Cave Story

The Good
In my youth, every game was an adventure, every nook and cranny was explored over and over again, every aspect of the game was thoroughly enjoyed and I must have played my first ten or so games 50 times or more. Maybe this was because the games really were that good, that it's not just nostalgia, but that the games really were better back in the days. Then again, maybe not. Maybe it was simply because I as a kid couldn't afford new games more than two or three times a year, and living in a small town with no internet (hey, this was in the 80s), trying out new stuff wasn't really an option unless one of my friends somehow got hold of a new exciting game that we'd only read snippets about in those rare foreign video games magazines. Thus games like Metroid and Zelda were played over and over (and over) again. Going back to try to relive those moments in 2005 does little else but leave a sour aftertaste in my mouth, and another of those fond childhood memories destroyed forever.

Enter Doukutsu Monogatari. For this is the first time since Another World and Flashback that I can sit down with a ridiculous smile on my face and just enjoy the sheer fun of a fantastic platform adventure. Doukutsu Monogatari more than lives up to the memories of the fantastic 2d platform adventuring of the 80's, if fact this game outshines them all. This is, simply put, awesome. The graphics are great, the music is great, the controls and story and the FEELING is great. And if you think the game is easy to solve (it will take you about six hours), then there's a harder game mode that is not accessible through any menus, but by doing things a little differently on the second (or third) time through. I will, however, not spoil any of the fun by saying how, but when was the last time your actions in a platform game actually affected how the story develops further on? I can't even think of a pure adventure game where this was possible.

All in all, a fantastic game...and it's free, so there's no longer any excuse for not playing this. And spread the word.

The Bad
The "down" key is used for opening doors, talking to people and examining stuff, normally the "up" key would be used. This might take a while to get used to.

The Bottom Line
If you miss the old times, or if you simply want something that is fantastically fun and beautiful, and that lasts a while (Doom 3, anyone?), the Doukutsu Monogatari is perfection.

The Good
I just LOOOVED it! It was AWESOME!!! IT was FAN-TASTIC!!!! The graphics were great, the music was great (to put it VERY mildly), the storyline was awesome (and on these kind of games, there usually ISN'T one!), and well...EVERYTHING was just sooo awesome.

(Believe me, freeware publishes some pretty lame games sometimes.)

The characters have a way of keeping you in the game--their personalities are unique and quite diverse.

The weapons vary as well--there are at least five or seven different weapons in the game. And by the way, they are VERY cool!

..But don't take my word for it--download it and play it for yourself. After all--it IS freeware.

The Bad
U-u-uhhhh...WHA--?? What kind of a crack is that? I LOVED the game! The bosses got a bit tough (especially the dude they call "The Core"--not to be confused with the movie by the way.

The music might get old after a while--but there are ALWAYS new tunes that pop up every now and then!

The Bottom Line
Well...hmm.

(Read the review done by J.P Grey on Out of This World.)

Take the game Out of This World and change the background a bit--and for you SEGA CD owners, if you make the music less intense, and change the background a bit as well, walaa!

...You almost have Cave Story.

The Good
Cave Story is one of my all time favorite games, but if I described it to you, it wouldn't sound too appealing. There are many, many, many freeware games on the internet, but there are few out there that can even attempt to approach the quality of the achievements held within Cave Story. Just about everything here comes together perfectly to form one giant mound of bliss, and the coolest part: It was all done by one man, who goes by the name of "Pixel". Pixel's creation took five years to make, and it shows in every aspect of the game: From the well-drawn graphics, intricately designed levels, perfect controls, catchy music, and even a reasonable story, the game just does it all so perfectly.

Cave Story is a platform game with shooting elements. As you wander through the caves you will come across a variety of monsters and bosses which want to kill you and tear you apart. You just shoot at them to get rid of them. As you progress through the game, your options for dispatching the enemies grow in number. You start off with a weak pea shooter, but will soon be using missiles, daggers, machine guns, and even bubbles to dispatch your foes. When killed, enemies will drop golden triangles, which you can use to upgrade your weapons up to three levels of power.

And why are you shooting all of these monsters? The player is a robot who wakes up in a cave in the middle of a floating island with no memories. The plot eventually tasks the player with saving a race of bunnies from an evil human doctor who has become corrupted by an evil crown. There are a few twists thrown in for good measure, and there are multiple endings to the game.

While the gameplay sounds simple, the design of the game isn't. Except for the end, all gameplay takes place within the caves of this floating island. While this may be bland, I can assure you that it's not. You get mechanical areas, grass stages, sand stages, waterways, and more. Each area is packed with enemies, bosses, and little secrets that are fun and rewarding to find and collect.

The graphics are good for this type of game. They are all drawn to look "old" but they are executed with style nonetheless, with parallax scrolling, good character portraits, tons of sprites on-screen, and a smooth framerate.

The sounds are great too. Every sound is perfect, from the growling of the monsters, the firing of your weapons, to the babbling of characters, it all sounds wonderful.

the music is worthy of even more praise than the sounds and graphics. Just about all of the songs are catchy, and each one fits the mood of the area you are currently in, from exciting and epic to calm and moody. It truly runs the emotional gamut, yet stays of a consistently high quality.

The Bad
it's hard to fault Cave Story for anything, but I will say that the color scheme can be rather drab looking at times. In addition, some may see the game as being too short and there are a lot of so-called "fetch quests" in the middle portion of the game that bog it down ever so slightly. Some may also feel that the machine gun is unbalanced: At full power, you can use it to "fly" by pointing it at the ground and using it's force to propel you skyward. But the slight flaws do not hurt the experience as a whole.

The Bottom Line
Cave Story is, to put it mildly, a masterpiece. If this wasn't a freeware game, it would be worthy of a retail release, which is more than I could say for some retail games where a free release is barely worth much. In fact, it already has been released as a retail game on several platforms including the Wii and the DS, with enhancements included to the graphics, sounds, and gameplay of the PC version. But nothing can beat free, so the PC version is the one I recommend the most.