Captain America And The Avengers

In 1991, if you actively discussed anything to do with comics obsessively to people who didn't care, you would be at the receiving end of a Vibarnium shield. Nowadays however, people get that reference and Thor is now considered an acceptable role model for young children. (Especially young children who aren't aware they are frost giants) So perhaps it's fitting that I pander to an audience obsessed with a film about fighting aliens that have weak motives for invading earth.

Captain America and the Avengers came from a time when comic book plots didn't have to be grounded in some semblance of reality, where Hawkeye thought purple and blue were acceptable costume colours, where Nick Fury was white; where the destroyer armour hosted his own chat show. (discussions with destroyer) It's a game that doesn't try to win over the unconverted by offering hilarious quips from iron man, or jokes about Captain America not knowing about modern things. Which is just as well as the translation efforts courtesy of Data East prove that even the symbol of American justice (racism) cannot escape misguided dialogue translation. "It is you who is not escaping" says whirlwind after being ambushed by a group of heroes who have no intention of escaping...thank you Japan!

Avengers is your typical arcade scrolling beat em up, by which I mean after the initial euphoria of beating up the same non-marvel endorsed robot enemy for 20 minutes; you soon become aware that there isn't much else. The four avengers (Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man and the Vision) all play exactly the same. The only difference of course being that everyone wants to play as shiny Iron Man while Hawkeye is often neglected on account of archery not being a super power.

It's clear that Data East couldn't afford to splash out on many of the Marvel A-listers for this game so boss battles are fought against the likes of obscure favourites "The living laser", "Ultron" and "Klaw". Classic Marvel villains that laugh maniacally for extended periods of time and make puns out of their names. "You wont live against the living laser!", "It's time to face the long arm of the Klaw!", "You thought you could beat Ultron, you are Ult-Wrong!" and so on...luckily the red skull appears to remind you that Marvel is not all Klaw and Laser, but this is by the end of the game so no amount of Nazi/Communist sympathisers can save you from the boredom you've already experienced.

Captain America and the Avengers reminds us that adaptions of comic book franchises into any other medium don't always end well. The enjoyment of this game is very much short lived with most of the entertainment coming from poor translations and the occasional sound bytes courtesy of the Super Nintendo hardware. People who complete the game will be disappointed at the absence of an end of credit teaser, but given this was made in 1991, nobody cared who Thanos was anyway...SPOILER!

Marvel Vs Capcom 3

Back in those halcyon years of the Sega Dreamcast, the average fighting game fan was overwhelmed with choice. A choice severely stifled by a pad so ineptly designed for the average gamer, that anyone was a hadouken away from permanent carpal tunnel syndrome. Nowadays us poor gamers don’t get much when it comes to fighting games, the once annual King Of Fighters series has somewhat dwindled in popularity ever since it was realised they weren’t that good to begin with, Street Fighter 4 was essentially Street Fighter 2: Arsehole boss edition and Blazblue was Guilty Gear HD, replacing heavy metal music with heavy grating voice acting. But after a good decade of nothing along came Marvel Vs Capcom 3, a game which offers us gamers that wealth of fighting fun once more. X Box 360 fans will also receive the added bonus of having to play the game with a controller designed by a man who hates D pads

Alan Log- Mr Bill Spates, here is my controller what I’ve done. You will find it to be most “X-Boxellent”!

Bill Spates- I DO find it X-Boxellent, I do indeed! But hark, I am troubled by this unwieldy D-Pad…it is most unfavourable to my autistic, entrepreneurial thumbs

Alan Log- Fear not Mr.Spates, for all first party games require precise stick rotating, see for example Rotary Norris and the Heli-Bunch , round table traverser 3-D and Biggy Shackletons pro plate spinner. The future has no need for a D-Pad, because a D-Pad does not move forwards! (Unless it moves forwards)

Bill Spates- I am convinced and this meeting is adjourned…SO SAYS BILL SPATES!

Unlike many of Capcoms previous VS offerings, the upgrade to 3D (or 2.5D) guarantees work has actually gone into the game whereas previously, characters were thrown into games with the hope they would stick. No more recycled sprites which unfortunately means in terms of roster size, MVC 3 has taken a step down when compared with the second instalment. I’m sure many fans will forsake the removal of beloved cactus Amingo and remain perplexed at the continued inclusion of Shuma Gorath, especially as downloadable content. Some of the new character choices are somewhat bizarre too, while I am a self confessed M.O.D.O.K. fan even I question what characters were blackballed before they settled on the mongol headed technocrat that we all don’t know and don’t love. I find something unsettling in the degree of attention that has gone into shading M.O.D.O.K.’s face; it’s sobering to think that at some point during the production phase of this game, a developer was tasked with designing that gnarled countenance for weeks, perhaps even months. I can hardly bring myself to look at it for more than half an hour without needing a lie down so my heart goes out to this probably now deceased, or at least mentally scarred developer. A great relief washed over me however when I found out Zangief would no longer be present in proceedings, lumbering oaf characters are not my forte, and Zangief is the most lumbersome of oafs. Alas, inheriting his title is the slightly better, if not also slightly more homoerotic Haggar of Final Fight fame. Does his title as Mayor of a City named after a transit newspaper give him any advantage in battle? No…but repeated use of his spinning attack certainly does!

Because of modern times, games now have to feature some form of unlockable or additional content to justify paying the many sovereigns required to ensure Indy developers continue to make puzzle games that are clever and intuitive but ultimately not that good. Marvel Vs Capcom 3 has gone the way of so many half-hearted games by promising the addition of unlockable artwork. If I wanted to look at pictures of Super Skrull punching nothing in particular, then I would attend the Tate Skrull exhibit. But as it is, I don’t…I find Super Skrull to be somewhat crass and dismissive of any view which opposes the destruction of the cosmos and on the whole he gives Skrulls en masse a bad name. He needs to take a long hard look at himself, but not while using Sue Storms powers as he will turn invisible. All said and done however, he is one of the best characters in the game…two Skrumms up from me!

As the third instalment in the series, Capcom have added many new technical elements which only Asians will ever be able implement efficiently into any battle, it all plays very nicely and you’re never a photon shot away…from a photon shot of fun! We definitely haven’t seen the last of Capcom’s new 3D models which as of yet have not been prostituted to other VS titles, but expect a game featuring M.O.D.O.K. and a squad based cover system to top the Christmas charts this winter, 4 out of a potential 5 (I’m a member of) S.t.a.r.s.