Captain America: The First Avenger reviewed

NOTE: This was shown in glorious 2-D

Another piece of the Avengers assembly is finally....err assembled with Captain America: The First Avenger.  Even in this horrible glut of superhero movies this year, it's a fair chance that one may be a bit tired of it all.  I know I was beginning to tire of it but I know I have to see a Marvel movie since it all leads up to the Avengers in 2012.  So I plopped down with low expectations and wanted to see the Avengers trailer at the end.  But I was kinda shocked and surprised that it turned into a grand, entertaining adventure with lots of old-fashioned derring do.

Steve Rogers is a 90 pound weakling that even me and my pathetic muscles can beat up.  He wants to fight for his country during World War II but he, rightfully, keeps being rejected for being small, weak and full of many diseases.  But he keeps trying and some German scientist refugee offers him a chance to be something special, a super soldier.  And before he knows it, he turns into Captain America., a propaganda machine!  And then he actually joins the battle against Hydra, a splinter group from the Nazi's, that's lead by the evil Red Skull, the first person to be given the super serum.  Then a whole bunch of good-old fashioned American ass-kicking follows.

The movie actually takes its time to set up the situations and characters so nothing is forced through at break-neck speed....except the POW's-cum-Commandos but that's fairly understandable.  The movie does go through with some decent pains to develop Steve Rogers into a weak man with a good heart into a superhero....with a good heart.  The action scenes are crisp, clear and a hoot to watch.  The movie truly shows the it's all about having a good time when it comes to the action.

The acting all-around is almost as good as the first Iron Man movie.  Chris Evans really sells his transformation and Steve Rogers as a good man.  But then again, I always thought that Evans was underrated and he could always be counted on for his charisma and charm at least.  Tommy Lee Jones as the gruff military officer is pretty much Tommy Lee Jones and that's always fine by me.  Hugo Weaving is deliciously entertaining as the Red Skull who knows how to play the evil up.  Everyone else is fine.

While both Iron Man movies had Robert Downey Jr's. remarkable performance, Thor had amazing Shakespearean overtones and The Incredible Hulk had smashing, Captain America also has something special.  This is really good entertainment.  It does everything it's supposed to do, it sets up The Avengers, it's action-packed, it sets up Captain America and it's just plain entertaining.

8/10

Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

I started playing this line of games back when it was only X-Men Legends, and ever since Legends 2 they have never been quite the same, and that goes in a bad way. After waiting a few years after the disappointing Ultimate Alliance, I found 2 to rent and gave it a try.

The Good:

Character Selection: It's got a good variety, although you have seen most of them before in the previous game. They're well voice over and when they actually have their own original dialogue, it's pretty good.

On the Fence

Action: It's still the beat'em up rpg we know, but the environment is only destructible enough to get extras experience point, unlike Legends Two, I can't throw people through walls, in fact for some reasons I can only throw them forward. Lame. Of top of that the fusion combos, although cool, are similar animations reused to look different, but I'll get into that nugget in a moment.

Animation: Right from the first cinematic, it's lazy, it may look good but it moves clumsily and just looked half attempted. It does get better as the game goes on, but there wasn't a good first impression. Apart from the cinematic, the Fusion power animations are rehashed as well with slightly different elements depending on the characters used. I would rather have fewer character with unique animates than 20 something characters with reused parts.

The Bad:

Story: It pulls from the comics, but even with my varied knowledge of that storyline, I know already there are changes, and a lot was either altered or left out. I'm a big stickler for such details and warping a story to make a cheap video game kinda sucks. On top of that it takes way too long to get through for what little substance there was, which leads me too,

Recycling: After the first couple of hours its apparent they are recycling bad guys, animations for characters, and it just become boring, and almost a chore, to get through. The story might be the only thing pulling you through, and some last minute additions to the roster might come through might keep your interest to keep the game.

Characters: Okay, yeah I covered this, but when you assigned practically the same moves to four different characters, it's obvious, the RPG elements are stripped down, and I don't really connect with any of them since I have to go through the dossier's to get info on why they chose their side of the Civil war.

The verdict: I felt very detached from this game and was unsurprisingly disappointed. If you're a hardcore Marvel fan then of course you'll play it, but if you're hardcore comics, then you might cringe from the changes and lackluster polish the title. It feels like they re-skined and reduced from the first U.A., it was dull enough that by the time I finally got through it i didn't want to go through the other side of the story. Rent it if you must, but don't waste your money buying this for more than 10 bucks or so.