Captain America's Super Soldier tie-in
Screengrab from video game: " Captain America: Super Soldier" from SEGA. Credit: SEGA
Not long after seeing "Captain America: First Avenger" in the theater, we sat down to see how quickly the video-game tie-in would sap away all of the silver-screen enjoyment. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that Super Soldier is not an all-out catastrophe like its peers.
This is because the game borrows its game play liberally from the critically beloved Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hey, if you're gonna mimic, at least mimic the best, right? The fluidity with which Captain America moves around a room filled with Hydra soldiers, parrying attacks and counterpunching the goons is smooth and enjoyable to execute. That Cap has a wickedly strong shield to hurl around and string into combos is an excellent use of the character as well.
Most of the game is a cycle of the same actions. Enter a room or area, beat up a few baddies and move on. The occasional boss fight is underwhelming, and lacks tension. You upgrade Captain America's abilities by finding golden eggs hidden throughout the maps, which sounds like something stolen from a "Pokemon" game; it's a nice way to slow down the action, but feels completely out of place in a game set in World War II.
This tie-in game got the combat right, and that feels like a massive win in itself, putting it miles beyond the typical run-of-the-mill cash grabs these games tend to be. -- Scripps Howard News Service
RATING T for Teen
DETAILS Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $50
PLOT Shield-smashing and good old American can-do-ism
BOTTOM LINE A nice tie-in
