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Captain America: The Winter Soldier is pap. And we’re not talking about a diluted version of pap here. This is 100%, extracted from an Amazon valley, out to shaft you wherever possible pap.
Gameloft has done a good enough job in making everything look all razzle dazzle. There’s some ‘interestingly’ done cutscenes with comic book cutouts, and the game itself has enough visual sheen to make you consider giving a thumbs up. But then you start playing the damn thing.
Following a standard ‘go here and get into a fight’ approach, it has multiple control schemes, all of which are utter gumpf. What’s more, half the time The Winter Soldier just plays itself. The idea is that you tap the direction you’d like to head in and the enemies you’d like to smack in the face – with that in mind, it’d be fair to assume there’s going to be some finger pressing going on. There isn’t.
You’ll massage the end of your finger across a mobile device and Captain Pap will eviscerate anything that happens to come between him and his target. I watched him annihilate a handful of goons after a single tap. What is this?
Worst of all, though, is the desire to try and get you to part with extra cash. In-app purchases don’t have to be evil, but when you’ve already dropped £1.99/$2.99, it’s not particularly pleasant to realise everything else – lives, upgrades, extras et al – is aimed at eventually asking for more money. Yes, there’s in-game currency to be obtained, but I’m sure you can imagine where the balance lies.
Go and see the film, dress up like your favourite superhero and, hell, cry like a baby if you ever see Chris Evans in the street. If you happen to run into anyone from Gameloft, however, maybe give them a piece of your mind instead. Or ask for your moola back…
Version tested: iOS on iPhone 5. Played for 90 minutes.
