Cave Story is an action platformer video game that was inspired by other classic NES games such as Megaman, Metroid, and Castlevania. Few similarities can be seen through the gameplay, yet Cave Story manages to capture its own feel and a slightly different style of play. It's a game about jumping and shooting... downward, and upward as well.
You play as boy robot. (But you don't know that, yet, because you woke up with AMNESIA!) You make your way out of the small cave that you found yourself in and you find a small village of bunny-like creatures called Mimigas. Turns out that there is an mad doctor who is kidnapping these people one by one and it's up to you to help them out.
I'll say that the story itself is quite engaging. Sure, it's a simple game at first but then you'll find yourself moving along just to find out what happens next. By the end of the game, you would have talked to many characters for such a small game and there will be several things happening at once in the plot. Though the game itself is quite linear, in terms of the levels you will play through, the game has multiple story endings, each affected by the responses that you give to characters in the game. In addition to the linearity, there aren't really any side quests, which helps the plot move along a lot faster. Pretty much every favor you carry out moves things along. Just as a forewarning, this game does feature quite a bit of back tracking.
Cave Story's gameplay is solid. As the boy robot with a gun, you can jump and shoot in both directions, aim upwards, and shoot down from above while you are in the air. Throughout the game you can find other weapons to utilize in your arsenal. The main mechanic that made this game stand out apart from the rest is the "Level" system. When you defeat enemies they drop Doritos, and eating these Doritos offers grants your weapon Double XP. Gain enough Experience for your weapons and they'll become more powerful. However, this "Level up System isn't simply a "nowhere but up" kind of deal.
Taking damage has more consequences than simply losing HP. Your weapons are also downgraded slightly and will "Level Down" if enough damage is taken and enough Doritos are thrown up in the process. (No, you cannot pick up barfed out food and eat it again. This isn't Sonic the Hedgehog.) But not to worry. Although the game is quite challenging, it's a very forgiving game. Some of the bosses aren't hard to defeat and they even spawn minor enemies that still drop Doritos for your weakened weapons and Hearts for your weakened body. But remember, this game is still challenging, and it'd be unwise to not save often as you will start out from your last saved state if you die. Making it through the stages is probably where most of the difficulty comes from as they are usually crowded by many enemies and there are many environmental hazards scattered throughout the game, especially in the later stages.
I recommend this game to everyone, especially since it's FREE! [It's a free game, and it's a great game.] That right, this game is a freeware game; well, at least the original is free. You can download the original version of the game, the version that I played, from this website. Cave Story is available for purchase in the remastered versions Cave Story+ [On the Nintendo eShop, Wiiware, and Valve's Steam Store] and Cave Story 3D [For Nintendo 3DS].
I still wonder why this game is called Cave Story.
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