preview
Captain America defeats Nazis with a shield that acts a great deal like the boomerang in Zelda. Video preview inside.
Scroll down to the bottom for ten minutes of direct-feed footage and a video preview.
While Captain America has appeared in some recent Marvel games, it has been well over a decade since he was the headliner and main playable character in a title. The Wii version of Cap’s new game is being developed by High Voltage Software, creators of The Conduit. Using gameplay elements derived from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, as well as classic beat-em up titles, Captain America: Super Soldier may have the right ingredients to make a fun superhero title.
The game is played utilizing the Nunchuk and Wii Remote. Hand-to-hand combat appears to be standard brawler fare, with Captain America being able to throw an assortment of punches and kicks. The controls for Captain America’s shield are where things get interesting. Similar to the controls for the boomerang in Twilight Princess, players can hit multiple targets with a single throw of Captain America’s shield. Holding down the C button will initiate “Focus Mode” where the game world will slow down, and players can highlight targets by moving the Wii Remote’s cursor over them. Once the targets have been chosen, releasing the C button will send the shield flying. Players can also hold the Z button to raise Cap’s shield to deflect bullet fire back at enemies. You can also grab a stunned enemy and force them to use their own weapon on their friends. Stealth is another option for combat. Walk slowly behind an unsuspecting enemy and hit Z to tap them on shoulder and knock them out.
There are many hidden collectibles that can be found throughout the levels. A secret may be given away by something as simple as a crack in a wall. Players can unlock new costumes for Captain America by rescuing POWs and finding other hidden items.
Along with combat, there are also platforming sections where, for example, Captain America must swing on poles and jump on pipes. These sections are designed with a young target audience in mind and are easy to traverse. While there is some timing involving in jumping while swinging, usually your character will automatically land on the next platform.
Unlike the Conduit series, which uses High Voltage’s proprietary Quantum 3 Engine for advanced graphical effects, Captain America is using Terminal Reality’s Infernal Engine. The developer chose Terminal Reality’s engine because of its prowess with destructible environments. From the small sliver of gameplay I saw, there were a few nice explosions.
The controls worked very nicely in the demo. It was fun knocking out multiple enemies in one swoop, and there were quite a variety in moves available. The game will include the voice actors from the upcoming movie for the major characters.
Captain America: Super Soldier is scheduled to hit store shelves on July 19.
Captain America: Super Soldier
Captain America: Super Soldier
