Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine

The Good
With smooth animations and quick game play, this is the real deal. No long loading time, no sloppy movies, and easy to understand. (It had some pretty cool sound effects, too)

The Bad
The biggest problem with this game and the whole series is unoriginalality. After the first game a the following were the same.

The Bottom Line
This is a cool game, small and fun. No delays, you just play continually. You know who the bad guys are and you know how to kill 'em quick. The Shikadi's mother ship awaits in orbit to invade earth. You alone, Billy Blaze, must become Commander Keen and save the earth from impending doom!

The Good
The creators of Keen got everything right.

• The monsters are great.
• The balance is perfect: on easy, the game is easy, and on hard, the game is hard.
• The music is beatiful.
• The sound effects are genious.
• The balance of the levels could not be done any better.
• The graphics are a miracle, especially because of the limited resources.
• The engine is very good: the way Keen jumps, shoots, hangs, pogo-jumps, with all very little keys...!
• The levels really could hardly be done better.
• The secrets, the points, the story, the interface, the keys, the everything: everything is great.

**The Bad**
The level map has little fantasy: Keen 4 and 6 have done this better.

**The Bottom Line**
No serious gamer can miss this game. It is probably the best of the Commander Keen series.

The Good
The Armageddon Machine is the second game in Keen’s “Goodbye, Galaxy” series, and it is much bigger than the last episode, which had the protagonist rescuing Council Members of Gnosticus IV. Keen learns that the Shikadi are building an Armageddon Machine and plan to use it to blow up the galaxy. Having known their whereabouts, he hops on board their Omegamatic finding the machines that would help the alien race achieve their task.

TAM shares the same game mechanics as Keen 4; I already discussed these in great detail here. The world map bears a striking resemblance to the one in Keen 2, with signs above doors written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. The only difference are the elevators in the middle of each corridor, which you use to go to other corridors. If you turn the “No Clipping” cheat on, you will be able to go out for a spacewalk or explore Korath III below the Omegamatic. The cinematic where the galaxy blows up (seen when you run out of lives) is a nice touch.

The entrance and exit melodies are quite different to the last episode, with the exit melodies having that metallic feel to them. In each level, the graphics are much more detailed, and there are some smooth animations. Of these, I enjoyed watching Keen surfing on moving platforms. When I came across the machines, I liked how they look, and it makes me think they are futuristic. The final machine that Keen comes across takes a little bit of effort to destroy.

The game’s soundtrack is excellent. There are a couple of tunes that are not repeated in the game, and the same piece is used for the defense tunnels and machine levels. I enjoyed listening to the music in the secret stage at Korath III. It has a Scottish theme, with harmless creatures walking around wearing quilts, and background music that is made with bagpipes.

Gameplay is the same, with Keen jumping, both normally and with his pogo stick, and shooting enemies with his raygun. Keen can climb up and down poles, and climb onto ledges if he happens to just miss the platform, even if he jumps or use his pogo stick. Locked doors are scattered throughout the levels, and they must be unlocked with gems. Another addition to the game requires Keen to obtain a keycard that opens the exit door made out of steel. I like the sound of this door opening very much.

The enemies are much tougher, with the Shikadi family requiring more than just one shot to dispose of and trying to destroy Keen while he is on poles. There are the dogs that jump and bark electric currents at you, then you will meet the adult who has the ability to teleport and he is rendered invincible to your shots. Also, I love playing games with Robo Red. I would shoot him on purpose and see if I could get away from death.

The Bad
Without using the warp cheat, there is no way that you play stages that you have previously completed, so you cannot be amazed at how gorgeous the stage is a second time.

The fifth episode promised a much bigger Keen game that was to be released Christmas 1992, but this did not happen, and the last revision of Keen 5 didn’t remove this reference.

The Bottom Line
The Armageddon Machine follows on where Secret of the Oracle left off. The game features more music and excellent graphics. The controls and gameplay is the same as any other Keen game. Although you are limited to only walking around the Omegamatic, this would not stop you from cheating to get a little bit of enjoyment out of it. Unlike the last episode, you have to pay to get this, but it is worth the money with the additions and stuff.