The Winter Soldier Is Back And Fans Aren’t Happy
Winter Soldier is back in Marvel's Avengers, but a lot of fans aren't happy with the character model.
2020’s Marvel’s Avengers journeyed a rocky road following launch, as gamers loved its multiplayer component but heavily criticized the lack of content in the game’s single-player campaign. Luckily, Square Enix didn’t sit idly, and they decided to rectify the lack of content along with some technical issues over the following months, but the game never really shined following the launch. Still, that doesn’t stop the company from churning out new content for the existing player base; however, the recent addition of the Winter Soldier has polarized the fandom.
According to Forbes, those dissatisfied with the addition of Captain America’s trusty side-kick turned deadly assassin, turned trusty side-kick once again take issue with the character’s model. The focus of the debate is the character model’s face and hair. We have to side with the disgruntled fans on this one since we’ve seen better animation and rendering of facial expressions and hair in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones — which was released in 2005. In fact, the Winter Soldier’s face is so generic and bland-looking that it practically looks featureless.
However, the real problem with the Winter Soldier is the hair, which looks so flat-ironed to the point that it’s practically a hoodie. Marvel’s Avengers is known for having issues with longer hairstyles. This is pretty surprising, considering that the game is developed by Crystal Dynamics, which worked alongside Eidos Montreal on the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, which absolutely nailed the hair physics.
Another good example of hair physics in gaming can be found in 2011’s Alice: Madness Returns, which might get its own TV series.
2017’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice absolutely nailed the fine hairs on the back of the protagonist’s neck, which was pretty admirable at the time. Crystal Dynamics could benefit from copying the competition’s homework when it comes to hair. Admittedly, Marvel’s Avengers is giving the Winter Soldier plenty of cosmetics, and players would be able to change his hairstyle — hopefully for the better.
It’s highly unlikely that Square Enix or Crystal Dynamics would consider issuing a patch to fix his hairstyle, but Winter Soldier is definitely in need of a haircut.
Apart from the bad hairdo, the fans are actually excited about the Winter Soldier’s debut in Marvel’s Avengers. He’s conceptualized as a purely assault-focused hero and a massive damage dealer, with plenty of different build and playstyles that would embody his characterization from the films. This includes ranged weaponry and hand-to-hand combat, and his move-set is evocative of Captain America and Black Widow, as they were both his training partners.
Apart from the fully developed character with his own skill tree and heroic abilities, gamers are also getting a whole new mission pack that leads them through the journey of the psychologically damaged Winder Soldier back to being one of the good guys, all while coping with the immense psychological trauma inflicted by his captors. And the reward for completing this mission chain is a cosmetic upgrade, which hopefully also implies a hairstyle change.
Marvel’s Avengers launched in 2020 as a beat-em-up adventure game for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Unfortunately, it didn’t fare so well, prompting Crystal Dynamics to issue a whole War for Wakanda expansion and PlayStation-exclusive characters to appease the fandom and retain the player count. Winter Soldier should arrive to the game on November 29.
