The Button Presser

7/19/13 12:30PM |

Developer- IndiePub
Publishers- NAMCO BANDAI Games
Release Date- June 5th, 2013
Price- $9.99 MSRP
Review Platform- Xbox Live Arcade

Capsized puts you into the shoes of a survivor from a space crash who happens to land on a very unfriendly planet. Your goal is mainly to locate other crew mates, but the task is far from easy as the inhabitants have not taken kindly to newcomers and will try their best to get rid of you. You'll have to rely on scattered weaponry, the abilities that your suit possess, including the useful gravity hook and ram, as well as your wits to make it out alive.

While this game is already available on PC and iOS devices, Capsized on XBLA is still a fun way to play the game and even has some extra enhancements that are not available on the other platforms, making it worth a look for console players.



For most of the levels in Capsized, you're usually given a handful of objectives to complete as you traverse the environment. The game looks great and offers up some nice 2D gameplay to boot, and most of the levels usually have one or two areas with secrets that contain some great power-ups. As the nameless survivor, you'll come across various types of weapons, with each offering primary and secondary options in terms of how you can fire the weapons.

Some weapons work better than others depending on the enemy, and the more powerful ones can come with splash damage, so you'll have to be careful about your distance from enemies when you shoot. Health isn't too hard to find, but you'll have to go after it often -- I played most of the game on the Normal setting, but still found myself taking great deals of damage as I progressed through the later areas of the game.

The story is presented in an interesting way as well. At the beginning of each level, you're shown images that give off a comic book panel feeling, which gives you the main objective for the levels. There isn't any dialogue, but the game's soundtrack gives off the feeling of despair that must be occurring with the survivor as he searches for a way to leave the alien planet while hoping he can find others from his ship that are still breathing.



Aside from the game's main story mode, players can also check out the arcade mode of the game, which offers up some deathmatch against bots, a time trial mode that has you collecting oxygen, a survival mode where you take on waves of enemies, a mode that has you fighting enemies with no firearms and the ability to play the story mode in full co-op mode. These modes help add replayability to the $10 title, which is always welcome for challenging titles.







Capsized is fun, but difficult at some points. The controls work fine, and if you have any trouble hitting enemies, there is a mode to help target enemies, but you'll still have to do the bulk of the work in terms of staying out of their range since most pack a nice wallop. Whenever I got frustrated with the game, I took little breaks and came back and found areas a bit easier to take on.



If you're looking for an XBLA game with fun mechanics and one that will challenge you, Capsized is worth taking a look at.

Review Disclaimer: A copy of the game was provided for reviewing purposes by IndiePub.



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