Game: Capsized

Platform: PC

Publisher: Alientrap Games

Developer: Alientrap Games

ESRB: N/A

Genre: Stranded Spaceman with a Blaster

Players: 1-2

What's Hot: Captivating atmosphere, fast and tactical action, responsive controls, detailed artwork, exploration as a necessity of survival, extra modes and cooperative play

What's Not: No online components for play or leaderboards, guns could use more visual variety

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Review by: Brian Rowe

Calling Capsized a "2D action-platformer" and leaving it at that would be a disservice. Capsized is the journey of an astronaut struggling to survive on an alien planet after an emergency evacuation. It's a race to save your friends and a battle against the native inhabitants, who haven't taken kindly to your intrusion. At the same time, Capsized is an exploration of a world that is beautifully mysterious and dangerously familiar.

The tale of Capsized is told without spoken dialogue and barely a word of text, and yet, it evokes fear, hope, and wonder on a scale that many big-budget games struggle to approach. Much of this emotional impact can be attributed to the hand-drawn artwork of Jesse McGibney permeating every surface, background, and creature. Capsized looks good in video and screenshots, but you have to experience it up close for yourself to truly appreciate the intricacies and the layers of depth.

Like the soft pink petals of an oleander, the entrancing visuals mask a deceptively deadly game with fast and precise action normally reserved for first-person shooters, right down to the debate between controller and mouse. The mouse and keyboard combination provides the most responsive and accurate aiming, which you will desperately want, but moving and manipulating all of your equipment on the keyboard can feel like playing the games of Dr. Foddy (QWOP, GIRP).

Your spaceman is surprisingly agile, even capable of holding to the sides of walls, and he's armed with a wide variety of weapons and tools. The ram emits a shockwave that sends objects flying, including you, while the hook can be used like an elastic tether. You also have a jetpack, although fuel is a precious commodity. Ingenuity is an imperative skill in combat, such as shooting a bridge out from beneath an enemy's feet, or using your hook to grab a rock to use as a shield. There are a variety of weapons, all with alternate firing modes. My only complaint is that they all emit the same hazy blue energy, making it very easy to panic and waste ammo with the wrong gun.

Even in combat, the spirit of exploration is alive and well. In addition to multiple paths to objectives and hidden caches of weapons to uncover, Capsized never advertises the strengths and weakness of your enemies. There are plants that look like animals, and animals that look like plants. Some are predatory, and others will go peaceably about their business. As for the humanoid aliens, they'll rip you to shreds on sight. At least death is only a minor inconvenience that posits you safely back in the stage with no progress lost.

The campaign is roughly four to five hours long and each stage rewards you with stars for fast completion times, fewer deaths, and secrets found. In turn, the stars unlock content in a generous Arcade mode. There are Bot Matches with up to four A.I. opponents, Time Trials, Survival stages, and the aptly named Armless mode, in which you have no weapons. After exhausting all of those options, you can still grab a friend and go head-to-head in a duel, or play cooperatively through the campaign (both split-screen only). The only feature missing is the ability to compare and compete for scores online.

Capsized recalls memories of Turrican, Commander Keen, and Cybernator, but this is not a nostalgic retro-rehash. You won't find chunky pixels, chiptune soundtracks, or tongue-in-cheek nods to the past. Capsized is a modern original; a nearly pitch-perfect blend of combat and exploration that manages to be as beautiful as it is exhilarating.

Brian Rowe is Sr. Editor at GameShark and also manages our YouTube Channel and Twitter and Facebook pages.

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