PC Games: Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars
0When his parents are out and his babysitter has dozed off, eight-year old genius Billy Blaze dons his brother's football helmet, hops into the Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket, and patrols the galaxy as Commander Keen, Defender of Earth! It's like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon, and that's a large part of what makes Commander Keen memorable.
I've got to be honest, though. The controls aren't great, the lack of background detail in the levels makes them feel kind of barren and sterile, there's no music either, and while I find some of the sound effects endearing, others just strike me as annoying. Like when you drop off a ledge.
The strength of Commander Keen, I think, is its characters. Not just Keen himself, but also the aliens. Playful Yorps, grouchy Gargs, and the Vorticons guarding the ship parts that... seem to be dancing...? Even the bonus items--junk food, books, and teddy bears--have some character to them. And, of course, who could forget the iconic pogo stick?
Additional Commander Keen games later followed the initial trilogy, maintaining the personality of the original while also addressing many of its shortcomings. They're probably better known, as well. We'll get to that next time, though.
Those who registered the game and played the full trilogy would find the second two games to be quite similar to the first. The third game in particular, though, has some especially questionable level design that includes completely unreachable areas, apparently due to level designers forgetting that Keen, unlike many contemporary platformer protagonists, is more than one tile tall (and can't duck like Super Mario). But the complete trilogy's storyline does at least resolve the immediate crisis, though in true Saturday morning cartoon fashion, the villain of course gets away to cause more trouble next time.
Episode 3 also includes a classroom, hidden somewhere on the Vorticon homeworld, that has on display a full key to deciphering the Standard Galactic Alphabet seen on signage all across the series. And the signs have legible messages! The one by the pogo stick, for instance, turns out to read BEHOLD THE HOLY "POGO" STICK.
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