Red, White, Blue, and Green?

Captain America: Red, White, Blue, and Green?
Can Captain America be successful in the modern world?

Watching the new Comic-Con footage for the upcoming Captain America game, you would be forgiven if you first think that the game is being developed by Rocksteady, the developer behind last year's Batman: Arkham Asylum. The similarities run deeper than the mere aesthetics of the games' dilapidated locales, extending to the “free-form” combat and the focus on acrobatics and cinematic presentation. Rocksteady is, however, hard at work on the sequel to Arkham Asylum, and the developer working on the title is a company called Next Level Games. Now, no one needs to be running around throwing out allegations of plagiarism, the guys over at Next Level Games are quick to admit that some of their design decisions were based on what had worked well in Batman, but can the things that worked for Batman translate to a Captain America game?

Perhaps the single greatest obstacle that Captain America has to overcome is his own nature. Cap is, in some ways, a relic of past propaganda, and the world has significantly changed since his debut. Batman is currently at the height of his popularity and the millions of copies that his game sold are partially a reflection of his current status at the top of DC Comics stable of superheroes. Batman reached acclaim by embracing the dark side of his nature, but Captain America by definition has little to draw from in that department. The character is based on nationalistic pride and, from what we've seen of the game so far, the game doesn't even try to tap into a dark mood. What the game reminds me of more than anything is the new Bioshock game. The only difference is that Bioshock is intentionally attempting to present its world as one of patriotic fanaticism, while Captain America seems to present that outdated view without the irony it necessitates.

To be fair, Arkham Asylum didn't plumb any new depths in storytelling either. The world of comics is particularly suited for story exhaustion: with new issues being published all the time, comic book writers have to struggle to come up with original ideas. At least Batman being trapped in Arkham is a plot that hasn't already been played out, Cap running around beating up Nazis who aren't actually called Nazis isn't very interesting. Captain America was introduced during the atrocities of the second world war and throughout the war, could be found beating the living daylights out of racial stereotypes. If the allies had a nickle for every Axis-of-Evil minion with a skull cracked by Cap's shield and fists, the war would have ended two years sooner.

It's hard to criticize a game that exists only as an alpha build, but I still question the feasibility of the game and, indeed, the film that that game plans to capitalize on. Perhaps it's not fair to compare the title to a game that is the best-reviewed superhero video-game of all time, but Captain America: Super Soldier will certainly have to do a lot to prove its worth. At this point, there's not a lot of information to go on, so all we can do is speculate, but the details will be revealed as we get closer to the July 2011 release date. What do you think about the future of Captain America? What do you think about the upcoming game? Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

--Tom

Image source: Marvel.com