Capsized originally came out for the PC on the steam service about 2 years ago in 2011, and was fairly well received. Fast forward to July 2013 and it has finally received a console release for the Xbox 360’s XBLA service. Was the wait worth it for those who didn’t have PC’s or wish for a console experience? Perhaps, but not without some caveats.

Capsized is a 2d platformer with run and gun gameplay. The plot is about a team of space explorers who got into an accident and crash lands on an alien planet. The explorers then have to regroup and escape from its hostiles. The story is told through pictures shown between each level. The weapons you can get all have different strengths and weaknesses and they are usually hidden in secret areas that have passages you stumble upon. All of the weapons except the default Beam Carbine use ammo. You can use the gravity gun like device to tether objects to you. These objects, including enemies, can then be launched at other enemies as a destructive makeshift weapon, or to solve puzzle or clear paths. In addition, the gun can also be used to tether to ceilings and platforms and work much like a grappling hook. Figuring out how to make effective use of the gun is key in some of the game’s levels.

The levels usually have a basic structure of getting to the goal, destroying a certain number of objects or enemies, or transporting other objects to a goal. The game gives you five lives at the start of a level but you can find more. You will need them, as there are a number of issues that make the game unnecessarily difficult. Due to this game being on consoles there is no mouse or touch controls for the aiming as there would be on PC or IOS. Enemies also tend to blend in with all the other foliage and non-enemy creatures. The game is also very dark and there is no brightness correction option. There is no joystick sensitivity adjustment either which makes it hard to aim effectively and makes you waste a lot of shots. The sprites are also a bit on the small side and could have been larger. One final issue is that the game has a very buggy re-spawning system which can sometimes kill you because you spawned right under a large rock or become trapped behind a toxic gas vent. There is also splash damage to consider. Also, the hit detection for collecting health powerups is iffy, while your own hitbox seems large. These things serve to hamper the play experience and lead to cheap deaths. This also makes it more difficult to get better rankings in the levels, as once you reach a certain threshold of these rankings you can unlock new modes of play.

Outside of the main campaign there are time attack, survival, and weaponless modes for challenge seekers. There are also 12 achievements in the game for die-hard completionists. As for music, there seems to be only one track, so I hope you enjoy listening to it over the game’s 13 levels. Also there are load times for each level. Capsized is a decent game, but one which has some issues that hopefully get fixed in a patch soon. Otherwise it’s mostly an average $10 platformer.

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