Game:

Alex Kidd in Miracle World (1986)

Duration: 9:16

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This game is a revision of the classic platforming "Commander Keen" titles released back in the early 90s for PC gamers by id Software and Apogee Software. I have honestly never played a Commander Keen title prior to this one (of which there were quite a few), but they were pretty much the basis for id Software's success before the arrival of Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and other future epics. As such, I can't accurately compare how this stacks up with previous games, but the general consensus is that this game sucks and the previous titles are far superior.

Truthfully, there is only one thing wrong with the game; the controls are terrible. You can get used to them over time, but they never feel quite right and are compounded by the unnecessary means in which to dispatch foes and tedious platforming segments which, from my understanding, are far greater in number than the original games and much more challenging to boot as many platforms are only about the width of your character. So, you can imagine how poor play control thrown on top of that could lead one to believe the game is not easy to enjoy.

Playing as Commander Keen, you have to save the Earth from alien invaders with your gun and pogo stick, defeating or dodging foes and finding card keys to progress through doors (we can see where so many of id's games get this concept from now). Each world is pretty long and has a boss at the end and you're granted many lives and continues, which you'll probably need.

The game is not inherently difficult if you take your time (you can at least look above and below to an extent), but confounds me with its concepts. Why have a gun that doesn't kill enemies? You can stun them with the gun and then kill them with your pogo stick, but this is unnecessary and harder than it sounds unfortunately.

You have to press down and jump to pull out the pogo stick and shoot or something to put it away, as well as hit jump mid-jump to spring higher, but it's a chore to control it in general without bumping into something above you or not landing on foes "just right" as the controls are sensitive, and they aren't stunned for very long. You'll find yourself constantly not jumping high enough because you sprung on to a tiny platform or just over-shot the jump because pressing the pad even a tiny bit can send him over an edge. He also climbs things automatically instead of manually which is just annoying.

The audio/visuals are quite nice by GBC standards and though the game doesn't have many levels, they are long and provide for an adequate amount of playtime. If you're like me and have never played the original CK games before, you'll probably want to play the others first to prepare you for this one. Enjoy.