Marvel’s Avengers Hero Game: Winter Soldier Review by Ryan Balkwill

Video Games / April 15, 2023 / Leave a Comment

Voices: Scott Porter

Biography: 

Early Life

World War II

James Buchanan Barnes, Jr. was born to James Barnes, Sr. and an unknown mother. In 1942, Bucky was chosen as Captain America‘s sidekick at age 16 during World War II. While alongside Captain America on stopping a rocket missile from launching, they got separated and presumed to have died in action when the rocket explodes, whereas Bucky lost his left arm.

Cold War

While Captain America remains frozen on ice, the Soviets secretly found Bucky and brainwashed him into one of its Department X operatives, until the Red Room somehow found him and brainwashed him for their own ends as the assassin, Winter Soldier, and augmented him with a bionic left arm to replace the one he had lost during World War II. The Red Room often put Bucky on ice until a direct mission is given to him from their brainwashed protocol, particularly during a Cold War. Until the day when he was enlisted to train at Red Room’s facility, Bucky fell in love with Black Widow, who then secretly restores partials of the former’s humanity and past memories. However, the Red Room caught and separate both Bucky and Black Widow, whereas Bucky remains unfound, while Widow was saved by SHIELD and becoming one of the founding Avengers sometimes after Captain America was found on ice, alive.

Marvel’s Avengers

After A-Day

Through unknown means, Bucky somehow escapes Red Room and goes into hiding around the same year when A-Day occurred. Upon learning Captain America presumably died, he gave a eulogy at his funeral, which started as an account of how they met, but it turned into a tirade of rage and grief, as he felt that he was supposed to die first, before he stormed off, despite attempts by Black Widow to reassure him. Bucky was among those present during the fateful trial that resulted in the Avengers’ disbandment, when Bruce Banner admitted that the Avengers were guilty. Shortly before going undercover within the ranks of AIM, Black Widow sent a heartfelt message to Bucky, knowing that he wanted to talk to her. The effect of the message was that she was informing him that she was going undercover and likely would be for a long time, before apologizing for Steve’s supposed death and for everything that happened, acknowledging that such a message was “the coward’s way out”.

Bucky wants to redeem himself to honor his friend’s presumed death. Unfortunately, a newly build organization, AIM, or rather its mastermind behind A-Day, Monica Rappaccini acquired some of Red Room’s assets into brainwashing Bucky into Winter Soldier once again for two years until she secretly locked him to a research facility to have him be experimented. The only one who knew Bucky is brainwashed is Thor Odinson, but as his alias “Donald Blake”.

During a mission, a drone followed Bucky to keep tabs on him, much to his annoyance, as he felt that the drone was only interfering with his mission. At some point, he managed to escape AIM’s clutches, despite having no memory of who he was, only to be recaptured by Monica Rappacini shortly after. To obviate any reccurrence of that incident, she extended the Winter Soldier surveillance orders in the event of Winter Soldier acting against AIM’s interests to adding to their systems a file and a sleeper phrase which would allow them to control Winter Soldier if need be.

Reassemble

Three years later after Avengers has been reassembled, thanks to an Inhuman who became a new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, a facility that held Bucky captive is later revealed to be similar location like how Monica hidden Steve at a secret space station.

AIM’s Cloning Lab

After the Avengers fights MODOK one more time, MODOK uses his last remaining ounce of strength to reveal them the exact location of Bucky’s whereabout before presumably dies, allowing the team to rescue the latter, who believed that he was hallucinating when the Avengers were rescuing him. The Avengers brought him to the Chimera, where he later awakened and proceeded to adjust to his new surroundings.

