Commander Keen 4

Arcade 1991 Dos Dosbox Apogee Side scrolling Hop and bop

Classic and imaginative platformer

Long before iD Software made their name with Doom and Wolfenstein, they produced the Commander Keen series, cute platformers which were a far cry from their later hyper-violent shooters. This is the fourth game and while little has changed in the general gameplay, it remains a fun and addictive game which successfully emulates classics like Super Mario Bros. For those that don't know, Commander Keen is the alter-ego of 8 year-old Billy Blaze, who travels through space, righting wrongs and generally getting into mischief with aliens. In this episode, the story revolves around finding and rescuing several key figures who can prevent the universe from being destroyed by a race of evil aliens and which is basically an excuse for Keen to travel around some huge and graphically charming environments, using his pogo stick and other assorted gadgets to help him out. Commander Keen is old-school platforming at its best. Although a tad short, it features some gorgeous old-school graphics, which utilise a distinctive slanted 3D perspective to show off the imaginative level and character design. The game's humorous approach is much appreciated and for younger gamers or nostalgia-lovers this is a real treat.

A good sequel

Commander Keen : Goodbye, Galaxy! is the fourth installment in the old platform game series and is as good as all the rest, maybe even better. For those unfamiliar, Commander Keen is a very popular platformer, in all the games in the series, he jumps from one platform to the other platforms, sometimes using a pogo stick, which makes him jump twice as high as usual. Goodbye Galaxy! has the same gameplay as the other three and slightly improved graphics, with the occasional 3D image actually means a secret passage. Otherwise, there is nothing drastically changed from the other Commander Keen games. The sounds are also minimalistic. The game is still very fun and interesting to play and the game hasn't lost its touch or humor one bit. I especially like the cartoonish cute enemies. If you are a Keen lover you will be satisfied with this installment and then you will probably want to check out Episode 5 of the series.

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