soldier starts off is very disappointing, making waters in tight space environments. It takes time to show its potential , although it falls from the same thing that Spidey’s game suffered, as it became repetitive in its mechanics and without frights in the plot.
It has in its favor a series of maps of variable size that we can explore with semi-freedom, seeing a good part of the collectibles to be obtained. Here the absurd and disproportionate amount of documents scattered around the stage is quite striking, giving rise to ridiculous situations, with three or four documents in the same room. They sing a lot, wow …
Despite the dimensions of some settings, it is actually a very linear adventure and without any original challenge. There are a series of puzzles that are repeated, such as deciphering the Enigma code by looking for a repeating pattern (a letter or a number) or releasing a spark in some terminals by controlling both sticks .
This video game is based on the movie Captain America: The First Avenger, released that same 2011, by the way, although its resemblance to it is testimonial when experiencing other types of situations against the terrorist organization Hydra. Without going any further, we are introduced to a new character, Madame Hydra , an expert in poisons and torture. Now, there is no shortage of familiar faces such as Bucky Barnes, Peggy Carter, Howard Stark (yes, Tony “Iron Man” Stark’s father), Arnim Zola, Baron Von Strucker or Red Skull, of course, his great antagonist.
The first avenger deserved better luck in 2011
Captain America: Super Soldier has not seemed a bad game , and that I have played it ten years late. But it does show that it took more cooking time to polish all its sections, as it was affected by the evil that these licenses have, which have to coincide with the film and offer something different.
The combats lack a greater forcefulness, since they are usually a procedure as soon as we unlock the first skills. To this must be added the schemes, a type of collectible that unlocks passive improvements to deal more damage to enemies by knowing all their vulnerabilities.
There are collectibles to bore, as we anticipated, even having a series of Zemo audios and some videos to know the background of the plot. This, which in itself makes us worry about exploring every corner, also translates into a small dose of replayability through combat challenges to unlock, but with a pace and quality generally lower than the Arkhhams.
On the other hand, it is appreciated that the actors who starred in the film have participated in this video game contributing their image and voice, although in the Spanish version we had to settle for a dubbing into Spanish … different , and of course a lot less fortunate. There are certain scenes that are surprising due to their poor quality in terms of acting. A shame
Although it was an adventure with a dynamic third-person view, in certain sections he played with the view of the camera from fixed planes, especially in the face of the acrobatic movements of Captain America , in a succession of Quick-Time Events of easy resolution where it rewarded good coordination.
It was still a bit ironic, because there was a certain roughness in Cap when it came to moving, missing a bit more agility with the combos or, above all, with the distances of the enemies, that Batman was capable of performing a choreography in which the rhythm was not lost. And when we tried to refine our aim with the shield, the seams were already noticeable due to automatisms.
As a supersoldier that he is, here we could demonstrate our enormous power by filling in a special bar, having a first forceful blow that consumed a piece of said bar, until unleashing other much more powerful movements when doing the same with two, three or the four bars of blow, as if it were a fighting game. And here the one in which we stole the heavy weapon of a highly protected enemy to drop lead in front of the others was very useful.
Unfortunately, without counting mobiles, this Captain America: Supersoldier is the last official video game starring this Marvel superhero. And, without being a marvel, the truth is that it is not as bad as it was painted in its day. Although we are not deceived either: the comparisons are hateful compared to those of Batman .
