Rating

B

Specific Ratings

GameplayA
GraphicsD
Learning CurveA
Replay ValueA
SoundC+

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Well done gameplay
  • Fairly simple controlls
  • Good use of the Licence
  • Good Music and Sound Effects
  • Great Replay
Cons
  • Poor Graphics
  • Rediculously Bad Voice acting

Captain America and the Avengers (Genesis)

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Summary

Avengers Assemble.. for a solid beat-em-up experince

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Description

In 1991, Data East whipped out a little beat-em-up for the arcade based on Marvel Comic's popular superhero team. The game was apparently a runaway success with the critics, the players, and the operators. Data East did a massive porting of it to home consoles. The NES and Game Boy got butchered versions, while the Super NES version suffered from weaker controls and darker graphics. So this left us with the Genesis port, which is far from perfect, but is still a lot of fun.

The graphics of Captain America and the Avengers are really weak, especially considering what the Genesis is capable of. The sprites of both heroes and villains are small, lack detail, and generally just look bad. The game moves at a very steady clip with little slowdown. The graphics are certainly not what one would hope for from the Genesis, but they get the job done.

The Sound is a mixed bag. The music is driving and up-beat; well suited for this kind of game. The sound effects, although lacking certain "oomph", do the job. This game also has limited voice acting; which was a trend that was just catching on in small amounts at this time. The voice acting, while cool because it is there, is incredibly cheesy and poorly acted. The voice acting would be unforgivable in an animated film, but in this game it works well.

The game controls very well. Using standard beat-em-up controls, you can accomplish almost anything you want your avengers to do. The controls consist of 1 attack button, one jump button, and using a combination of the two for special attacks, such as throwing Captain America's Shield. You also use the same button combination for jump-kicks, but mastering the scheme so that you can use your special attack and jump-kick separately takes little time. You can also block projectile attacks by holding down your attack button, which causes you to lose your ability to move. Controls are somewhat customizable, so that makes the game a little easier.

The story of this game is simple. Red Skull is attempting to take over the world once again, this time using a brain control device on super-villains and a giant laser on the moon. It is now up to the Avengers to stop him and beat the living daylights out of his lackeys. Don't worry if you do not recognize most of the villains and extras in this game. The Avengers' gouges gallery isn't as instantaneously recognizable to the average person as Spider-Man's or The X-Men's, but the plot is designed so even if you don't know the story by heart, you can still have a blast. If you are intrigued, I recommend that you pick up one of the paperback collections (Marvel Essentials or Marvel Masterworks) of The Avengers, so you have a better idea of what is going on.

The game play is simple, yet well-done. Through five stages, you go right and clobber foes as one of four Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Vision) in a style similar to Sega's Streets of Rage games, with horizontal-scrolling shooting sections put in to break up the regular parts of the levels. You have several attack choices, but you’ll find that regular punches are almost worthless, and your special attack is best only for long range. I found myself using jump-kicks a lot of the time. Jump-kicks seem to do the most damage, which is sort of weird, but it's still enjoyable. The game has a moderate difficulty, and an adjustable amount of continues and adjustable difficulty. This game is somewhat challenging, especially when you reach the last bosses. This game is short, with only five stages, however, the game is designed to be played repeatedly on and off, which gives strength to the title.

Overall, Captain America and the Avengers is a good game, but not the best of its kind. If you already have Streets of Rage 2, and you are looking for some good beat-em-up action, or you are a fan of The Avengers, get this game. You can get it for a pretty reasonable price ($3-7, depending on where you get it), and how can you say no to a good game at a good price?

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