Capes evaluation | PC Gamer

All one of the best superhero groups have one factor in frequent: everybody has their function. Whereas Wolverine’s charging in, claws flashing, Cyclops is up on a ridge taking pictures down lasers, Iceman is zipping round freezing foes, Jean Gray is delving right into a supervillain’s thoughts, and Colossus is body-blocking power blasts. 

That is what your squad of superheroes seems like in Capes as you are directing them in turn-based battles. From teleporter Rebound to psychic Mindfire to speedster Mercurial, every character is splendidly distinct, and securing victory means combining their distinctive powers to reinforce their strengths and canopy their weaknesses 

The “Capes” should not fairly your typical superheroes, nevertheless. They’re based mostly in King Metropolis, a near-future metropolis that is been dominated by a group of supervillains for many years. Beneath their oppressive regime powers are outlawed, with any civilian displaying indicators of getting them rapidly rounded up for a grisly destiny. Your crew is much less like a traditional crime-fighting group, and extra like a resistance cell—younger supers who’ve managed to flee seize and now struggle again towards the dystopian authorities to try to free their house.

The trail to revolution consists of a collection of story-driven turn-based technique missions—at all times a punch-up of some sort, however usually with a twist, reminiscent of stealth components, a race towards time, or civilians in want of safety. They don’t seem to be simple—it is the sort of sport the place while you first load up a mission and see an absolute horde of enemies arrayed towards you, it is pure to assume “How is that this even attainable?”. Half an hour later, after a number of makes an attempt, you lastly stand surrounded by defeated thugs considering “How did I pull that off?”.

The important thing to victory is at all times in getting essentially the most out of each member of your group. Their identities are excessive by design. Side, for instance, clad in crystal armour, can take assault rifle bursts with out flinching, whereas Rebound may be downed with only a few punches—however Rebound’s potential to teleport offers her mobility in contrast to anybody else on the group, and her backstab assaults do huge harm. Once they’re collectively, Side’s skills grow to be a toolset for holding her out of bother—taunting foes, trapping others with crystal growths, and defending her with crystal shields retains her protected sufficient to get in place to strike key targets.

With eight heroes out there to unlock (you will often select 4 to convey into every mission), and more and more harmful enemies arrayed towards you, the net of attainable combos turns into a splendidly layered fight puzzle. All types of complimentary mechanics add to your choices. Workforce Ups, for instance, let heroes straight mix their powers in the event that they’re bodily shut sufficient, unlocking new variations of skills. Use Mercurial’s Sprint whereas she’s close to the pyrokinetic Ignis and she or he’ll go away a path of flame behind her; backstab a goal with Rebound when Mindfire’s shut and he’ll thoughts management them into turning round to make sure she offers most harm. 

Every hero additionally has a unique method of charging Final power, the juice they should unleash their strongest assault, additional encouraging you to commit every character to their function. Side, for instance, is such a devoted tank that he expenses up each time he will get hit, whereas the storm-calling Weathervane will get a cost for each further goal he is in a position to catch together with his chain lightning assault. Lastly unleashing an Final—setting Rebound off on a teleport frenzy the place she backstabs everybody in sight, or unleashing an enormous storm with Weathervane—is a beautiful mid-mission dopamine hit, rewarding you for getting one of the best out of that character.

Tremendous troopers

Between missions heroes can improve their skills again at base, and also you’re free to replay outdated missions hoping to finish extra of the bonus aims, permitting you to grind for degree ups if you want. However crucially, upgrades by no means flatten the variations between the characters. Rebound, for instance, has three well being—regardless of how good she will get at teleporting and takedowns, she is going to by no means get any harder, at the same time as enemies grow to be more and more quite a few and harmful. That implies that she’s solely a few blows away from demise from the beginning of the sport proper to the top, holding her hit-and-run playstyle intact all through. 

It is these sorts of intelligent choices that hold Capes’ battles brilliantly tactical and riveting during. Nice pacing helps there, too—while you’re feeling just a little frazzled after a very difficult boss struggle or a cautious stealth mission, that is when the sport will throw you a giant dumb struggle towards an awesome horde and allow you to unleash satisfying havoc on them. It nearly by no means lets up on the problem, however developer Spitfire Interactive is nice at tickling totally different components of your strategic mind as you play, fairly than hammering on the identical one to the purpose of frustration.

The place the pacing sadly is not fairly as deft is within the story. There are lots of cutscenes in Capes, however only a few of them actually go wherever—act 2 of three takes up nearly all of the run time, and consists of far an excessive amount of meandering round with none clear thought of what the characters are attempting to realize, earlier than instantly act 3 brings issues to an abrupt shut. 

Broad themes of capitalism gone awry and systemic injustice work effectively sufficient as a framework, however particular person story threads inside that usually really feel incongruous. There’s a lot agonising from the characters about whether or not it is alright to kill supervillains or not, for instance—that is an overused superhero trope at one of the best of instances, however in a narrative a few violent riot advised within the medium of prolonged turn-based fights, it does not match in any respect. You will take down 30 thugs by electrocution, setting them on hearth, and hurling chunks of concrete at their heads, just for Rebound, whose preventing fashion is completely based mostly round sticking foot-long knives into folks’s backs, to provide you a lecture about when deadly drive is suitable. It is absurd, and solely turns into extra in order you uncover fairly how irredeemably evil the principle supervillains they’re so involved with sparing really are.

Sadly, lackluster presentation does not do the story any favours both. There is a plastic high quality to the characters, which mixed with stiff animation makes them appear to be motion figures. In fights, that is nice—the sport visually conveys what it must make fight run easily. However frequent cutscenes zoom in for face-to-face chats, forcing you to see each visible flaw because the heroes emote unconvincingly to the inconsistent dialogue. 

Actually, although, it isn’t the story that pulls you alongside—it is the depth of technique on provide. The drama is not within the cutscenes, it is in each nail-biting flip as you try to determine the right combo to get you out of one other nice mess. It may be a critical problem—for those who’re the sort of one who hates the thought of reloading the identical mission a number of instances searching for the precise method, this most likely is not for you. However meet it by itself phrases and Capes offers you 20-30 hours of splendidly substantial and engrossing superhero technique.