Now these are the Keen games I truly love, being this was the first game I tried out. The graphics from Keen Dreams coupled with Keen's classic arsenal makes for a perfect experience. The platforming in these games, and this one in particular feel more precise than in the previous trilogy. While I did find those games fun, it was hard sometimes to dodge projectiles. Here, you have the freedom of movement that wasn't possible the time the original was created. The addition of the "impossible pogo-jump" along with ledge grabbing is a game-changer for the platforming genre. Something that the Mario franchise didn't do until Mario 64, 5 years later. I can't wait to revisit Keen 5, which is my favorite of the entire franchise.
This is the Keen that holds up! Replaying it, I was really surprised with how good the jumping and platforming feels. The ability to vault adds so much to traversal feeling as satisfying as it is.
The shooting could be better. Granted I was playing on Hard and I think this game's offensive vocabulary works better for fewer enemy encounters. There's a wind up to Keen's firing animation that I had to contend with when jumping to shoot a slug on a platform or jumping over a foe and shooting down. Wish there was some kind of slight homing mechanic or the collision box for the blaster was bigger.
The music's good even if the music is repetitive. That "Oasis" theme is one of the earliest pieces of music I ever liked and it needs to be said, this is a real nostalgia title. I think this was one of the first games I ever played and might have been the first that involved some kind of action. Not an easy game for a kid but just looking at screenshots gets me nostalgic, especially ones in the first few levels with the grasses and trees and the slopes.
If someone has to play any Commander Keen, it should be this one.
The shooting could be better. Granted I was playing on Hard and I think this game's offensive vocabulary works better for fewer enemy encounters. There's a wind up to Keen's firing animation that I had to contend with when jumping to shoot a slug on a platform or jumping over a foe and shooting down. Wish there was some kind of slight homing mechanic or the collision box for the blaster was bigger.
The music's good even if the music is repetitive. That "Oasis" theme is one of the earliest pieces of music I ever liked and it needs to be said, this is a real nostalgia title. I think this was one of the first games I ever played and might have been the first that involved some kind of action. Not an easy game for a kid but just looking at screenshots gets me nostalgic, especially ones in the first few levels with the grasses and trees and the slopes.
If someone has to play any Commander Keen, it should be this one.
Much better than what I've played of the early Commander Keen episodes. Nice music, fun exploratory platforming gameplay, and fun cartoony vibe. Glad I got the chance to play through this
Great game for the time
Maior e mais bonito, mas não melhor. O level design, em especial, é bem sofrível.
My dad had this 286 PC with Windows 3.something, and every Sunday we'd wake him up and make him remove config.sys and autoexec.bat so it had enough memory to run Commander Keen. It was fiddly and tough but it felt like a grand adventure and we loved it. Then one evening I put the dust cover on the monitor but forgot to switch it off, and overnight it cooked itself to death. It was a while before there was another PC in the house.
I only had and kept playing this as a kid. Nostalgic and fun!
Fantastic DOS era platformer. No notes.
I not only cosplayed Keen at my first convention but the love I got from said cosplay blew my mind.
#14 of top 50
I not only cosplayed Keen at my first convention but the love I got from said cosplay blew my mind.
#14 of top 50
I know it's heretical, but I think the Vorticon Trilogy are better than Keen 4-6.
Nostalgia clouds my judgement but yes I love this game. It’s the first true console platformer on DOS and even though it was severely outdated when I first played it as a child, I loved it, and I still do.
A common complaint is the level design, but to me that gives each area a unique feel you don’t get in any other game. Okay nostalgia really is affecting my judgement lol
A common complaint is the level design, but to me that gives each area a unique feel you don’t get in any other game. Okay nostalgia really is affecting my judgement lol
I always looked back on this one even more fondly than the original trilogy, but playing them all now as an adult, this is definitely much weaker. Levels are now small and mazelike, and often have a very random, slapped-together feel.^ None of the level flow or enemy placement (or enemy design, for that matter) feels particularly thought-through. The only time when you can perceive much deliberation from the designers is when you encounter a cheap deathtrap that you know exists just to be annoying. That occasional 'gotcha' game design was probably classic iD's worst trait.
^It doesn't even have a proper final area! It just cuts to the ending cinematic whenever you beat all the levels in whatever order you feel like.
Looks nice! But inferior to the previous three games in just about every other way.
P.S.: This has to be easily the worst Bobby Prince soundtrack, right?
^It doesn't even have a proper final area! It just cuts to the ending cinematic whenever you beat all the levels in whatever order you feel like.
Looks nice! But inferior to the previous three games in just about every other way.
P.S.: This has to be easily the worst Bobby Prince soundtrack, right?