I am a huuuuuuge Captain America fan. Captain America was the first comic book I started reading on a regular basis, back when Mark Gruenwald had him in the black suit in the 80s. So, with the Captain America: The First Avenger movie coming out, and all the connected promotions, I am filled both with joy and terror, hoping they don’t suck. That said, if the movie is as fun as Captain America: Shield of Justice, a free Flash game available on Marvel’s website, I should not have too much to worry about.
The game is done from the perspective as if the Captain America movie came out during the Super Nintendo era. This ignores that Cap actually had a game that came out then, the much-better-in-the-arcade Captain America and the Avengers by Data East. While not quite as good as that one, CASoJ does deliver a pretty decent platform experience.
The game doesn’t deviate much from your classic platform style – moving from right to left on a 2D plane, jumping on platforms, and smashing any HYDRA enemies that get in your way. Cap has two main attacks, a shield toss from long range and a more powerful shield smash for close up. He can also duck behind his shield to avoid damage and do a super move, with the proper power ups, that kills everyone on the screen.
For the most part, the game is pretty easy. The goal of it isn’t to give you a challenge, so much as keep you looking at the ads on the side of the screen for Dunkin Donuts, which of course are not anywhere in my state, which means I had to get my sister to ship me a Captain America cup. The graphics are pretty and cutesy in a What If… Captain America Were Megaman? kind of way.
There are some minor control issues, but really, it is a free Flash game, so I’m not expecting much. I would also love to be able to hook up my game pad to play this game, but that’s not happening either. Also, although the music is pretty good, I’m 99 percent sure it’s not from Alan Silvestri’s score for the movie, which you can hear in the YouTube clip.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oDrB7agzhM&feature=player_embedded’]
So, end result, go play Captain America: Shield of Justice now and hope that Sega’s console version is anywhere near as good.
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