Customer Reviews

Commander Keen

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're just looking for a simple, amusing platformer, then you'll probably enjoy this. However, if you're looking for a true Commander Keen game to continue the classic computer series you loved so much in your youth... well, this is not it. And it's from that standpoint that I'm basing this review.


BORING ENEMIES. In the original Keen series, every enemy felt unique... whether in the number of shots it took to defeat, the way it reacted to Keen, its speed or pattern of movement, etc. In this game, however, the majority of the enemies are identical: they just walk back and forth at the same speed, and (with a few exceptions) Keen can easily defeat each one by shooting it once and then pogo jumping on it. Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad if the enemies were at least NEW for this game, but most of the character designs are taken directly from previous Keen games... and yet they don't act in the same ways. (Blooguards are here, but they never smash their clubs and they can be killed with one shot and one pogo; Robo Red is here, but his machine gun action is gone and he can be killed with one shot and one pogo; etc.)

LEVELS ALL FEEL THE SAME. Like the enemies, each level in the original Keen games had its own personality: there were maze levels, mountain levels, simple left-to-right levels, narrow up-and-down levels... even an underwater level. But the Gameboy Keen levels have no variety; you just kind of go back and forth until you get to the end.

BOTTOMLESS PITS EVERYWHERE. The levels have no walls or lower floors, just platforms of various sizes and heights that you jump around... which means that underneath, there's always a bottomless pit. That's right: you can ALWAYS fall to your death, regardless of the level (except for the boss rooms). This is completely uncharacteristic of Keen games, and it gets obnoxious very quickly.

MINIMAL SECRETS. The old Keen games were chock full of secrets: unseen openings in walls, hidden points and lives, secret levels, etc. This game has some "hard-to-get-to" extra lives here and there, but none of them are really that challenging to figure out. This greatly diminishes the game's replay value, whereas I played the old games over and over because I was always finding new things.

BACKGROUNDS AND FOREGROUNDS LOOK THE SAME. That is to say, the artwork of the background pictures is just as bold in style and outline as the artwork of the items with which Keen interacts... which makes it impossible to know which items you can jump on and which ones will kill you, as opposed to which ones you can simply walk right past.

GAME SAVE IS FRUSTRATING. After completing each level, you are given a twelve-digit code that you can write down and input later in order to start where you left off... but the tedium of having to do this is almost not worth it.

LACK OF HUMOR/STORY. Not that the original games were hilarious or anything, but the amusing and somewhat tongue-in-cheek nature of the series was a huge part of what made it so entertaining to me (giant sandwiches, secret level enemies wearing kilts, an episode entitled "Aliens Ate My Babysitter", etc.). There's nothing amusing or clever here.


So yeah: vaguely entertaining -- enough for me to give it 2 stars instead of 1, anyway -- but simply not the Commander Keen I grew up with and was hoping to find again.

As an avid fan of the older PC games like the original 2D Duke Nukem, Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, and others, I was very much into the Commander Keen series. Apogee and ID made 6 titles under the Commander Keen name, and Softdisk made Keen Dreams, a strange offshoot of the series.

So, several years later when they released this for the Game Boy Color, I decided to pick it up. It was cheap, and how bad could it be?

Well, bad is an understatement. Although the game features enemies and locations reminiscent of Keen 4-6, the game plays completely different. The pogo stick jumps different, the ray gun shoots different, and the lackluster stages and frustrating platforming will have you losing most of your lives in just a few short minutes.

To me, this isn't Keen, and this isn't worth the money.

I have played all the commander keen games, and I'm glad they made a new one. This was a very fun game, and commander keen fan's should try out this game.

Note: This review is for the DOS version, and chances are that the disk could be sold on this game's page as well AS the totally different Game Boy Color game of the same name (See other reviews in case of concerns for that game). To play the DOS game on newer computers, download, install, and run the DosBox emulator.


You know what was missing on DOS? Side-scrolling platforming action. Sure, there were greats like ports of arcade classics, original point n clicks, etc, but never a platforming game in the veins of Mario. So it was up to ID (with distribution help of Apogee) to recreate what was possible on the good ol' NES with Commander Keen.

As you enter the game, you are placed in an overworld map, in which you must collect 4 parts needed to fix Keen's rocket ship. If you collect all 4 parts, you beat the game, but the levels they are in are what to question about. 4 of the big levels shown on the map contain the pieces while all the other levels wouldn't have anything at their goals. The no-reward levels, however, aren't actually teases. In fact, they would most likely leave hints to where the pieces really are.

The basic gameplay is very fun. While you do have the usual running and jumping/hopping and bopping, you would eventually be able to shoot monsters with your laser gun, and there is also a Pogo Stick that lets you bounce higher. There are also balloons(?) and even PEPSI CANS that you collect for points (Which can lead to ---> extra life).

The levels themselves are probably not totally memorable, but they are still pretty enjoyable. The only thing frustrating about the experience, though, is that there's this wolf creature that walks around beside the goal with one of the 4 pieces (If you're in the right level), and it's hard to bypass him easily. You have to run right he jumps or you can shoot him 4 times with your gun.

But overall, it's a great DOS classic. It helped bring platformers to the old computer flawlessly.

It is a fun adventure in space. It reminds me of "Lost in Space." I wish it were a little bit longer and had more places to go to and explore. All in all, though, a good game.

I haven't played the GameBoy version, only the PC version. It was so much fun, however, that when I was a little kid I played it on my computer all the time. The only dissapointment was that you get killed if you get hurt just once.

I have got the pc version of this game and I must say, It is a little kiddish. But - very very fun. Get it. If you are bored, or in the car, pick up commander keen. It will provide hours of gameboy shooting and jumping and running. A definate 5-star!

I loved Commander Keen so much because as soon as I finished one game I had to finish another.