'Captain America: Super Soldier' video game review

(Credit: Next Level Games/Sega)

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Developer: Next Level Games (“Spider-Man: Friend or Foe”)
Publisher: Sega
Available On: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, 3DS
Reviewed On: Xbox 360

In the movie "Captain America: The First Avenger," we see how science turned a scrawny kid named Steve Rogers into the ultimate World War II fighting machine. But for this third person action game, the developers have taken a different approach, and are instead showing what happened when Cap—here, as in the film, played by Chris Evans—went on his first major mission.

Of course, this isn’t the World War II we’ve seen in such (relatively) realistic WWII games as "Call of Duty: World at War" or the "Brothers in Arms" games. Instead, it’s closer to the steampunky WWII of "Castle Wolfenstein," thanks to the inclusion of the comic book terrorists Hydra. All of which means Cap isn’t just beating up the usual Nazis and German Soldiers, but guys with weird weapons and armor as well.

“Beating” is the operative word here, as Super Soldier mostly has you punching out guys like you’re Batman visiting Arkham Asylum. Decidedly down n’ dirty, Cap pounds guys like a bar brawler, and can even thump them with an especially strong smack (albeit one that requires him to have filled his Focus meter by dodging and doing other moves). Though while Cap can evade attacks or grab guys before giving them the old one-two, this doesn’t have the depth of such dedicated fighters as Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.

What this has instead is the ability to fling your shield at enemies like a boomerang. Again, it’s nothing terribly complicated, though in this case, complexity probably would have made this ability less intuitive, and thus less effective. Captain America also uses his shield to block incoming bullets, which comes in rather handy since his uniform is more decorative than protective. Even with this, however, Super Soldier’s combat still makes this feel like a button mashing beat-’em-up.

When not beating 'em up, though, Cap spends his time jumping, climbing, and doing other acrobatic moves. But while this isn’t very true to the comics—Captain America may be agile, but he’s no Lara Croft—these parts do break up all the fisticuffs.

There are also some story-driven puzzle bits, but as with the rest of the game, they’re not very challenging. Which is kind of the problem with "Super Soldier." While it’s way better than most comic book games, or movie games, or games based on movies that are based on comic books, it’s not as good as the best of them. It’s way, way better than Thor or Green Lantern, thankfully, but it’s no "Batman: Arkham Asylum" or "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," and you can see where a little more depth could’ve made it so. Still, if you’re a fan of the film, or of the man who inspired it, "Soldier" is, if you’ll pardon the pun, pretty super.

Bottom Line: For fans of the movie, or the comics that inspired it, "Soldier" is solid.