Captain America and The Avengers (Asia Rev 1.4) Review by: Eirinn - 9/10
A real must playCaptain America and the Avengers is a classic beat 'em up style game, but it's far from average. And while you may have played plenty of games in this genre, don't write this one off as another clone. It's not just another fist swinging, face busting, baddie pounding, beat 'em up, it's got enough fresh stuff thrown in there to put it in a league of it's own. Indeed, this is by far, my favorite arcade game I've found. And I believe you'll understand why, once you give it a shot too. The story begins with Red Skull brain washing a powerful army to help him destroy the Earth. Who will save us? Why, the Avengers, of course!
Begin game. You drop in with your chosen hero, and in pour the floods of bad guys that you must pummel to advance further into the level, where you must...pummel...more...bad guys. Seem repetitive? Somehow, it never really feels like it. And though this sounds like typical beat 'em up stuff, as I said before, this game is far from being another beat 'em up copycat. There are, as you'd expect in this type of game, items lying around, that can be used as weapons. No reusable weapons though, just items that you can pick up and throw at the enemies. Reusable weapons aren't really needed though, as each hero enters the game armed with their own special abilities, which you can use by pressing the jump and attack buttons simultaneously. This is where the game begins to seperate itself from the the rest of the beat 'em up pack. These items never run out of ammunition, there's no penalty for using them (such as lost health), there's no "special" meter to fill up, or power up that replinishes a special attack counter. Nope, what you see is what you get. You can use these attacks all you want, and they're a blast to use, not to mention pretty effective. The special attack you get depends on which hero you select, Captain America can throw his shield (which always returns to him, like a boomerang), Vision can fire solar beams, Iron Man can fire lasers (or at least what appears to be lasers. You Iron man fans can feel free to correct me there), and Hawkeye can of course fire arrows. My personal favorite was Captain America, partly because I'm very patriotic, and partly because he's just an awesome fighter. At the end of each level, you face a boss and oftentimes, you face a miniboss or two (sometimes at the same time) as you progress through a level. I believe at one point, I actually faced three minibosses in one level, and two of them attacked together. Along the way, you will encounter fellow heros who will help you out, often by throwing you extra health power-ups, sometimes by granting you transportation or information, and sometimes by fighting alongside you. Co-op help dropping in out of nowhere? Yet another thing that puts this game ahead of the competition. As for variety, there are a nice array of foes to face. I can count around twenty, just going from memory. There's so much more that I could say, but perhaps we should move on to rating.
Graphics: 10/10
Incredible.
The graphics here are awesome. For a game made in 1991, the graphics are top notch. The color selections are very nice, and the variety is nice too, especially when there are several characters on screen simultaneously. I also loved backgrounds. There is often so much detail put into the backgrounds that it just makes the gamer in me smile. Awed at the awesome details in such an old game. I especially love the background in the flying portion of the second level. I couldn't get enough of that background, especially when it was paired with the ocean. The whole scene really is quite beautiful for a game's scenery. Finally, I loved the particle effects. The standard flash type effect when a bad guy catches a flying fist from one of our heros wasn't bad at all, and fit the comic book style graphics and feel of the game perfectly. Not to mention the way the windows shatter, the flames of burning cars, the brick wall being torn down in the first level, and the explosions. And the explosions vary in size and effect, depending on what item is being destroyed. To say this game wowed me visually would be an understatement. These are some of the best graphics I've seen in a 2D arcade game. I wouldn't mind seeing more games that look like this one, even in our polished 3D gaming age.
Sound: 10/10
Incredible.
The soundtrack was great. Some of the best music I've found in a game of it's time. Not just a bunch of blips and electronic sounds like you hear in many games from this time, but actual instruments, and they sound clear. The level tunes are nice, and the boss tunes are adrenaline pumping tunes that I could actually see myself adding to my Mp3 files. They're that good.
The sound effects were good as well, even though they were faded into the background a bit.
The voice acting: voice overs in a game from '91? Very nice. It wasn't so unusual to hear grunts and such in a game then, but to hear the characters actually dialoguing like this, was epic. And the quality of the voice overs was nice enough as well. The quality of the voice acting was about the same as you'd hear on an Avengers cartoon as well. The sound was all around solid, which I must admit, surprised me. They tried to pull so many things off, even stepping out into the difficult to pull off (back then) voice overs, and they managed to pull it all off nicely.
Depth: 5/10
Average.
There's actually alot of variety for an arcade game here. While in most beat 'em ups, you just beat up the bad guys, and go. Pretty straight forward. And in this one, you do the same, but with the ability to have up to four players (as opposed to the standard two), the special abilities of the heros, as well as not only giving you the standard street fighting scenes, but also flying and underwater scenes, and the ability to get Wasp to help you (you control both your hero and Wasp simultaneously during these moments). All of this together adds up to a pretty good amount of depth for a game of it's kind, and an amazing amount of depth for an arcade game. All in all, a five is the least I could give it and be fair.
Addictiveness: 10/10
Incredible.
I really hate to keep handing out the tens like this, but I have to be honest and fair here. This game left me planning on playing more. This is the first time an arcade game made me feel like playing again, even after I beat it, but it definitely did. I will most certainly return to this one soon. In fact, it'll probably be the next game I play. And I don't see myself growing tired of it anytime soon. It's one of those games that makes you decide to make some self imposed challenges, and run through repeatedly on different self appointed missions.
Story: 10/10
Incredible.
Reading this review as I write it, is making me sick. I've handed out too many tens for my liking, but hey, this game deserves every bit of it. The amount of story here for a game of it's time is great, and for an arcade game, this amount of story is insane. There is a detailed explanation of the story at the start of the game, and even more story at the end of each level, plus a bit of story scattered here and there during actual gameplay. Also, the way the story is layed out in comic book form is genius. Each hero also has their own bio, which is always nice to see. My only issue with it, is that the text is far too fast for most people to manage to read all of it, which is the opposite of the problem I usually find with text based story sequences. Still a good story is a good story, regardless of scrolling speed.
Difficulty: 5/10
Average.
Actually, I find this game somewhat easier than this, but I may be more beat 'em up inclined, since I've played games of this genre all of my life. The controls are responsive, and the boss fights aren't too difficult. This could easily be a four or five in this category, so I'm playing it safe and saying five.
Overall: 9/10
Excellent.
This game is great, and my personal rating would be anywhere from 9.5 to 10. This is the best rating I've ever given a game in a review, and although it isn't my favorite game, it is definitely one of them. It has alot of appeal, and is alot of fun to play. There's not much left to say, but it's worth your time. Sit down, pop a few virtual coins in, and get ready for some fast paced fighting action.
In conclusion, this game is an incredible entry in the large library of Beat 'em up games. I highly recommend this game for any fan of this genre, and anyone who enjoys classic superhero comics, it will not disappoint. This one is a classic for the ages, that everyone should experience. Captain America and the Avengers is definitely a game I would put on my list of must plays.
Graphics
10 Sound
10 Addictive
10 Depth
5 Story
10 Difficulty
5
User Notice 
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