Dear Journal,

Today I fought for truth, justice and the American way.

Captain America: Super Soldier is a pretty standard 2.5D side-scrolling beat em’ up that draws comparisons to classic 2D games of the same type. You fight a horde of mindless enemy soldiers and the occasional boss through a series of rooms in a very elaborate German castle. At times, it really works and other times not so much.

The first thing that stands out in Captain America is the so-so graphics.  They are comparable to Brave but a bit better done (or simply the style of Captain America suits it better). While they aren’t a distraction/don’t ruin the game, there is no denying that had they gone for a simple 2D more traditional look for the game it would have looked much better. The 3DS version of the game might look a bit better though.

After that the next think you’ll probably notice is that there is actually a fair amount of dialogue in Captain America; at least for a DS game. Almost every level ends with full dialogue from several different characters, and the same is true of the boss fights. It’s really pretty minor, but considering how often DS games lack this really small feature it is worth pointing out.

Moving beyond the aesthetics, Captain America does a pretty descent job of making it feel like you are playing as a super soldier. I mean that in the sense that Cap feels strong and acrobatic in the game, but not over powered. You beat up enemies without to much issue, but at times you also take a few hits. The one major flaw in the combat is that all to often you find yourself getting hit over and over again without the chance to get back up and attack. There doesn’t seem to be much, if any “cool down” moment after being hit. It does add some frustration to the game at times. The game also adds some “running” levels where you must jump to avoid falling/hitting obstacles as you dash through a stage. These are not fun, completely screw up the pace of the game and would have been much better left as a mini-game or just left out all together.

The biggest flaw to Captain America though is the recycled levels. So often you’ll exit one room only to enter another room that looks so much like the last one you wonder if you accidentally somehow went back a room. There are subtle differences once you look, but so much of the rooms is re-used it just feels cheap.

One thing that does help to redeem the game though is the fact that it is just some good old fashioned WWII era butt-kicking going on as you work to punch Hydra right in their faces. Though you never actually get to face off against Red Skull in the game, more than enough characters from Cap’s library make an appearance here to forgive that.

Ultimately, Captain America: Super Soldier is a fun little distraction. It is a decent enough game to warrant playing but hardly a “must own.”  If there is one thing to be said it is that the game is good enough that you can easily forget that it was actually a movie-tie-in game; it really just feels like a Captain America game developed for the sake of making a Captain America game.

Tomorrow I review the most aptly named 3DS game I’ve played so far; The Trash Pack.

Final Rating: 7.2/10

CBR Break Down:
Console Played On: NDS/3DS
Time to completion: 4 hours
Gamer Score Earned: N/A
Price Bought at: $9.99
Current Price: $29.34 (Amazon)
Recommend Purchase Price: $9.99 was fair but would recommend lower.
Why you should buy it: Fun but simple beat em’ up game.
Why you shouldn’t buy it: It starts to get old even at only 4 hours in length.

Check out all the Backlog Quest II journal entries!