In terms of the game - it's genuinely great, could do with a difficulty option (mainly for the bosses which can be a chore) but overall it's an outstanding achievement and made a lot of people sit up and take indie development seriously. Everybody should play Cave Story at least once in their lives.
Own the Steam version, guess this one will be the same. First off this isn't a game in the traditional sense, rather a world which can be traversed and experienced in a leisurely manner. There's some nice details to observe but nothing much in the way of content - no enemies, items, weapons, upgrades etc, it's all very stripped back and presented in a beautiful flat poly art style which really works, giving the game a clean look with pastel colours. It's a very welcoming world which entices the player in to explore it The main star of the show here is the flying physics - the player character can turn into a bird and from the of has a full repertoire of intuitive flying techniques to soar over and swoop down to the many sky islands which make up the games' world. It feels like no other game out there in the way it gives you the freedom to explore, even if it is light on depth and detail. The indoor sections are short and a welcome change, again more of a tour through an art gallery than a game. They help to extend the game although I wish they had been a bit more complex. I'm a bit torn with this game - on one hand I wish it the ideas had been developed into a "proper" game with dialogue, NPCs, enemies, RPG elements, quests and richly detailed locations and lore. On the other hand I really enjoyed it for what it is and liked the move away from generic gameplay elements.
Along with Ultima IV and Phantasy Star this game was one of the most advanced Master System (and 8bit in general) games, it's a linear path side scrolling adventure platformer with light RPG elements and a hub world, not quite a Metroidvania due to the lack of a true open world but there's a lot to explore here with lots of secrets, powerful items and rare loot drops. It was a exceptional game back then and is just as relevant and impressive now with a shiny coat of paint. It's a fantastic labour of love which accurately remakes one of my favourite SMS games in a tasteful manner. Everything is spot on here - the whistful music and cutesy graphics are brought up to date and look amazing but still retain the character of the original. You can flick between the modern and Master System tilesets with the press of a button as well as changing the music back to the original PSG chiptune - playing vith modern visuals and the original audio is actually really neat. It also has an easy mode which is a welcome addition for casual players, the original game could be punishingly difficult and even on easy if you go into the wrong area too soon without the correct equipment you will die very quickly. So this would easily be a 5 star review, unfortunately I went to load my save (close to the end of the game with all the best items collected) and the game said the file was corrupted and deleted it, so although I absolutely love this game and will definitely play it again it can't really give it more than 3 due to this. Make sure you back up that save file just to be sure - it's in My Documents - Lizardcube.
First off I don't own this on GoG, I have the disc version which is actually a very nice shelf item from an era of generic DVD cases. I played it back in the day and wanted to love it and so still dig it out now and then to see if I can warm to it. You hear a lot of talk about how Painkiller is a throwback to classic FPS games and reimplements what made them great. It isn't and it doesn't, here's why: The makers of this game completely forgot about level design. Remember your favourite Doom levels where it was obvious a tremendous amount of effort had gone into making them varied and intriguing? Remember the sprawling levels of Quake where you could work out how to access secret areas by investigating the structure of your environment, remember playing Quake II or Half Life and feeling like you were actually progressing through a real place meeting bigger and bigger challenges along the way? Painkiller has none of these things, you fight waves of enemies in generic environments and it gets boring. Quickly. Some later levels are a little more interesting but the mechanic is still wave based, the opposite of classic shooters where enemies with different strengths and attributes were placed in areas with thought in order to present a challenge to the player. So anybody recommending this as being reminiscent of classic FPS games like Duke3D, Doom, Quake I&II etc either hasn't played those games or can't tell the difference. It's much more like Serious Sam without the self-conscious humour (Serious Sam knows it's dumb, Painkiller thinks it's clever) and enemy variation. Maybe with shades of kkrieger in there too. It might sound like I hate this game but I don't, I would say it's a very average wave/arena shooter where progression from a room or area is based on how many of the same generic enemies you can mow down. If that's your thing then you'll have fun, just don't buy it thinking you'll be reliving the glory days of early FPS games because the magic of great level design just isn't there.
It's hard to imagine how a game so old could contain so many elements we consider advanced today. The choice system which affects NPC behaviour, the massive open world, the various modes of transport - it's all here and the game is perfectly balanced. You'll need a pen and paper handy as the game doesn't hold your hand (no arrows or quest reminders here) however this just makes the game seem more real and worthy of your efforts, there is a lot of information to gather and everything NPC has worthwhile things to say. Despite the dated graphics the game feels a lot more "real" that more modern efforts, every action has consequences and each time you make a discovery it feels as though you deserved it. It's free and it's brilliant - what's not to like?
At last the amazing SS2 is available to buy, no point in doing a review - it's cheap and there is no excuse not to purchase. If you like FPS games which are genuinely unnerving with a twisting plot and a intimidating, ever-present evil presence then click the buy button.
