Summary
Bullshit! (its subtitle, not the game)
The Good
This is the sixth and final
Commander Keen game developed by the folks over at
id Software, but its subtitle,
Aliens Ate My Babysitter! does not make any sense. Why would it be called that if Keen's babysitter Molly is taken to Fribbulus Xax? The Bloogs, the aliens responsible, have not eaten Molly yet, she just been hidden away in their headquarters above the planet. Before it is dinner time and Molly is served as the main course, Keen must travel to Fribbulus and find her before it is too late.
The graphics are quite detailed and it was good to watch the animations in the backgrounds of some stages. The first stage, entitled “Bloogwaters Crossing”, there are waterfalls among the red cliffs. And there are huge trees that you can actually stand on, with eyes looking diagonally at the top. Some of the stages have some attractive backgrounds, even without the animations. In the last two stages, there are stars on a dark blue background, and this looks great. It blends in with the structures that are also in the background. The music is catchy when playing the game through the Sound Blaster, and the sound effects are worth listening to.
There are more things to be done on Fribbulus rather than enter stages. To reach your final destination. you need to gather three items, and these are a sandwich, rope and grappling hook, and rocket pass. You can get these items in three of the stages to complete the level, rather than just going past the rotating exit sign. Your bean-with-bacon megarocket can be a level by itself if you know where the passage is. It is a really short one, but it is worth getting through as you can stock up on extra lives.
The enemies look colorful and they sometimes look funny. The green Bloogs just go around with their tongues hanging out. Few of the enemies have different ways to destroy you. There are the Bloogs that look the same as the first one, but they have clubs that make Keen fall down when it gets slammed onto the ground. My favorite enemy has to be the little yellow men that fly the spaceship. When Keen manages to destroy it with his raygun, the yellow man falls to the ground and follow Keen whenever he goes. You have the option of letting him follow you or squash him with your pogo stick, which, by the way, makes a nice squishing sound.
For those of you that make this game the first Keen game to play, they will like the controls. They are easy to use, and much better than the control system that was used for episodes one through three. For those of you who played a game for Keen long enough, you can have a break from him and play
Paddle War, which has the usually object of getting to 21 points before your opponents does.
The Bad
One of the music tracks in CK6 stops in the middle, only to stuff up in five minutes, and either the sound turns to static or you do not get to hear the sound anymore. The only way I could fix this is if I exit to DOS then reload the level. To avoid making the same mistake again, I had to save frequently.
There is no built-in help system like the one used in
episodes four and
five These help systems describe what your ComputerWrist does, and give more detail to the game and story.
The Bottom Line
Keen 6 is much better than the first five. You get to explore a planet, and even go off it. The number of stages are higher than any previous Keen game. There are some great music tracks and sound effects, and the graphics are good, especially when there are a few animations that are part of the background.
It is disappointing to see that this is the last game in the CK series. According to the ending to episode five, the episode, with the title of
The Universe is Toast!” would see Keen and Mortimer McMire (the nemesis of episode three) battling for the universe. Unfortunately, Keen 7 was not made as id gained success with
Wolfenstein 3-D and
DOOM. A Commander Keen fan created a two-part game but it turned to be crap.
