Crystal Caves HD

When this game was released, I wasn't particularly impressed. A decent game, sure, but not really in the same league as Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, or Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure. It's only after playing expanding my horizons and playing some truly bad and mediocre platform games that I realized how good this game really is. Not quite great, but well above average. But if the original game is only worth four stars, the remake easily ups this to five. It adds quality of life improvements such as difficulty levels and more easily readable text. It adds a whole new extra episode. It adds a level editor. It adds extra colors to the graphics. But just as important as what the remake adds is what it doesn't change. Instead of replacing the charming pixel art with generic HD artwork like Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, this game preserves the original pixel art - it just recolors it to look better. Everything that was good about the original has been either preserved or improved, making this the first game remake that I can unreservedly recommend over the original.

First of all, I must say that there's a lot of nostalgia behind this title for me. The original Crystal Caves is one of the first computer games I ever played. We all loved playing it at our home: me, my brothers and my sister. We spent countless hours playing the shareware episode and arguing whose turn it is to play the next level (it's probably the only game that we all played). What I love about this remake is that everything looks and feels the same (more or less), even the PC speaker sound effects. A lot of user reviews mention the music being out of place but I kind of like it. Graphics looks way better than the original since it uses more colors, but the actual pixel art is 1:1 copy (as far as I've seen). I'll probably won't go for the high score, but I'll definitely try to finish all four episodes (only ever played the shareware one). Now the best feature in my opinion is the level editor. I would kill to have it back in the early nineties. It's very simple and powerful to use and you can make a map in a matter of minutes. Let's hope for more releases from Apogee in the future (I'd love some Monster Bash).

The levels in Crystal Caves HD can be challenging. I often need a couple of attempts to get the jumps and the puzzles right. However, the game allows me to quickly learn from mistakes, since each attempt only takes at most a few minutes. It's fun to master a level like that in 15 or 20 minutes total. The addition of difficulty settings, achievements and a leaderboard provide nice incentives to get the most out of each level. And then there's also the level editor. All in all a lot of value for a small price.

Crystal Caves is given a fresh coat of paint (perhaps resembling the original game a little too closely) in this faithful remake designed with modern PCs in mind, leaving fans of this often overlooked DOS oldie with little reason to go back to the original. I hesitate to call it a "classic" though, as it wasn't a GREAT game even for its time, but I did enjoy it both then and now, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking a trip down memory lane in Crystal Caves HD. Games with dated design elements are often hard to go back to, but this holds up surprisingly well. If I were a child with boundless free time, I would have jumped for joy at the inclusion of a level editor (which is included here), but I can't see myself making much use of it. Still a fantastic addition though. The new music is much appreciated too, and it doesn't sound too far removed from the Adlib music of the original game's time, which keeps it from feeling out-of-place. Difficulty options are also included for the first time, which is much appreciated (though the original difficulty remains my preference). The original DOS games are also thrown in as a bonus. I would LOVE to see the much improved successor Secret Agent receive similar treatment (pretty, pretty please?), or hell, just about any Apogee side-scroller classic. Keep 'em coming!

I'm not that much of a gamer but I played this game as a kid. This must have been the first title from Apogee Software I ever played. I've spent countless of hours on the Shareware version and now I can finally play all 3 episodes + a whole new one the HD version adds. The game feels like the original except that it plays so much smoother and it has music that keeps Mylo going! I'm having so much fun with it, especially with the level editor! If you loved Crystal Caves as a kid, you should definitely get this one!