A Dark and Heavy Star

On the Chimera, Bucky was adjusting to his new surroundings aboard the helicarrier, when he was interrupted by Black Widow, who asked him if he was making himself at home, to which Bucky confusedly assured her that he was. Black Widow then told him that she was surprised that he had chosen the Chimera to hide out, to which Bucky told her that it felt right. Black Widow then offered to take him on a tour sometime, before telling him that they should find Captain America, who wanted to speak to Bucky. Upon finding Captain America, the three of them convened at the war table, where Captain America welcomed Bucky back to the Avengers, to which Bucky mentioned that he thought that he was hallucinating when the Avengers rescued him, to which Cap mentioned that he had done the same before. Bucky then made it clear that he would not be staying on the Chimera very long. When Cap told Bucky that he was welcome to be a part of the Avengers, Bucky abrasively reminded Cap of the methods used by the Red Room to brainwash him, specifically mention of a string of words. He then revealed that Monica Rappacini still possessed these protocols, meaning that one phrase could result in him turning on his allies, therefore there would be a chance of a recurrence of this brainwashing, to which Black widow proposed finding and destroying the protocols, to which Cap concurred, as the avengers have succeeded in destroying Monica’s plans before. Bucky then told Cap and Black Widow that he remembered little of the past 2 years he spent working for AIM, and the information he did remember would not be very helpful. Black Widow then revealed that she had recently found something suspicious on one of AIM’s Riotbots, namely, a file titled “ZimaZephyr Backup” that she had not seen elsewhere. Unfortunately, the file was corrupted beyond analysis. Bucky dismissed this as being nothing, to which Nat partially agreed, but the file name seemed suspicious, to which Bucky agreed, and revealed that “Zephyr” is what the Winter Soldier program had been called, and mentioned that “Zima” meant winter. Nat then reminded Cap and Bucky that any suspicious activities conducted by AIM would warrant an investigation. Cap the mentioned that he would be glad to destroy some of AIM’s robots anyway, as his sandbag had been feeling soft of late, to which Bucky teased the former about it, calling it a “tanking column of concrete”, to which Cap insinuated that Bucky was out of practice. At this, Bucky challenged Cap to a bet: whoever destroyed thirty robots first would buy lunch for the team, to which Cap quipped “I hope you like Coney Island hot dogs.”. Believing that AIM’s riotbots may hold information on Monica’s brainwashing protocols, the Avengers targeted the riotbots specifically in sporadic locations around the globe.

Ultimately, Bucky ended up winning the bet and took the team out for pizza. Upon reconvening at the war table, Cap admitted to liking the pizza that Bucky had bought for the team, but he quipped “But I’ve had better.”, to which Bucky teasingly threatened Cap. At this, Nat refocused the 2 and told them that one of AIM’s riotbots that they destroyed had a copy of the “ZimaZephyr Backup” file, leading Cap to deduce that the 2 riotbots that possessed the file were paired, to which Nat concurred. Bucky then asked what was on the file, to which Nat replied that there was little that they did not already know. Bucky then mentioned that a set of orders is meaningless with no objective, and inquired about the riotbots and AIM’s Drones, and what the robot containing the file was doing, to which Nat concurred, and Bucky suggested that they start targeting the drones specifically, believing that they may hold more clues on Monica’s Winter Soldier protocols.

The Avengers eventually succeeded at finding the ZimaZephyr Backup file. Cap, Nat, and Bucky reconvened at the Chimera war table once more, where Nat looked up the file, which Bucky examined, and deduced that the robots were not paired as the team had originally surmised, but that the riotbots followed the drones, which followed Bucky himself. Bucky’s attention was then drawn to a part of the file which instructed how to subdue the Winter Soldier, much to Nat’s confusion at the prospect of Monica needing to subdue Bucky, when he was already under her control to begin with already. Bucky read the file aloud and found that the instructions referred to contingency protocols “in the event of non-compliance”. The file itself read as follows:

“To subdue the Winter Soldier in the event of non-compliance, engage backup protocols: Riotbot to relay submission algorithm phrase: “Sputnik”.”

