Number:213
Year:1991
Publisher:Apogee Software
Developer:Id Software
Genre:Side-Scroller
Difficulty:4/5
Time:4 hours 00 minutes
Won:Yes (87W/68L)
It feels like forever since I last continued the saga of Billy Blaze, but it's only been a few months and several games. Two of which were very long and wore on my patience. It's nice to play something that's more enjoyable for once. I hope it's nice to play at least.
Last time, we discovered that the Shikadi are planning on destroying the galaxy and only Commander Keen can stop them by destroying their galaxy destroying machine, called The Armageddon Machine. Interestingly, I note that the intro crawl has Keen hide himself from the enemy by taking advantage of a planet between him and their space station. It's just a throwaway line, but I dig it.
The game is, of course, much the same as the last entry. Keen moves smoothly in all directions; has a slight delay before jumping or shooting his gun; has an in-game menu and a bigger menu; Poles and pogo sticks; and in Commander Genius, the ability to run. In addition to other game-breaking things, like extended resolution. There's also still the "get 100 to get an extra life" item, this time called Vitalin.
I hope you like space stations, because this game consists almost entirely of levels on space stations. We're not talking like System Shock where there's variation in the design of these, it's all just space stations, no crew quarters, no mess, no gardens.
An oddity of this game, in order to leave any level you need to find a keycard, which is different than the gem keys, or destroy a machine guarding the elevator shaft. The entire layout of the overworld goes something like, guard tunnel, objective, then four guard tunnels with their own objective, and then another guard tunnel and the final level.
The enemies:
- Little Ampton, a small purple robot these guys slide up and down poles in addition to sideways. Which makes them very tricky to deal with...assuming you need to go where they are and don't have the ammo for them.
- Sparky, a flat grey robot with lightning on top. Deceptively deadly, moves slowly until he spots you, then dashs towards you.
Robo Red and a stunned robot.
- Robo Red, big fellows with nasty weapons. Sure, you can't stun them, but that's not as troublesome as the rapid fire weapon they have and their tendancy to stick around so you can't get past them.
- Shikadi, electro beings that look like a water elemental. They eat a good amount of blaster shots, but they'll die. Not actually that impressive.
- Shikadi Mines, invulnerable explosive devices that go in semi-random directions until they spot you, then chase after you. The strategy here is not to shoot them, but to get somewhat close, then run away once they start exploding.
A slicestar, which I mention in the levels, and a Volte-face.
- Volte-face, eyes surrounded by electricity. They don't die, but you can stun them with the blaster. Less difficult than they sound. If you ever played Jazz Jackrabbit, no, they're not like the Sparks outside of visually, these move in a set pattern.
- Shelley, I'm pretty sure I've seen the behavior this creature exhibits before in this series, just not like this specifically. Once within a certain distance, it jumps up, hits the ground and explodes, four pieces of shrapnel come out.
- Shockshund, electro dogs. It jumps and shoots at you. Kind of less impressively than it sounds, it has a long wind-up, so even on ramps you can shoot at it somewhat risk free.
- Spirogrip, another enemy that's effectively just a moving obstacle. It spins around, then flies towards you if it's at a 90-degree angle, otherwise it flies off. Invulnerable, lame.
- Sphereful, I spent the first level I saw one, slowly watching it in the distance. When I met it, I managed to shoot it in one hit. Unfortunately this was a glitch, since the Keen wiki mentions its immortal. There's only one in this game so I never got to truly face it.
- Ion Vent System, I hope you didn't think this game would give you any rest or relaxation, because we're straight into it. It's a long climb up full of deadly robots on most of the solid ground, and there's not that much ammo here if you miss.
- Security Center, I hope you didn't plan on tackling these levels in any order you wish anytime soon. This introduces snowflake-like mines. Slowly they move up and down. Not much of a problem then. The Keen Wiki says they're Slicestars and describes them as weapons, but they seem more like hazards to me. Speaking of hazards, so far that's what this game is trying to do. Just kill you with hazards, as regular enemies aren't very difficult here. Just an observation, as this is quite the nice little level. At least after this it opens up.
- Defense Tunnel Burrh, still basically just traps, Amptons and Sparkys. It's getting somewhat samey. Then Robo Red shows up for the first time. Seems easier though, despite ramping up the traps. I do like how I feel far more rewarded searching for secrets here than in earlier games, since there are actually multiple ones per level instead of being a rare occurence.
- Regulation Control Center, ammo at this point is not a concern. That this happened so quickly makes me suspect it was only included out of inertia. Difficulty, on the other hand, isn't, because not only do we get to "see" the Shikadi, but everything else on this level is an endurance test. In particular there's one section near the middle where you have seemingly multiple ways of getting past a Robo Red, but you can really only get a lucky jump over him. And then we get the Shikadi and the mines!
