Who knew being a super soldier could be so boring? In Captain America: Super Soldier, this is a lesson easily learned within the first few (extremely short) missions of the game. Cap is also pretty useless without his shield, and apparently excels at acrobatics. I have nothing against comic book video game adaptations, as long as they’re decent, and playable. Further still, a comic book video game adaptation based on a movie is an even more iffy endeavor. However, taking a few pages from one of the most tidy superhero games to date, Batman: Arkham Asylum, was a great design choice on Sega’s part. Unfortunately, in execution it didn’t pan out so well. Is that because Captain America isn’t as strong of a “brawler” character as Batman, or because too much time was spent on recreating the memorable pieces of Arkham Asylum instead of crafting a ground-up Captain America adventure? In short, I’d say it’s just because of pure laziness.
All posts in PlayStation 3
Review: Captain America: Super Soldier
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Review: Tekken 6
Tekken has long been a viable alternative to those who have strayed from the Street Fighter, Soulcalibur, or Mortal Kombat camps. Ever the dark horse of the genre, it’s been around long enough to avoid the typical pitfalls that riddle efforts considered unsuccessful by the community. With the advent of Tekken 6, that lucky streak seems to have been cut short. While the core gameplay is slick and enjoyable brawler, the pithy Scenario mode and overall presentation mire this flashy fighter in a mess of broken gameplay, dated graphics, and disappointing online play. While it may be enjoying great success in the arcades, I can’t quite recommend it as a console port.
Preview: Ninja Gaiden 3
Ryu Hayabusa has plenty of kills under his belt, and Team Ninja are looking to play off of that as they look to the past in Ninja Gaiden 3, as they explore the fan-favorite character’s past and personal history. As I sat down with head of Team Ninja, Yosuke Hayashi, for a brief chat about the upcoming hack-and-slash ninja nightmare, Tecmo Koei was kind enough to allow me to play through a demo on the PlayStation 3 aided by Hayashi-san’s expert advice.
Preview: NeverDead
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NeverDead seemed to me a bit like the spiritual successor to Beetlejuice, and I’ve never quite been sure why. Perhaps the main character, Bryce, resonates with that Michael Keaton-like energy – oh, and he can use his limbs as weapons. As we traipsed around the Sega booth and settled down for some hands-on with the frenetic limb-slinging third-person adventure, I quickly realized that the only comparison I could draw between the two pieces of media were that they both prominently featured death in some way, and that some bits were more frustrating than others. Unfortunately, the raucous fun of Beetlejuice wasn’t exactly evident in this demo build of the upcoming Devil May Cry-esque outing.
Preview: Aliens: Colonial Marines
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Aliens vs. Predator, an earlier Sega release that attempted to bring an authentic Aliens/Predator experience to our current-gen consoles, didn’t exactly thrill me. All of the components for a great game were there, like the killer license and mechanics that sounded slightly innovative, at least on paper. It ended up disappointing me, as I knew it would, so when Aliens: Colonial Marines (first announced so many years ago now) was available to take a sneak peek at E3, I jumped at the chance. Randy Pitchford, Sega, and members of the Gearbox team were on hand for a hands-off preview of the upcoming shooter, and I have to say I’m certainly on board for more.