And instead of flexing my machines mighty computer muscle, I bought an indie package. The Canadian Indie Package to be specific, which includes Dungeons of Dredmor, Space Pirates and Zombies, Superbrother: Sword and Sworcery EP, Shank 1 and 2, Capsized, Hoard, Warp, and Waveform. Now, unfortunately by the time of me writing this, the sale is over, which is a real shame, because you could have gotten all 9 game for $15! Yeah, $15!
Anyway, I've played a bit of Dungeons of Dredmor and beat Shank 1 before, so I knew I'd at least have those to play again if that feeling ever crept over me, but all the others I hadn't really felt too much interest in, accept one. One game that I had seen and wanted to try before on Steam but was always a tad hesitant to purchase was a part of the group. That game is Capsized.
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| Like a stubby legged boss! |
I thought to myself, "Seriously, if a platformer looks like that, they must have spent so much time painting it and much less time programming it to work."
Well now that I own it and actually played the game, I can tell you that game-play doesn't suffer for games highly detailed, hand painted style...well it doesn't suffer too much.
You play a space faring fellow who has crashed onto this alien planet after your ship gets effed up somethin' fierce, and after gaining your barrings and rescuing some other crew, you continue to fight your way through the harsh world. Battling bloated bugs, spiky wolf things, and various OP alien tribes folk through the different environments gives you a feeling that the world is truly alien to you. I mean everything feels a bit alien to the player, helping to add to that feeling of dread and survival.
The game is played with our plucky little hero facing the mouse as it's used to aim at all the things looking to kill you in the game. Running, jumping, jetting, and tethering around the environment to solve (very) simple puzzles, move boxes and rocks, and to get in a better position to kill the hell out of baddies is alright. One thing I should say about the platforming is it feels...off. As though the character doesn't have a real bounding box; as if the individual pixels are mashing together and making things just feel a little like stones getting rubbed together. Mind you, they're pretty stones, but not the most pleasant feel. It could have used a little smoothing out. Oh, also the wall jump feature seems like it was added because of pixels colliding. If doesn't feel natural and could have easily been taken out as the tether cord is (in my opinion) an easier way of making it up steep cliffs when you're out of jet fuel.
The music found in Capsized suits it very well. Though, it might suit too well. What I mean is that when you're playing, the music never stands out; never gets your blood pumping when you're knee deep in green guts and just doesn't really build suspense when you dive into a dark cave. It blends in very well, so much so that you don't really notice it.
All that being said, I enjoyed Capsized and would recommend downloading the demo to see if you like it yourself. And if it's cheap enough for you, pick it up! Capsized has plenty to offer.
Me-thinks the next game I will play and possibly "review" will be Warp.
If you have any suggestions for a game you'd like me to play, let me know!
Until next time,
-Dave
