Comments on: cave story (****) (abdnm #8)

By: Octopain

Octopain — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:07:17 +0000

I think my enjoyment of the game was really hurt by playing it on a keyboard. Even by the end of the game I didn’t feel confident in my ability to perform any action that required more than two keys in a short period of time. It was obvious that the game would feel amazing on a control scheme I was more comfortable with. An option for using WASD instead of the arrow keys might have been an improvement.

By: harveyjames

harveyjames — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:50:22 +0000

Just to address the thing about Tarantino, here- I seem to remember telling you I thought Tarantino was self-absorbed when I stayed with you, so I guess that paragraph could apply directly to me!

The difference between Tarantino and Pixel is that Pixel is humble and grounded enough to refine and polish his game until it’s as good in real life as it is in his head; for Tarantino, the movie being good in his head is enough. This is what I mean by self-absorbed. John Romero made exactly the game he wanted to make, too! It was called Daikatana!

By: Qmarx

Qmarx — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:22:24 +0000

What I like is how the intro cave is done. Especially that fourth spike that kills everyone the first time they play the game. You know the one.

It’s essentially a forced introduction to the game’s floaty jumps, and it’s very well done.

By: Ikiru

Ikiru — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:40:53 +0000

“You get hit, lose a weapon level, and suddenly you find yourself with half an energy bar and crappy weapons, which makes it even harder not to get hit, and the vicious cycle mercilessly pounds you into death”

Like an inversed Katamari game, huh?

“More importantly: the Minerva guy getting hired by Valve.”

Really? That is pretty cool! Although I´m anything but an expert on mods (and PC games in general), I did play the first episode of Minerva, and found the “level-design” (quotations marks because it´s more a world-design than an actual level-design) to be fantastic.

By: 108

108 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:30:47 +0000

neq:

Wonderboy — yes. More specifically, Monster World IV. (See the review of Monster World Collection elsewhere on this site!)

Cave Story is much like Monster World IV with polished controls. Then again, the fuzziness of the controls was probably everything in Monster World IV.

someguy:

I am not dismissing the commercial game creation process: I am saying that it does not create games completely like Cave Story.

Everyone who mentioned Gradius in comments or in emails:

Yeah, the leveling up of the guns in Cave Story is kinda like Gradius. Still. Cave Story takes the idea and runs in a completely different (awesome) direction. I dare say that the Gradius influence is only ever (deeply buried) subconscious.

By: someguy

someguy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:30:24 +0000

I like Cave Story, I like it a lot, so much that I’ve played through it multiple times to try and take in every aspect of Cave Story. That said, I think Tim is far too blind-sided by fanaticism here that he resorts to broad assumptions and takes them as fact wholesale, then possibly realizing how wrong and zealotic he might be, boldly dares any objectors to try and disagree with him. Cave Story is very well made, and just as good as any commercially great game, but I don’t think anyone can denounce Pixel as the high priest of science or some crazy nonsense like that, nor do I agree with the general broad dismissal of the commercial game creation process.

By: neq

neq — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:17:56 +0000

So in the end this review made me seriously start playing cave story.. Or maybe it’s getting it for a portable (PSP) that did, because playing it on the PC never really felt appropriate.

Anyway, I’m getting a big wonderboy: monster world vibe out of this. Which is why I think it deserves to be on the list-of-games-that-pixel-might-like in the review.

By: chekhonte

chekhonte — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:58:32 +0000

I’m really glad you put this game on the list. I’m out of the loop and hadn’t heard of it until you posted it. I’ve almost at the end and am loving tremendously. Thanks for introducing it to me.

By: Tlon

Tlon — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:09:04 +0000

i’m pretty sure thats really common with mod makers. if Cave Story was a half-life mod Pixel would have been on Valve’s payroll 6 months ago

By: CubaLibre

CubaLibre — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:14:23 +0000

Too bad that was the pinnacle of his work in games.

American McGee needs oversight, I think.