Capsized is an intense, action-oriented 2D platformer developed by Alientrap Games. With a wide variety of weapons and some very crisp graphics, Capsized emerges from seemingly nowhere to deliver a very strong overall package.

You play as an unnamed explorer who has crash-landed on an alien planet. It doesn't take long for you to realize that you haven't landed on the friendliest planet of all. You'll have to destroy mysterious statues, as well as rescue some of your lost crew members, in order to escape this planet alive. The story is mostly told through between-mission pictures and exploration of the levels themselves. While the story might not come off as too important, expanding on it through in-game exploration is something that isn't seen enough in games today. If you decide to stop for a moment and take in your surroundings, you'll sometimes be surprised, and even frightened, by what you discover.

The game plays like a twin-stick shooter; the mouse aims and shoots while the keyboard moves and jumps by default. You can, however, remap any of the controls to your liking. There are plenty of weapons that you can pick up and use, each with their own alternate fire to keep things interesting. The middle mouse button will shoot out a strong blast capable of moving large objects great distances in order to clear a path or shoot a boulder at an enemy, for example. You can use this in conjunction with your gravity gun, executed by default with Shift. The gravity gun ends up being a very versatile tool, allowing you to latch on to smaller enemies as well as fling them into other enemies. Your jump is as you'd expect from an alien planet: a bit floaty. You also have a jetpack that runs on limited fuel, as well as a wall-jump that will help you traverse the various terrains. There are even powerups reminiscent of some of the old Sonic the Hedgehog powerups (at least, that's what I took away from it). The mission objectives are constantly changing, sometimes requiring you to collect items around the map or bring pieces of your ship to a certain location. The game never really feels like it's getting stale and does a good job of keeping you on your toes.

There are many modes within the game as well, each offering up something new. There's the standard campaign that will probably take you about 3-4 hours to complete and has three difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, and Hard. There are also some Arcade modes, including a deathmatch against AI controlled bots, a survival mode against hoards of enemies, a mode that strips you of your weapons and tasks you to get through a level, among others.

Accessibility Issues/Concerns

All of the controls are completely remappable, though there is no mouse sensitivity setting within the game. Since the game's action has a very frantic pace, moving while jumping and shooting is required basically throughout the entire game. Precision is also required since there is no auto-aim feature and only one of the weapons homes in on the. The platforming aspect of the game isn't as strong as in other games, so jumping with precision is not often required. Many of the guns require constant clicking in order to keep firing, and some sections will require you to hit multiple buttons at once.

There isn't any dialogue in the game, so there's no need for subtitles. The enemies only sparingly make noises, but when they do, they aren't captioned. This means that hearing-impaired gamers may not be as aware of enemies coming in from the sides of the screen.

While the graphics are very crisp and sharp, there can be times where the enemies blend into the backgrounds making it difficult for red/green colorblind gamers like myself. Colors aren't used to differentiate between things, even in the AI deathmatch. All of the menus are clear and very easy to read, using bold white text against blurry backgrounds to be sure the text stands out.

At a Glance

Mobility: Controls are completely remappable and there is no mouse sensitivity setting. There is a lot of moving around while simultaneously shooting with precision to avoid damage, and there is no auto-aim. Campaign has three difficulty modes.
Score: 6/10

Hearing: No subtitles are needed as there is no dialogue. Enemy noises are not captioned, but no otherwise-important audio cues exist.
Score: 9/10

Vision: Occasionally, enemies will blend in with the background, rendering them hard to see. All of the menus are clear and easy to read.
Score: 8/10

Overall: Capsized tells a pretty good story in a very strong way. Uncovering extra parts of the story through exploration is, in my opinion, what video games need to do more of. The game never drags and does a good job with mission variety. It's very frantic, so please be sure to check out the demo on Steam to make sure that you can play it.