Damn it! I was really hoping for a fully stocked utility belt! I guess I’ll settle for the statue…. The Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition is even more stacked than Arkham Asylum’s! In October, for a mere $99, you can own the Batman: Arkham City video game itself, a beautiful Batman statue by Kotobukiya, an art book, the Arkham City soundtrack, a copy of the DC Universe animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight, four collectible cards, a code for Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge challenge map, and the most intriguing piece of DLC, a skin based on Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. This skin is the first word of any extra costumes for Batman, and I can’t help but hope and wonder what other skins we may see in the future.
Holy crap, I can’t believe it! The Captain America game didn’t suck! The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Thor films were all accompanied by extremely disappointing video games by SEGA, and I’m pleased to say that, thanks to Next Level, SEGA has presented us with a Marvel movie game that’s actually worth a damn.
Captain America: Super Soldier
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Next Level
Released: July 19, 2011
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
ESRB: Teen
No, Super Soldier isn’t the “Captain America: Arkham Asylum” we all want it to be, but it sure as hell tries to be. Seriously. It’s like Next Level took the Batman: Arkham Asylum formula and tried to apply it to a Captain America movie game. The game takes place entirely in and around Hydra’s castle fortress, much like Batman’s Arkham Island, and even the combat shows many similarities. Though Captain America isn’t as polished as Batman, a poor man’s version of Arkham Asylum is still much better than most movie tie-in games.
The true Captain America experience is realized best in combat with the player utilizing Cap’s signature indestructible shield. With the touch of a button you can bounce it off a Hydra goon’s face, or use precision shield tossing in a third-person-shooter mode. But I prefer just bashing skulls with it.
The only disappointment for me was how little Cap is able to interact with his environment. The game’s map is pretty large, and a creepy Nazi Hydra castle is exactly the kind of place I would love to explore, but aside from a huge amount of collectibles, the stronghold’s vast number of rooms and corridors are practically empty. You can break statues and deface pieces of art to find news reels that provide insight on the game’s story, and various documents with other information, some of which gift you with experience points to buy and upgrade abilities, but other than that, this has to be the lamest supervillain cult fortress ever.
The game shares the look and style of the film, and stars Chris Evans’s voice and likeness, but the story trails off to an undisclosed period of time within the film. Red Skull appears merely in cameos, leaving Arnim Zola and Hydra as your primary villains. It’s not a bad story, but it’s not memorable. I wish Ed Brubaker had been brought in to pen the story like Matt Fraction was for Iron Man 2 or Marv Wolfman for Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters.
Captain America: Super Soldier will likely be seen as just another mediocre movie game, but, as a fan, I really enjoyed it. It’s not the greatest video game you’ll find Cap in; Captain America and the Avengers and the Marvel vs. Capcom series show Cap at his best, but you really can’t go wrong with Super Soldier.
Checkout Captain America Pinball here!
Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net
@andrewEhurst
Looks like I’m going to switch my pre order to the collectors edition of Arkham City! Wow!
I was hoping the Cap game was at least decent and wasn’t expecting much from a movie tie in game. I’m glad it’s not a total waste of time so I just might check it out soon.
Guess they’re going all out with the collector’s edition. Imagine if there were collector editions back in the old school days. Speaking of which, I hope they have a Batman 89 skin, as well as maybe the ability to unlock old Batman games (such as the classic Batman NES game).
Well, at least Sega got it decent this time. I might check Captain America out with a Blockbuster rental soon.