A DOS classic that's quite a bit leaner than I remembered. Turns out this isn't the massive game I thought it was when I was 7, I was just really bad at it!!
One night while his parents are out, Billy Blaze takes his homemade ship, the Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket, dons his big brother's Football helmet and becomes Commander Keen. He then decides to take a quick trip to Mars for a little exploring. While there, evil aliens called Vorticons steal crucial parts of his ship, stranding him there. The game is a quest to get back the parts of Keen's ship so he can make it home before his parents.
I adore this concept, and Keen's first game is a treasure. You have your simple jump and shoot controls, but you also acquire a pogo stick early on that becomes a crucial part of the gameplay, allowing you to jump higher and farther.
The game is a little tricky at times, but it's rarely unfair. There are a couple levels near the end with some unavoidable deaths due to being unable to see what's below you as you drop to lower areas (I'm lookin' at you, Red Maze City), but it's not a huge issue, and you can easily knock this game out in a couple hours. The controls and some of the overly simple levels may be a bit off-putting to newcomers, but if you're into classic platformers, Commander Keen's Vorticon trilogy is not to be missed.
EDIT: I have just played Keen 1 with a controller for the first time, and it was FANTASTIC. I played it through Commander Genius while using my 8bitdo Pro, and it was sublime. I highly recommend using a d-pad!!
One night while his parents are out, Billy Blaze takes his homemade ship, the Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket, dons his big brother's Football helmet and becomes Commander Keen. He then decides to take a quick trip to Mars for a little exploring. While there, evil aliens called Vorticons steal crucial parts of his ship, stranding him there. The game is a quest to get back the parts of Keen's ship so he can make it home before his parents.
I adore this concept, and Keen's first game is a treasure. You have your simple jump and shoot controls, but you also acquire a pogo stick early on that becomes a crucial part of the gameplay, allowing you to jump higher and farther.
The game is a little tricky at times, but it's rarely unfair. There are a couple levels near the end with some unavoidable deaths due to being unable to see what's below you as you drop to lower areas (I'm lookin' at you, Red Maze City), but it's not a huge issue, and you can easily knock this game out in a couple hours. The controls and some of the overly simple levels may be a bit off-putting to newcomers, but if you're into classic platformers, Commander Keen's Vorticon trilogy is not to be missed.
EDIT: I have just played Keen 1 with a controller for the first time, and it was FANTASTIC. I played it through Commander Genius while using my 8bitdo Pro, and it was sublime. I highly recommend using a d-pad!!