Captain America: Super Soldier 3DS

Captain America is an all American hero fighting in the battlefields of World War Two. Reading the comics, watching the movies or even resorting to Wikipedia will tell you that the Cap is the Marvel equivalent of Superman. This one man wrecking machine is on a mission to save Prisoners of War and defeat the evil HYDRA unit, a group headed by the maniacal Red Skull. A man so diabolical he makes Hitler look like one of the Care Bears.

Like Thor before it, SEGA have taken their time to create a 3D version of Captain America for the Nintendo 3DS. However in taking an extra 6 months to deliver something of an improvement, what is presented to us is a condensed version of the somewhat disappointing Wii incarnation. A few changes have had to be made of course, the camera has been freed somewhat, appearing to be less fixed on the Captain’s behind.

The camera, although less rigid is still “stuck” behind the Captain’s backside which makes exploring a pain. Not that backtracking or exploration is something that will be happening on a regular basis. The game has a very liner approach, with each mission progressing through the castle peice by peice. The extras such as Finding POWs, disabling bombs and the “hidden” challenges are always on the path of the level and require little exploration, and the reward for completing each of the challenges is always some form of artwork.

The hidden Zemo challenges highlight another big problem with Captain America. They revolve around breaking as many targets as possible in a specific time by using the primary weapon – the shield. The targeting system has been moved clumsily from pointing at the screen with the Wii Remote, and placed into the 3DS’s touchscreen. Because of the camera issues, to target anything at all is a clunky and time consuming practise that is just infuriating when under pressure from a countdown clock.

Targeting problems aren’t the only thing our American Captain has to worry about, he may well be a Super Soldier, but he isn’t half slow when scrapping with the Nazis. With a fight system based on the brilliant Batman: Arkham Asylum, the idea is to bash one button and counter when prompted. However where this comes unstuck is that Batman is tight and responsive in his movements. Captain America is slow on the uptake which results in a punch to the head to the character.

A punch to the face doesn’t solve the Captain’s woes either. The environments are an offence to the eyes. Just like in the Wii version, everything is a colourful shade of grey. Running around a castle one would expect colourful paintings, beautiful murals hanging from walls, or even a lush carpet or two. Nothing of the sort in this game. The walls are bland and lifeless and the castle is just filled with the odd chair or vase and enough scaffolding so that Jackie Chan can fight off 100s of baddies.

From the Wii to the 3DS, Captain America: Super Soldier seems to have worse graphics than was ever thought possible. Even the original Nintendo DS would have no problems pulling off the graphics. The 3D is non existent in the game. It makes no difference having the slider up or down which begs the question: where were the 6 months between the Wii and the 3DS versions spent?

With Thor, SEGA refined, developed and created a better game for the Nintendo 3DS than the console counter parts. Annoyingly, Captain America: Super Soldier isn’t the same story. It feels OK to play but ultimately it’s the console version we played 6 months ago. There are some saving graces, it is much harder to progress than the Wii version and the voice acting isn’t half bad. Time was needed on the targeting system, graphics and speeding up the Captain so he doesn’t get hammered in battles for no reason. As it stands, only the hardcore fans of Captain America will enjoy this outing as it remains mediocre, at best.