Punching Germans.

Here we go again, another super hero movie, another movie tie-in game. Captain America: Super Soldier has been made to accompany the new movie, Captain America: The First Avenger. This time around Sega and Next Level Games have managed to make a decently fun game but haven’t been able to make the jump from mediocre to good when it comes to movie tie-in games.

Single Player

Captain America: Super Soldier follows the same continuity as the movie, Captain America: The First Avenger. Meaning it all takes place during World War 2. We can’t say if the story exactly follows the movie or not but it is at least at around the same time. There isn’t a lot of background given, you are just thrust into the story as Captain America, a myth to the common soldier, but the secret weapon of the American armed forces.

And he looks like this.

The major problem with this game presents itself almost right away. The controls. The button configuration is one of the strangest I’ve ever seen. Basic attacks are easy enough, X to punch, right trigger to throw your shield and Y to grapple. The problem is the special attacks, called crippling strikes, and the ability to ‘weaponize’ an enemy. These are done by holding RB and either X or Y. Pick up your controller right now and try that, it’s very awkward. Anyway, the fighting is mostly hand to hand with the Cap taking on multiple enemies at a time. The combat actually works well and is fun, you can mix it up by performing contextual dodges with the A button. If you are near a wall Cap may leap off it, if you are face to face with an enemy you will vault over them. Cap can also aim his shield throws with the left trigger to hit explosive barrels or far away enemies. Other abilities can be learned by applying battle upgrade points. These are earned by defeating enemies and finding collectibles.

Watch me parkour the hell out of this nazi castle.

The other main aspect of the game is half platforming, half free running. There will be sections like the picture above where you will have to climb to the top of something or move across some high area using poles, jumping, vaulting and grabbing ledges. It isn’t very hard as you don’t seem to be able to actually fall but they make it interesting by granting you battle upgrade points for getting the timing correctly between a string of jumps.

The levels are linear but have enough depth to explore a bit and there are a ton of collectibles to find if you look around. This and the fact that there are 18 chapters make Captain America: Super Soldier one of the longer movie tie-in games out there. It’s not difficult and isn’t breaking any new ground but it is entertaining if you’re a fan.

Multiplayer

There are no multiplayer modes in Captain America: Super Soldier.

Achievements

Nothing you haven’t seen before, complete the game and get all the collectibles and you will unlock all of the achievements.

Closing Comments

Captain America: Super Soldier isn’t bad. If you’re a fan of the genre, movie or comic book series this game is fun enough to play to see where they have taken the series.

Final Score: 6/10