assisted platforming
Captain America: Super Soldier and Captain America: Super Soldier
Aww yeah, it's a SHOVELWARE SHOWDOWN!
In the last two weeks, I started Captain America: Super Soldier for both the PS3 and Wii. At hour's end, I decided to keep playing each game, but with the expectation that I wouldn't actually finish either. As it turns out, I stuck with both through the credits. And I didn't do it solely for masochism's sake: movie license hex be damned, neither version of Captain America is mere shovelware. They won't be gunning for any Game of the Year awards, but they are games worth playing for the right price.
Okay, so they're not bad. But which version of Captain America: Super Soldier is the not baddest? The choice isn't as simple as HD versus SD, like in many Wii port afterthoughts: the parallels are there, but these are two very different games. In classic head-to-head style, check out how each of the versions stacks up against each other in their major elements.
Captain America Wii - Video
Last week, I checked out Captain America: Super Soldier for the PS3, a
decision based equally on hope and whatever horrible curiosity entices
people to play movie-licensed games. It was like approaching a derailed
train full of puppies: you can't look away from what's sure to be a
disaster, but also there's a chance everything turned out okay, and
wouldn't that just be wonderful?
Well, here we are again. Another game called Captain America: Super Soldier has been released for Wii. It has the same name and is capitalizing on the same blockbuster movie, but it's a very different game by a very different studio. The PS3 and 360 versions were handled by Next Level Games, a developer that quietly created some of my favorite gems of the generation (in addition to a few duds, apparently). In contrast, the Wii version was in the hands of High Voltage Software, a studio that hyped its first big project to high heaven before the final product would be condemned to gaming purgatory. Since then, the company has released an immediately forgotten sequel and made some noise about what will surely be vaporware in due time.
That said, I can't help but admire the ambition and genuine enthusiasm High Voltage Software brought to trade shows, even if it didn't translate into a worthwhile package in The Conduit. HVS also seems to be one of the few developers that actually took Wii development seriously at some point, so I suppose it's qualified to bring Captain America to Nintendo's neglected little box. My expectations are about as low as you can get, but I'm curious enough to give the game a try anyway.
And hey, video! Watch a superdeformed Captain America throw his mighty shield, solve some mighty puzzles, and even throw a mighty Shoryuken.
Captain America: Super Soldier - Video
I think I like Captain America because he's sort of the underdog. In a
universe of telekinetic superbeings and indestructible immortals, Cap's
basically just a buff dude with a shield with a penchant for punching
Hitler. I like to think he's Marvel's Batman, the mere man who needs
only his natural resourcefulness (and a liberal dose of super-steroids)
to be a star player in the superhuman leagues.
Apparently, Next Level Games sees a similar link between Bruce Wayne and Steve Rogers. Charged with developing the game that would tie into Captain America: The First Avenger, the developer appears to have taken some inspiration from Batman: Arkham Asylum. Among other details, Captain America's context sensitive combat style especially reminds me of the dark knight's award-winning game.
Despite favorable previews and some excellent games in the developer's back library, I haven't forgotten that Captain America: Super Soldier is a game with a movie license. Stunted development time, split effort across all systems, and NLG's inexperience with HD consoles kept my expectations low going into the first hour.
The following is a video sample of some early goings in the CA:SS story mode. See Cap fight, decode, and get his gymnastics on.
Infamous 2 - Video
I vividly recall some trials and frustrations in my time with the
original inFAMOUS (not the least of which was that horrible spelling
which will henceforth be abandoned), but overall I really enjoyed the
game. As much as the sticky platforming, messy mission design, and
transparent morality system bothered me, I ultimately had a great time
surfing on power lines, tossing electric grenades, and guiding a
concentrated lightning storm down alleys of soon-to-be-corpses. It was
inevitable that the game would get a sequel due to its ending (and the
sad, predictable nature of this industry), and I really hoped that
Sucker Punch would iron out a few of the teeth-grating problems I had
with the original.
Lo and behold, it's one month and two years later, and there's another Infamous game. Boasting a locale with more colors than gray, melee combat that's not completely worthless, and the promise of acquiring more elemental powers, Infamous 2 certainly seems like the kind of sequel that boasts incremental improvements over the original and hasn't yet worn out the franchise's welcome. Pretty typical of a "2," really.
I find it amusing that the game arrived in my mailbox last Monday, the same day that Sony featured a trailer from the game in its E3 conference. Shortly after their presentation, I had my first taste of Infamous 2. I grabbed three clips from my first hour: arrival at the new sandbox city of New Marais, the first new power tutorial, and an early choice between good and evil sidequests.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Hollywood and video games have never had a healthy relationship. Ever
since the Super Mario Bros movie ruined millions of childhoods, video
game franchises of all kinds have received blasphemous silver screen
adaptations. The latest mainstream abuse of a video game license comes
from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I'm not one to praise the
narrative of most games, but I really enjoyed the bittersweet fable of
the Prince and Farah that the 2002 hit presented. I've heard less
favorable things about the movie, and I don't think I want to see how it
ended up.
The existence of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
is the result of one of the strangest cross-media cycles I've ever
seen. The Forgotten Sands, a sequel to the Sands of Time video game, was
released alongside the Sands of Time movie, an unrelated adaptation of
the Sands of Time video game. Even stranger, Sands of Time already
has a pair of sequels (Warrior Within, and The Two Thrones), but Forgotten Sands apparently precedes them. Even strangerer, the Wii
version of Forgotten Sands is actually an alternate tale to the version
of the game available for PS3, 360, and PC!
I'm still trying to
wrap my head around all that. The plotline of the Sands Trilogy was
already mind-bending enough with all the time travel going on, but now
Hollywood's gone and made everything worse! Oh well. I guess the more
pressing topic at hand is just how forgettable Forgotten Sands is on the
Wii.
