In 1991, id Software released two Commander Keen games collectively known as ‘Goodbye Galaxy.’ Secret of the Oracle, the first of the two, saw the titular hero searching the Shadowlands on Gnosticus IV for the lost keepers of the oracle. Distributed as shareware, the game was intended to entice gamers to purchase its sequel: The Armageddon Machine.
As a kid, Secret of the Oracle (or Keen 4) came on a CD bundled with my dad’s Gravis Joystick. I spent hours with the game, discovering every secret and memorizing the layout of every level. However, Keen 5 was always just a bunch of screenshots at the end of the credits asking me for my money.
I finished Keen 5 last night with a program called DOSBox and realized what I had been missing. The answer is: not very much.
As a kid, I probably would have been angry at this game because of its merciless difficulty. Even on the easiest setting, the creatures aboard the Omegamatic are fast moving and deadly. The Shikadi in particular require 4 shots from Keen’s gun to kill. Also, a lot of the Shikadi’s machines move along slopes that allow them to evade Keen’s shots. Worst of all, many enemies must be dispatched from a distance due to flying shrapnel.
Keen 5 is pretty uniform in its design. Since the entire game takes place on a space station, you’ll start to see the same walls, tubes, and monitors in every level. The final encounter is also anti-climactic. You find the Armageddon Machine, lure a few Shikadi mines (exploding enemies) from a nearby corridor and BOOM! The end.
Having spent so much time with Keen 4′s exciting levels and unique enemies, I had created a myth in my head that Keen 5 would be bigger and better in every way. Having now played the game, I am profoundly disappointed. Who’d have thought that Keen 4 was the superior game all along?
However, I do feel a sense of closure. Next up: Monster Bash?
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