The Story

Captain America is the latest Marvel comic books franchise to hit the big screen this weekend and to mark the occasion, the blue superhero has been handed his very own app. Sentinel Of Liberty is a fairly simplistic action arcade game where Cap is charged with scrolling left to right beating up bad guys for 24 levels until his arch-nemesis Red Skull is defeated. He also has to rescue his buddies Falsworth, Dum Dum Dugan and Bucky but with names like those they probably deserved whatever time they spent in captivity.

The Experience

Sentinel Of Liberty is a fairly repetitive affair. Side-scrolling action games have been around for over a decade now and the very best ones always find a way to mix up the gameplay so you aren’t constantly running through endless aircraft hangers. The mere thought of Sewer Surfin’ from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time still brings a nostalgic tear of joy to our eyes.

Despite the one-note nature of Captain America’s adventures, it’s a note that gets played with all the aplomb of a scathing wail of feedback from Jimi Hendrix’s six-string. Smashing the hapless soldiers who stand in your way is a rousingly fast-paced routine which can be varied with a choice of hand-to-hand combat techniques. Our favourites are the slow-mo combination strikes which are detailed with some sweet cartoon splashes of colour, just to underline your enemies are getting a spanking.

The biggest strength Sentinel Of Liberty holds to its bombastic name is a hoard of unlockable content. An arsenal of day-glo costumes and vintage comic book covers are your reward for locating a suitable number of hidden HYDRA intel files. Scouting out the documents makes for a much more challenging game and breaks up the constant wave of adversaries with some neat platforming segments. Unfortunately after all that extra effort, an inability to expand the classic covers from their postage stamp size renders them nigh on impossible to read.

The Bottom Line

An unremarkable, if enjoyable dose of arcade action. There’s enough here to pique your interest for the imminent movie release but not much more. Job done then for Marvel.

Additional Info

Version reviewed 1.0.1
Requires Android 2.1 or higher

Download Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty from Android Market

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