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Review by: GenoForPrez
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Reviewers Score:
9 / 10
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Posted: November 11, 2005
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Doukutsu
aka: "Cave Story" (English title)
System: Freeware Download
Genre: Side-scroller, Shooter, Adventure
Overall Rating: 9/10
Note: Trans patch required for English (also free from Aeon
Genesis)
You will continually be amazed that this is actually freeware.
Review
Graphics: The pixel art in Doukutsu is surprisingly detailed and amazing quality for a freeware download. The programmer who designed and built Doukutsu is apparently very big on pixel art and enjoys making his own. Every character and enemy in the game is very well animated and shaded. Whenever characters speak, there is an icon displayed of the person speaking which shows a detailed mugshot of the character. He doesn't use a lot of sprites outside of the ones necessary for characters, enemies, and NPC's, but all the sprites that he does use are very professional and look great.
Score: 8/10
Story: Don't worry, I'm not going to throw you any spoilers. You begin the game when your character suddenly wakes up and finds himself deep in a cave. He doesn't know how he came to be in the cave and knows nothing of his own identity. All he knows is it's time to leave the cave. So the adventure begins. As soon as you leave the cave, you meet the Mimigas. A group of cute, puppy-like creatures who are being faced with a serious predicament. An evil doctor is abducting Mimigas, taking them away one by one, and performing expiraments on them. Usually killing them. And so it is up to you to try and help the Mimigas. Strangely, enough, most characters just speak to you as a stranger while some seem to recognize you and don't want to explain. Who is this doctor and why is he kidnapping Mimigas? Why do certain people seem to recognize you and not others? Who are you exactly and how did you come to be in that cave? You'll have to play the game to figure it out.
Score: 9/10
Gameplay: The gameplay will remind you vaguely of Metroid. It's side-scrolling and all the worlds and levels are somehow linked together and you will be able to travel freely between the areas you have accessed using various doors and teleportation devices. Your character begins the game with only one weapon. It's a pistol called a "polar star" which fires as rapidly as you push the trigger button. The weapons in the game are very interesting though. When you kill an enemy they will drop little fragments that have exp values (the bigger the fragment, the bigger the value) and when you collect the fragments, the exp does not go to your character but to whatever weapon you are wielding when you pick up the fragments. All your weapons can have exp that is anywhere between 0 - 300% At 100% and 200%, the weapon will level up and become stronger, shooting larger and more damaging blasts. However, when you get hit by an enemy, it not only reduces your Hp, but also the exp of the weapon you are carrying. Part of the fun of the game is trying to keep your weapons maxed out, which usually you can do, but you definitely have to give it an effort sometimes! Every weapon has its own unique style of attack and there are even secret weapons that can be unlocked or found. The game physics are great, there are lots of save points so that you don't lose progress, the boss battles are each unique and challenging, and the smaller enemies are fun to shoot up! I also have to give extra points since the game supports the use of a gamepad.
Score: 10/10
Replay Value: I would definitely argue that this game has replay value anyway, but in the course of playing this game through only once, I encountered a lot of hidden areas and mysterious characters that I am very interested in exploring more the second time around. I found plenty of secret items, bosses, and even a secret weapon the first time through, and I am determined to uncover whatever other secret goodies this game is hiding from me. If I didn't know any better, I could easily mistake this game for an early SNES or late NES commercial release. The only thing bad about this game is that it's not long enough. It's one of those games where I was actually kinda disappointed that it was over. Not a common experience with freeware. Score: 8/10
Fun Fact: This game was created entirely by one man. The art, the programming, the story; everything. Surprisingly, he wasn't even trying to make a great game and has said he is not at all interested in ever making another. He just made this game "just to see if he could do it." And then there are those of us who actually aspire to do things like this....
--Geno |
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