One of my favorite kinds of games are ones where you run around mazes chasing after things or running away from things.  That’s why Pac-Man is still my number one favorite game of all time.  Other games in this category I like sometimes have more platforming elements, like Bubble Bobble (another one of my all time favorites).  So I was pleasantly surprised when reviewing Captain Soda, as it reminds me a lot of Bubble Bobble, Guzzler, and other games of that ilk.  In this one you play as a soda bottle with a cape as you blow bubbles and other fizzy attacks at baddies in this single screen arcade style action game.  It’s available on Switch and PC but reviewed on Switch here.

Your soda bottle can run and jump.  You have two buttons for attacks.  Hold down one to spray fizzy bubbles for a weak but quick attack against enemies.  Hold down another button to charge a more powerful missile-like attack.  These moves have semi homing abilities, but they don’t always work for some reason. After a while, your soda bottle will become empty and you won’t be able to attack anymore until you run into a bubble that’ll refill your powers (this is the part of the game that reminded me of Guzzler).  Also you can double jump, but it didn’t seem to work as well for me until I equipped a special item you can get early into the game.  More on that later.  You can take multiple hits, but if you lose all your hearts, your soda bottle will break and you’ll have to start the stage over again.  Survive all the waves of enemies to move onto the next level.

Defeated enemies leave behind coins.  If you are playing campaign mode, you’ll move around and select stages on a map, but some areas let you buy things with the coins you collected.  These include things like new attacks, different ways to refill your soda powers with bubbles, and new moves like jumps and dashes.  You can only equip a few of these at a time, but as you defeat bosses you’ll get new slots to put them in.  Aside from the Campaign Mode, there is also an Endless Mode where you play stages right in a row until you lose a life, nabbing items to help you along the way.  If I had any major problem with this game, it’s that I wish there was a two player co-op mode, as this type of game would be perfect for that.  Other than that I really liked this one.

Kid Factor:

Captain Soda is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood.  I didn’t notice any blood, and you just shoot soda attacks at cartoony blobs that explode when defeated.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, and the selectable difficulty levels mean most players of any skill level can enjoy it.  Younger gamers may still need a little help, though.

Tags: Game Reviews