Thursday 28 July 2011

Gaming Reviews

Captain America: Super Soldier
Sega
Available Now - (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii (Version Tested))
Review by Blake Harmer

I will admit that with the majority of movie and superhero tie-ins being rubbish, I wasn’t holding out much hope for this, seeing as this falls into both categories. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find this was "average"...

Yes that’s right, unfortunately, this was the most praise I could muster for this game. Set during World War II, you play Captain America as you storm a castle to stop new prototype weapons being created by the Red Skull’s army by punching and throwing your shield at a wide arrange of bad guys.

The best thing that could be said for this goes down to the combat, there are some basic levelling up so you unlock more abilities as you progress, and the combat allows you to fight multiple foes and feels quite satisfying as you kick everyone in without even being touched. Imagine a poor man’s Arkham Asylum without any depth and you’d be pretty much there. Aside from this, the only other faint praise that could be said is that the puzzling and platforming elements are functional if basic, and the voice acting is spot on.

Had this have been all there is to the game, then I might have recommended it as a budget title as it never really offers any new ideas to challenge the big AAA titles such as Arkham Asylum or God of War, nor does it offer as much excitement. However, the game suffers from terrible graphics and a lazy level design, which has most of the game making you run through narrow corridors. There is also a frustrating camera that can obscure the action when it becomes too busy, which means you can be shot from off screen whilst your busy punching a goon in the face leaving you unable to deflect the bullets with your shield. Also, the game's focus mode, which slows down time and allows Captain America to target multiple badguys/switches with a shield throw, is almost broken, as sometimes the shield doesn’t hit and passes through the object inexplicably. Chuck in the fact that the camera also makes it difficult to aim upwards at higher targets and it can make you scream with frustration.

So, for all the enjoyment that can be gathered from Captain America: Super Soldier, there is a horrible flaw waiting to back it up, which leaves the whole experience just feeling...average.

The Emotionally Fourteen Games Rating
Graphics:
Awful, like being stabbed repeatedly in the eyes with a rusty pitchfork.
Sound/Music: The voicework is spot on, with Chris Evans doing the voicework for Captain America. The music is nothing really to write home about though.
Gameplay: Your typical action game with basic button bashing combat, simple platforming and some basic puzzlework. The level design is pretty lazy though.
Lasting Appeal: Pretty short by modern standards, as it could be completed in about six hours on first playthrough, and even then you probably would have found or unlocked most of what it has to offer.
Summary: A typical action game that does nothing innovative apart from being horrifyingly ugly whilst offering up some thrills done better by many other games, and any big thrills it does dish out are countered by the game’s numerous flaws. 5/10

FASTER GIVEAWAY


After 10 years in prison, Driver (Dwayne Johnson) has focused on one thing - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother. Now a free man with a terrifying purpose, he sets out to find and kill all those on his list. But on his heals are two men who will do anything to stop him - a veteran cop (Billy Bob Thornton) and a hitman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who finds his match in this worthy opponent. Now, the hunter is also the hunted.

Thanks to our friends at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, we've got three copies of Faster to give away! For your chance of winning, send your name and full postal address to emotionally14@hotmail.co.uk before midday on Thursday 4th August, making sure to put "Faster" as the subject. The first three entries out of the electronic hat after the competition closes will receive a free copy!

Don't forget to put "Faster" in the subject line. Incorrectly labelled or blank entries will be discarded.

Faster is out on Blu-ray and DVD on August 1, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Entries limited to one per household. Offer open only to postal addresses in the UK and Ireland.

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