The Wii isn’t the only console to get a new Captain America game. Griptonite Games is developing the DS version of Captain America: Super Soldier. The DS game offers a variety of gameplay types, including stealth and old fashioned beat-em up action.

All of the game's modes offer side-scrolling 2D gameplay, even though the graphics are rendered with polygons. For a DS game, everything is nicely animated, and there are some well-detailed backgrounds (one level had a giant aircraft carrier in back). In the main beat-em up mode, players can punch, kick, and throw their enemies. Captain America’s fluidity of movement and ability to sweep kick enemies sort of reminded me of the combat in Street Fighter. If players are fighting well, they will build up a superhero meter, which, when filled, lets you unleash a powerful attack that will clear the screen.

Of course, Cap can also throw his shield to knock around enemies. There are some puzzles where players will have to bounce the shield against multiple walls to hit a target.

To break up the normal action stages, there are levels where your character runs forward on autopilot in which your only controls are the ability to jump and a temporary dash that can rush through enemies. In the one stage of this variety that I saw, you have to jump from platform to platform and would occasionally come upon a group of enemies to rush through. You could almost characterize this type of level as a bonus stage.

Another type of stage is the stealth level where you must avoid being seen by enemies and cameras. Many of the cameras swing left and right so you have to patiently wait until the cameras move to sneak underneath. When an enemy isn’t looking in your direction, you can tiptoe over to them and then knock them out. It’s easy to walk slowly around in this type of stage, but to move faster you must double tap the d-pad in the direction you wish to go. I felt this control scheme didn’t work perfectly and led me to sometimes run way too fast into a camera’s line of sight.

I had the chance to play one very difficult boss battle. Captain America has to defeat a mechanized robot who spit fire. You need to use your shield to hit a girder, which collapses on top of the mech. Once dazed, you can melee attack the boss before he can get up again. If you remember the first boss in Altered Beast, the mech also has a similar attack where he causes garbage to fall from the sky, which you must quickly sidestep.

One of the developers was on-hand and said that the game will take approximately four to six hours to complete on the first playthrough. Replay value will be found in searching for hidden collectibles throughout the levels. Captain America: Super Solider could be a fun little action game for DS.