I don't always care about the morality of my decisions but it is nice to see them reflected in certain games.

Take New Vegas, for example. I didn't find myself helping the NCR promote democracy because it was "the right thing to do". I did it because I liked democracy just as much as they did. Helping an alpha male warlord like Caesar take over didn't line up with my preferences. Plus Howard Hughes (or whatever his name was, I forget) had all those cool robots. Of course they wound up under the control of Yes Man soon thereafter but...anyway.



I think you see my point. Morality doesn't necessarily have to be a factor in the decision making process. As a matter of fact, it would be completely fair to say that some of us do shit almost purely for the lulz.

To be completely honest, I have to admit that my way of thinking isn't necessarily dependent on traditional concepts of good and/or evil. Sometimes I like to maim bad guys simply because fuck bad guys, that's why. On the other hand, becoming the bad guy is...well, it's just kind of boring, really. Why go after civilians, for example? There's no sport in it. They can't fight back and it's not like you get points for them. Taking over the world? Ha! Why would any sane man want to be cursed with such a responsibility? The surest way to make yourself a slave to everyone, is to let them think of you as their master. After that they'll blame you for every shortcoming their lives may have, be they real or imagined.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I simply enjoy playing the good guy. Not out of a sense of responsiblity or honor, but because it's more fun that way. Plus I'm less than forty-eight hours away from opening up Arkham City and I'm thinking, would it really add anything to the experience to be able to play Batman as "evil"? What would he do then, carjack people? HA! He can basically fly already. So why bother? And who's to say that he's not evil already? Doesn't he operate from mostly selfish motivations to begin with?

Think about it. Let's say you're Tommy Vercetti, and you've already won what you wanted from Vice City. The nicest cars, the biggest mansion, any woman you meet. What then? Would you just sit back and wallow in the decadence of it all? You'd eventually get bored, you know...then one night, you might find yourself thinking.

About how you miss the challenge of the good old days, when you had to fight to survive on the street. Next thing you know, you're out there in highly modified body armor beating the raw shit out of dangerous criminals simply because you can. Just for the thrill of it all, the "lulz" as they say.

And really...that's not such a bad thing, now is it.

Last night I collected a few things I had become bored with and traded them in towards this. I also...um, borrowed a digital file of the film from some friendly internet stranger as well. Wound up getting the movie and the game for less than a pack of cigarettes. Awesome!

Before watching the film, I played through an hour or two of the game and enjoyed it immensely. As the official Destructoid review points out, it borrows heavily from Arkham Asylum. It has Zemo's diaries instead of patient files, similar challenge modes, fighting mechanics, etc. This could be taken as a criticism; however, I see it as a good thing. Not only does it take what worked from AA, it manages to improve on its design in a few key areas.

First of all, the boss battles are quite a bit more fun. The "fight lots of little guys...oh look here's a big guy" formula that Batman has to deal with becomes genuinely boring, especially after several playthroughs. I've often found myself wishing that he could fight boss battles that challenge him on some other level than pure strength. Cap's game design evolves its influence nicely by matching him against enemies that challenge him with skills and techniques all their own. His battles against classic villains such as Baron Von Strucker and Madame Hydra are played out with special moves and close-up camera angles that add a sense of uniqueness to each fight.

For example, using Cap's Weaponize ability against Madame Hydra causes him to lock her arms behind his and spin her around, making her shoot her own henchmen. The contextual attacks make every encounter an experience of its own, which is a lot more fun than having to fight the same giant guy every time you turn a corner.

Hey look here's a video! Let's all pretend I knew how to embed it properly

I also love how playing as Cap frequently provides a visceral sense of having knocked someone right the hell out. Batman has that slow motion thing he does when striking down the last enemy of a group, but it pales in the shadow of Cap's "I just broke your whole damn face" power strikes. You can use these at any time, provided you have the meter charged, and when you do it's like seeing someone get hit by a red white and blue truck. He gets the slo-mo effect from AA, along with damage effects such as seeing parts of the other guy's mask and helmet go flying across the room. It's also really loud and sounds like a car wreck. Good, good stuff.

Also noteworthy is his shield throwing. Good Guy Steve has a variety of ways to put this thing upside yo' head. There's the usual aim and throw of course, but the move that made me giggle like a child first time I saw it was the focus aiming. Remember how you could line up your shots in Red Dead Redemption? You could tag a number of targets, then press fire to hit them all at once? Cap's version is much more impressive. He does basically the same thing, only the camera follows the shield in flight as it bounces from skull to skull to skull. SQUEE!

Plus you can throw the thing without even aiming it and it'll ricochet off half the guys in the room anyway. This is a hell of a lot of fun in the timed challenge areas, because once you've upgraded it you can take out a dozen enemies in like, ten seconds. Just chuck the shield at the rank and file generic enemies and by the time you've crippled the most dangerous enemy present, everyone else will be down. Just like the comics!

To sum up - Nick Chester gave this a 6.5, but I bump it up two full points for face-smashing patriotic glory; also, because this is my blog and I can do that! Feel free to call me unprofessional if you want but I'll probably just laugh at you because I don't even work here.

Also, a few brief thoughts on the film. Chris Evans nailed it. Dude, I haven't been that moved by a guy playing a superhero since Christopher Reeve. Hugo Weaving was gloriously inhuman as the Red Skull, and I like how they adapted Bucky's role because it would've been weird to see Cap fighting Nazis alongside a preadolescent boy. Most of all, I'm really glad they changed the costume. I never realized how wrong the original would look on film until I unlocked this after finishing the game:


inb4 lol sir your cell phone camera sucks

That might have worked for the celebrity sequence where he's throwing fake punches at an actor playing Hitler, but as far as the "for real" version? Er...hell no. It's pretty cool for an unlockable though.

In closing,

8.5