Upon reading the word “Sputnik”, Bucky suffered a brief episode. When Cap and Nat refocused Bucky, the latter told them that the word “Sputnik” reminded him of a particular memory. He recounted a mission where an AIM drone had been following him, much to the latter’s annoyance at the drone’s presence, as he felt that the drone was interfering with his mission. He then went on to mention that Monica’s programming was imperfect. He then recounted that he escaped from AIM, but he did not know who he was. However, shortly after his escape, he had been recaptured by Monica, who outfitted her riotbots with the ZimaZephyr Backup file-and the sleeper phrase used to control him-in the event of him acting against AIM’s interests, to discourage him from escaping again. When Nat asked Bucky for more details, Bucky mentioned that Monica had a particular base for her brainwashing protocols based in Siberia, Russia. Cap then told Nat and Bucky that they would have to work quickly, as it would be heavily guarded. Nat then revealed her plan to hack AIM’s global databank, sending a program and a virus to erase the brainwashing protocols for good. Cap then explained that while the Avengers would be hacking the databank, the virus would replace the brainwashing protocols with recordings of Hardbass music, much to Cap’s confusion, and Bucky’s amusement. Bucky then suggested that the Avengers proceed with their plan, musing “Siberia’s not getting any warmer.”

The Avengers then proceeded to storm AIM’s base in Siberia which contained the brainwashing protocols and they successfully erased the protocols from their global databank, thus ensuring that AIM would never brainwash Bucky, or anyone else ever again.

Cap and Nat were pleased with the team’s success, but Bucky explained that the protocols were only one of two parts of the brainwashing, the other part being the receiver algorithms in his mind, to which Cap proposed that these algorithms be removed. At this, Bucky challenged this by mentioning that the old Soviet doctors who implanted the receiver algorithms to begin with were neither trustworthy nor cooperative, and may possibly not even be alive anymore. At this, Cap mentioned that he knew someone who could help, to which Bucky quipped “Someone who wouldn’t want to scramble my psyche, given half a chance?”. At this, Nat clarified that they were referring to Dr. Jane Foster, as she had the skills and moral compass required for such a task. Bucky then agreed to talk with her. Cap offered to arrange a consultation, but Bucky politely insisted on handling the matter himself. Nat then gave Bucky Dr. Foster’s contact information.

Bucky arranged a consultation with Jane, who successfully removed the receiver algorithms from the former’s mind, much to Bucky’s gratitude. After this, Bucky returned to the Chimera, where Cap and Nat checked on him. Bucky then told them that the meeting with Jane Foster was uncomfortable at first. Nat then told Bucky that having someone in one’s mind is unpleasant. Bucky then told Nat and Cap that Foster was careful and calm and everything felt increasingly easier, until the proceedure was finished. Nat agreed that Jane is a good doctor, to which Bucky mentioned that he is grateful to her, and by extension, Cap and Nat, before offering to stay with the Avengers. Cap then left to go meet with Hawkeye for an unspecified activity.

Later that evening, Bucky talked with Nat. The former commented on the sunsets, to which Nat commented on sunrises and offered to show Bucky the best spots to watch, to which Bucky agreed. Nat then proceeded to check on Bucky, who told her that while he was glad that the algorithms are now out of his head, everything else felt heavier to him, and he was still pained by the memories of his past actions, to which Nat eased his pain, telling him that the past cannot be changed, as she spent years wishing that she could. She then encouraged him by telling him that they are more than the past. At this, Bucky told Nat that he still felt guilty at having failed to restrain himself from his past actions, and that he would have to live with that, which he felt he was ready to. He them vowed to fight to change the future, knowing the fragility of the present situation, and how much it meant. Nat assured Bucky that he is a good man, and told him that an avenger’s life is a busy one, to which Bucky replied that he simply needed a moment.

Abilities

Winter Soldier’s marksmanship and assassination skills are natural, much like Black Widow. However, upon being turned into a super soldier after losing his arm, he is equipped with a Bionic Arm on his left hand, which makes him almost as equals as Captain America’s skills. Thus, his skills are similar to his fellow soldiers Black Widow and Captain America, including Black Panther, with few from Hawkeye.


Relationships

Allies

Enemies

The Winter Soldier Character was Average.

Pros: They chose the obvious choice the last playable character for the game. His combat skills do look brutal and I appreciate having this version getting along with each member of the Avengers including his friends Nat and Steve. And Having All of his customisable outfits available to swap & change over where ever you want.

Cons: My only con is that I haven’t played him in the main game yet.

For the last time, Anyone who had a copy of the Marvel’s Avengers Video Game I recommend updating it right now so you can play as the Winter Soldier.

Rating: 6 out of 10 Stars

Ryan Balkwill:

Resident Video Game reviewer,

Level Best Art Café.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *