Note: This review was written using the graphics and music of Cave Story+, which are all-new and remastered, respectively.
Cave Story is perhaps one of those freeware games; The rare kind that succeed so well that, when Nintendo placed it on the Wii Shop Channel, it sold so quickly that you could count the number of people who didn't know of it's success on as many hands as there were non-Wii owners, and in it's heyday, that was basically nobody. It was a rousing success, made by one man, over the course of YEARS. For this review, I used Cave Story +, on the Steam store.
GRAPHICS: The old ones are nice and NES-like, and the new ones emulate the SNES or the Genesis far more. Both get the job done, mind you; It's up to your preference.
MUSIC: Beautiful. Simply beautiful. The older music does feel a bit bleepy for my tastes, but that's me. I prefer the remastering, which adds a whole new depth to these songs. The 'new' music doesn't add much; Go with Remastered.
GAMEPLAY: YES. Cave Story's main strength is in it's gameplay. You have a variety of weapons, all of them do different things, and all of them are completely nuts. From a pea shooter to a rocket launcher to one that goes through walls, you'll find something for your playstyle.
WORKABILITY: There's no glitches, no bugs. Everything's polished all around.
PRICE-TO-PLAY RATIO: It's free. If you want the + version, which only adds new graphics and music, from what I can tell anyways, it's 10 USD. It's nothing special, price-wise, but it's got a lot of meat on it's bones, so 10$ is a low price point.
STORY: Weak. Characters are often flat personalities, and while there is SOME lore, you really have to be aiming to understand it, and it's easily skippable.
OVERALL: 9.8/10. The weak story does almost nothing to diminish the fact that this game, in both it's original and + forms, is nothing short of a masterpiece. I recommend getting the + version, if only because it's on Steam, and graphics and music can be toggled to the old if you prefer that, and it comes with all the nice, shiny doodads Steam lobs into everything. Even if you don't, this game's available for free. You have no excuses. Go play Cave Story.
The (Free) Diamond In The Rough
Note: This review was written using the graphics and music of Cave Story+, which are all-new and remastered, respectively.
Cave Story is perhaps one of those freeware games; The rare kind that succeed so well that, when Nintendo placed it on the Wii Shop Channel, it sold so quickly that you could count the number of people who didn't know of it's success on as many hands as there were non-Wii owners, and in it's heyday, that was basically nobody. It was a rousing success, made by one man, over the course of YEARS. For this review, I used Cave Story +, on the Steam store.
GRAPHICS: The old ones are nice and NES-like, and the new ones emulate the SNES or the Genesis far more. Both get the job done, mind you; It's up to your preference.
MUSIC: Beautiful. Simply beautiful. The older music does feel a bit bleepy for my tastes, but that's me. I prefer the remastering, which adds a whole new depth to these songs. The 'new' music doesn't add much; Go with Remastered.
GAMEPLAY: YES. Cave Story's main strength is in it's gameplay. You have a variety of weapons, all of them do different things, and all of them are completely nuts. From a pea shooter to a rocket launcher to one that goes through walls, you'll find something for your playstyle.
WORKABILITY: There's no glitches, no bugs. Everything's polished all around.
PRICE-TO-PLAY RATIO: It's free. If you want the + version, which only adds new graphics and music, from what I can tell anyways, it's 10 USD. It's nothing special, price-wise, but it's got a lot of meat on it's bones, so 10$ is a low price point.
STORY: Weak. Characters are often flat personalities, and while there is SOME lore, you really have to be aiming to understand it, and it's easily skippable.
OVERALL: 9.8/10. The weak story does almost nothing to diminish the fact that this game, in both it's original and + forms, is nothing short of a masterpiece. I recommend getting the + version, if only because it's on Steam, and graphics and music can be toggled to the old if you prefer that, and it comes with all the nice, shiny doodads Steam lobs into everything. Even if you don't, this game's available for free. You have no excuses. Go play Cave Story.