The first thing you’ll notice is that this is not a beat-em-up game like Spider Man: Total Mayhem, or Marvel’s other movie tie in game from this year, Thor: Son of Asgard. Surprisingly, it goes for something totally different. In the game, you are on a 2D plane and have to swipe the screen to control Cap. Swiping left or right will send him running, and a double tap to the screen will stop him. There are wall runs and wall jumps to pull off, as well as plenty of poles to swing off of and hills on which to surf your shield. The game is still very combat focused though.
You can throw your shield at opponents to stun them with the big shield button, and then proceed to punch their lights out, or you can just shield tackle your way through them, which won’t take them down for good, but is great if you don’t feel like stopping. As you progress through the game, you will unlock more combo’s to take enemies down with, and your shield button will double as a power meter. Once you fill it up, you can unleash your super-soldier powers for some real carnage. You can often get creative with your kills, launching your shield at explosive barrels, for example.
Each level is also full of hazards, though luckily there aren’t any bottomless pits. Other than the various Hydra goons, you’ll also have to deal with traditional mines, laser trip-mines, and security lasers that summon more goons. Each level has five Intel folders to collect. Collecting them will nab more costumes for Cap and several old school Captain America comic book covers to gander at. Replaying levels to get all of the Intel adds a lot of play time to this game, but it also makes it feel much more repetitive and boring than it really is. There are three locations in the game with 8 levels in each. The environments really aren’t anything special, and it all looks a little too plain most of the time. The animations are pretty well done though.
The story of the game takes place in the same universe as the movie, with the same characters, but it has nothing to do with the movie’s plot, despite taking place in some of the same locations. The story is told through these still comic book images, which have a camera panning around them to create the feeling of an actual motion comic, but they’re quite boring. Also, you will get so sick and tired of hearing Cap spout the same six lines of dialogue, over and over. Sometimes they change the pitch of his voice to give it some variety, but it just sounds silly. There is no Chris Evans in this game, but they did have the courtesy of getting the same Captain America voice actor from Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and the recent Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, which is the show I dreamed of having as a child.
All in all, this is a very well made game for a movie tie in. The game play is solid, even if it does get repetitive, and the general production quality is above average. There are no difficulties in the game, but there are tons of Game Center achievements to go for as well as leader boards. I’m not sure if it’s worth the asking price of five dollars, but it’s definitely a solid game. Check it out.
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