- Defense Tunnel Sorra. "Keen regrets entering Defense Tunnel Sorra"? It isn't that bad, why is this considered so hard? Sure, there are traps, but it's all surprisingly managable...until you reach an area where there's a Robo Red. No cover, no way out and you need to enter an area right in his threat range, which has a Volte-face, and take the keycard. Yeugh. You get poles to jump over him, at least.
- Neutrino Burst Injector, now this is where things get tricky. This level was my introduction to the Shelley and Shockshund. It's really hard to dodge the first Shelley, since it's right next to where you start with no way of baiting it. I dig this level, because once you get past the initial difficulty with Shelley, you not only have an understanding of how to deal with them, but the level is a nice little maze of corridors full of goodies. Points aren't important, of course, but nice.
- Defense Tunnel Teln, what kind of name is that? It seems easy at first. Then I see I need a key to advance. Then I realize I have to jump over a Robo Red with no cover and no way to jump over them. Can I touch them? No. Oh, there are just strangely colored poles protecting it. I have no complaints in general, honestly, these levels are pretty well-designed, non-linear, but subtly designed so you'll probably get it the right way the first time around.
- Brownian Motion Inducer, the hardest part of this level is a section where you have to jump on a moving platform and then jump off to get a gem. It's placement makes it an odd cakewalk here, though the game in general feels easier than past titles. Which is odd.
- Defense Tunnel Vlook, mostly just an obstacle course. This introduced me to the spindred, mines that bounce up and down in a different way than more smoother objects and they're tricky to dodge. Especially since in a lot of places you just don't get that much room to move. You're basically just going through a series of obstacles that will kill you, but are more tedious than anything else.
- Energy Flow Systems, just a very well-made level. The central theme is a series or moving platforms which allow travel through most of the level. Despite Keen being a bit loose, I can't say I ever missed one. I also discover, by weird quirk, that Keen is one tile higher if you look up and one tile lower if you look down.
- Gravitational Damping Hub, the game introduces you to a Spirogirp here. Things are starting to turn into a serious obstacle course, enemies are almost a joke at this point, it's all about avoiding obstacles. In particular, there's a very annoying section where you have to jump between two moving platforms. It's mostly simple after this, assuming you don't go after the secret level.
- Korath III Base, weird music plays, then again, this is the only level not on a spaceship. It's like some weird bagpipe military march. This is again, mostly a matter of moving around, but with a lot more treasure involved. You could farm lives here if that was important. Enjoy going up and down a long shaft full of vitalin, I wonder if that joke was intentional, and being glad that Keen has switched to non-lethal weaponry, as you have to hurt the inhabitants of Korath III in order to not fall down the shaft again, or possibly just to not get hit by something. The most annoying part isn't this, it's just riding a platform to the top of the shaft. Hope you don't miss the exit! More of a test than a reward, this secret.
- Quantum Explosion Dynamo, And here I thought the last level would be the biggest challenge. There are two problem sections and one interesting section. Firstly, there is just a massive group of dogs on a platform you can jump through. It's basically luck when you can eventually get through. Secondly, one of the keys on this level is guarded by a wall gun, which has been placed in a very troublesome place. Then you end up against an unnamed teleporting Shikadi Lord of sorts. The interesting bit is the end, the final machine can't be destroyed by Keen, instead he needs to get a mine towards it, then blow it up next to the machine.
Weapons:
Simple blaster. 1/10
Enemies:
There kind of aren't that many and those that are here are mostly simple. Feels like a step down from previous games. 3/10
Non-Enemies:
None.
Levels:
I really didn't remember these levels being that good. Every level was nice, sometimes veering into the cruel, sometimes veering into the merciful. Unlike Keen 4, I never felt like the game was being unfair in its cruelty, which is odd for the commercial half of a game. 9/10
Player Agency:
Pretty much unchanged from Keen 4. Oh, he surfs on moving platforms. 7/10
Interactivity:
A few simple things. 1/10
Atmosphere:
Oddly, this feels the most like it succeeded in being that kids show that's still mildly amusing to adults that the Keen series seems to have accidentally aimed at. The music, not being really short helps, but outside of the secret level there's just no fluff whatsoever. 7/10
Graphics:
It looks very nice for EGA. Even though I can tell, it still looks amazing. Not that much animation though, with most enemies being robots which barely move. 7/10
Story:
Basically just a bit at the beginning and the end. 1/10
Sound/Music:
I liked one track, but we're still talking about a game with not a lot of music over a considerable length of time. That said, I never hated what this game had going on, just occasionally wished I was listening to something else. Sounds are very Adlib. 4/10
That's an even 40.
The only really bad thing I can say about this game is that the secret level is a gimmick that doesn't work. It's plays pretty flawlessly to me, with most of the lows in these categories being do to it not really being something this game set out to do. I wonder if Keen 6 is going to live up to this, or if this is as high as the series will get.
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