Cave Story (2004)

I heard some good things about this game before playing it. That it was developed by just one person and that is one of the holy grails of indie gaming. Considering that since it's release in 2004 so many good and innovative indie titles were released, I was curious to see how it compares to them.

And it did not disappoint. The movement of character is something to get used to, but after a while it gets very natural. I really enjoyed the gun play. Some levels, like Bushlands, require you to get past the same enemies multiple times. But the combat was so fun that I didn't mind at all. Also the interesting XP system for weapons is something that I haven't seen anywhere else. I never expected my gun to downgrade if I get hit by enemies.

Game difficulty is very good. Bosses aren't too brutal if you have maxed out weapons as you fight them. Music is also very memorable and catchy. The overall story of the game is fine but nothing groundbreaking. Side characters are lovely though.

The only issue I have with this game is probably graphics. While characters and environments are very well designed and in beautiful color palette, I never felt as I was in a cave. I missed the whole context of environments until I saw how Cave story 3D looks. Which is much darker for sure, but it makes sense.

Not sure how Cave story 3D plays but it seems like a good remake. But pixel graphics of the original definitely has its own charm. I warmly recommend this game. It plays super good on the 3DS which has a perfect screen resolution for pixel games.

This is the first game I have had to get my thoughts down for in a review. As a fan of old school games and Metroidvanias, I thought this would be right up my alley but left me frustrated. I played the Cave Story + version.

Liked:

• Story. The quality was unexpected. Was much more engaging and full of surprises than I thought. Biggest surprise of the game for me.
• Presentation. Music and graphics looked good.
• Weapon variety. Lots of fun guns to play with. Options to have your main gun differ between playthroughs.
• Bosses. Fun and interesting boss encounters. Challenging but fair.

Disliked:

• Unskippable cutscenes. I would think that this is something the + version of the game would fix first. Trying a boss again but having to scroll through a whole cutscene of text is just frustrating.
• Normal enemy encounters. I don't know if it is just me, but the normal enemies were really boring and not interesting to interact with. Most of the difficulty fighting the normal enemies just felt like the creator just dumped a bunch of them in a room and said "that will be hard enough".
• Weapon upgrade system. I feel like this was more annoying than engaging. The weapons downgrading when you get hit feels like too much of a punishment for me. I know, "git gud", but it makes me just want to play passively and boring instead of trying to run and gun through a level.
• Exploration. Tons of people call this a Metroidvania style of game, but I really don't see that at all. It is incredibly linear. Progressing through the game doesn't involve upgrades opening new path, it is usually more akin to a fetch quest in an mmorpg. Someone tells you to get something (not a weapon or ability, usually just an item), you get it, you use it, the path opens. A lot of the time the clues to open the path are cryptic as well.
• Difficulty spikes. I personally felt the game has a significant difficulty spike after The Core boss battle. One of the sections after this was my quit moment for the game that I didn't want to continue after reaching. I used a guide to help get the best ending because I wasn't sure if I was going to play the game again. Final Cave (Hidden) is extremely different than the rest of the game and frustrating. I know the creator wanted to create a challenging gauntlet, but having to have precision movement with the Booster 2.0 after just getting the item and not using it throughout most of the game feels like a really weird choice. Not to mention the sadistic enemy placement and the fact that there is no checkpoint before the boss. Couple this with the fact the game just decides to set your upgrades to level 1 and I was just not interested in trying to complete it. If it was more oriented around a bullethell style room as a challenge it would make way more sense in the context of the game.

Is this game important to not only indie games, but the history of video games as a whole? Absolutely. Would I recommend this game to anyone? It depends. Would I ever play this game again? Definitely not.

I've heard many mentions of Cave Story in the game community but never got around to check it out until after I finished Kero Blaster, made by the same developer: Studio Pixel. What started out as a Flash-based, platformer shooter, got eventually remastered for release on PC and other platforms.

You play as a soldier robot, Quote, who wakes up without memories in an underground world inhabited by dangerous and cute creatures (even both). You'll also find Mimiga, the sentient species who play the major role in your story progress. Pieces of the story background will fall into place as you find new locations and characters, which have lead into this current state of environment the game is based on. The characters - good and bad - are quite memorable, in spite of my subdued awareness of what's going on in the first place but it got easier to grasp when I came back and started over to finish Cave Story. There are multiple endings to it and then there's the true ending that is even more satisfying but oh, so extreme to enable. If you're like me, you'd stick to a walkthrough guide strictly to not miss any minor criterias necessary and even then, you'll have a long final stage to clear your way on while staying alive. I'm sure the satisfaction level there is on par with Dark Souls but personally, I called quits and resorted to watching a playthrough on Youtube instead. For shame, oh me... ^_^

The action gameplay gets slippery at times, as my character maneuvres a little faster than necessary for platforming scenes but it's bearable enough for me to reach the standard ending. The choices you make affect what arsenal you'll have along the way but all in all, most of them are quite practical for ground and mid-air combat, situationally.

The remastered version not only improves the visuals but also presents overhauled soundtrack, which in itself is mostly catchy and memorable. You're also free to switch to older versions of the soundtrack for some lo-fi experience but the new ones are relatively meaty and livelier.

I can understand why Cave Story is a cult classic of its time, considering its fragmented yet cohesive story, adorable cast and a varied world to explore. If you can bear the twitchy nature of platforming, saving habits, optionally even dare undertake the punishing means for the true ending, Cave Story+ is worth playing through.

Personal favorite soundtrack: Meltdown.

Platform:

3DS version.

Graphics/Sound:

It's a nice no-outline pixel style that works with a small color palette on sprites, but packs a lot of character and cuteness. Visually I think this is a work of art, and interestingly even though it is completely 2D the 3D effect on the 3DS works great in this game. I have to admit that I didn't pay much attention to the sound though.

Gameplay:

It's a Metroidvania game, so essentially a mix of open-world rpg-ish elements with 2D platforming. The environments are atmospherical, but extremely spacey at times. The sub sections of the level are mostly linear so you usually don't get lost. There is several weapons to choose from and each weapon feels different. While I like all of them I had the most fun trying to fly while shooting downwards with the machine gun.

Difficulty:

The game for the most part isn't too challenging, especially when you reach the highest weapon level. But some of the Boss battles can be a hard nut to crack. This is one of the few games I know where I really found the last boss the hardest. The difficulty progression is also nice.

Conclusion:

It's a very polished indie game, which was made by (one or more?) obviously very skilled game designers. The thing I didn't understand however is the strange 3D release that came afterwards, which looks much worse than this. Highly recommended.