Skip To...
Capes by Spitfire Interactive is a real-time tactical roleplaying game about superhero vigilantes. It follows in the spiritual footsteps of Freedom Force (if you remember that from the early 2000s). This time around, Capes provides you with that classic strategy gameplay akin to XCOM and a vibe similar to sinister indie comic books from the late ’90s. It’s got kickass action right from the get-go and stellar art designs, but something just felt off about the entire experience. I got the chance to play through it and write out my thoughts for a Capes review.
Never Learned How to Get off The Ground
To break it down, the story follows a group of vigilantes led by superhero veteran Doctrine fighting against an evil government entity known as The Company. Clearly, your group is the good guy, and The Company is the bad guy, but that’s it. The story of Capes is simply one of good versus bad. A few underlying elements might make for cool side stories about individual characters, but that wasn’t done here. Unfortunately, the characters don’t make up for the story either.
You can control eight characters, each of which only differs in ability. The story never focuses on the characters individually, so you don’t get a feel for them at all. In many ways, everyone felt very similar. You can unlock additional conversations between different characters, but they don’t unveil anything important.
“You Can’t Keep Up!”
The gameplay was my absolute favorite part of Capes. It was fun and straightforward, and you’re given a huge punch right from the beginning. Working through different missions gives XP to the heroes involved, helping them become stronger. Some heroes even have special team-up moves with sweet cutscene visuals. The gameplay is definitely what the developers focused the most on, especially as you progress more and more. It can sometimes be absolutely brutal, forcing you to restart countless times just because you stepped into the wrong space. Want to start the game on Easy? Get ready for a harrowing adventure anyway.
A lot of maps have several enemies saturating a single location. Because of this, you’re asked to be incredibly careful about where you go and what moves you use. Otherwise, you’ll be ganged up on by a ton of enemies. I found that there’s a pattern to most of the missions, but it can still be challenging.
Straight Outta Comics
I absolutely love the art style that developer Spitfire Interactive decided to go with. The character artwork feels like something I’d see in an Image comic. I only wish that they had more expressions. When translated to the gameplay, I thought that the levels were well-designed and fun to explore. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the character sprites themselves, but I absolutely loved how the comic book vibe was translated. You have your speech bubbles when characters speak and panel inserts when something happens. I couldn’t have asked for more.
Back to the sprites, I felt that they only made cutscenes feel a little goofy. The voice acting is so well done that it seems unnatural when paired with the emotionless, stiff models.
A World of Vigilantes and Tactical Brilliance
You get a solid 30-40 hours of gameplay with Capes. Paired with the challenging and ever-changing gameplay (depending on who your hero combos are), an engrossing adventure awaits. I can’t say that I walked away from gameplay sessions feeling particularly attached to any characters though. That said, I don’t think that was the game’s purpose with all the varying character abilities and combos. The gameplay was stellar and had me replaying levels over and over again because I just knew that I could beat it the next time.
Capes is one of the few instances where I really value the gameplay over the story. However, if the gameplay for Capes wasn’t as great as it was, then this would have been a much different review.
Capes (PC Reviewed)
While the storytelling for Capes might not be up to par with the comics that it takes inspiration from, the real fun lies in how well-structured the gameplay is. Before long, you really do forget everything going on outside of missions and enemy encounters.
Pros
- Diverse cast of characters with differing abilities.
- An engaging and action-packed tactical gameplay style.
- Incredible art direction that takes insipration from beloved comics.
Cons
- The character models were incredibly stiff at times.
- The story was not really there and didn't motivate me to care about it.
