Cave Story Review

Cave Story

Nintendo Wii

Cave Story is an independent title developed not by a studio, but by one man; Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya. Over the course of five years, Pixel created and released his game over the internet in 2004 for players the world over to enjoy. The game was well received and garnered the attention of publisher Nicalis who wanted to update the game with better graphics and port it to console systems. Daisuke accepted the offer and a little while later, Cave Story would be released on the Nintendo Wii as a downloadable WiiWare title. But, with the updated version, has the game lost some of it's charm?

Gameplay

Campaign

The story starts somewhere in the near future. As a war rages on Earth's surface, a young man finds himself waking up in an rocky cavern. With no memory of who he is or how he got there, he sets off and comes across the village of Mimiga. Mimiga Village is inhabited by furry, rabbit-like creatures called the Mimiga. As you explore, you find that the inhabitants are under constant attack by The Doctor and his two minions; Balrog and Misery. The reason isn't quite known, but many speculate that The Doctor wants the race extinguished. Seeing as there's no other choice, the player is set out on a quest to defeat The Doctor and his lackeys whilst saving the Mimiga.

While the story might not start out extraordinarily, it gets deeper as the player goes through the Story Mode. Pixel has done a really good job on the story, so much so that I felt for the characters and their plight as well as be surprised as more and more of the story was revealed to me. While some plot twists do feel like they came out of left field, they work their way nicely into the story so that they don't feel like they were tacked on. And while none of the characters have voice overs, the dialogue is well written and kept my interest peaked.

The game itself is like a swan song to the days of the 8 and 16 bit era of gaming. Cave Story could easily be described as a side scrolling shooter, but there's a nice RPG element implemented into Cave Story's battle system. The weapons you receive over the course of the story level up as you kill more enemies and receive golden triangle-like objects that work as experience points that increase the power of each individual weapon. The difference though is that when you get attacked, what ever weapon you have in hand loses experience and, as a result, loses a bit of it's overall power. Of course you can get the power back by keeping that weapon in hand and slaying more monsters and retrieving more experience. Another nice thing is that the other weapons in your arsenal, when not equipped, don't lose power as you take damage. So you will always have a back-up weapon that will never lose it's power until you pull it out. This little tweak to the game play system also forces the player to think strategically about each and every battle they'll get into. What weapons to use, what does the best damage, which has the most ammunition, etc.

The game itself is pretty linear. There's no real side quests or main town and shops to revisit. Though that's not to say you can't go back and revisit other stages. You easily can if you can locate that levels teleporter. There's no real reason to go back, but it's a nice option to have if you ever wanted to revisit certain areas or easily regain experience before moving on to the next stage. I personally never really needed to return to the past stages, but the fact that the option is there was real nice. Which brings me to my next point: exploration. Cave Story is a big game and has nicely designed levels that could take well near an hour to fully explore individually. Each level has a different theme than the last, adding a nice variety. Each stage also has quite a few small nooks and crannies to be sought out and plundered. There aren't too many power ups to really find outside of a health increase module due to all your weapons being given to you as you progress normally within the story.

There is quite a lot to this game surprisingly. While linear, the game does have three different endings to choose from. The ending you get is mostly dependent on some of the choices you make through the game when talking to certain characters and how you wish to go about near the end game. I won't spoil anything here, but I will say to go through at least a few times to see these endings for yourself. And if you want the best ending, get ready to pull out a full head of hair. It gets to a level that only Battletoads has ever achieved.

Multiplayer

Quite simply, there is no multiplayer. Cave Story is a purely single player game. But don't let the lack of a multiplayer mode deter you.

Bonus Fluff

Even with the lack of a multiplayer mode, there are a ton of extra features readily available to you once you start up Cave Story. The first of these modes is called Curley Story. This mode doesn't add too much to the game. All it does is change the character the player normally controls in the main game to one of the side characters named Curly Brace. Aside from the character model changing, I never noticed anything else change with the game play or story. So while interesting, it didn't warrant a second play through with that character for me.

The second mode is Boss Attack. This mode is much more interesting than the previous mode mentioned. As the title implies, you go through all the boss battles in the game as fast as you can. Now not all weapons and power ups are available to you at the start, but as you progress your way through this mode, as you would in the normal story mode, you will gain access to the greater power ups. It's a stand alone mode that adds nothing to the main game. However, it is still fun to go through at least once for the added challenge of the timer. If you wanted to, you could also use this mode as a means to train against bosses before you face them in the main game. Using it in such a way can help you prepare for the actual fight and help lessen the amount of times it might take you to defeat them during Story Mode. Hey, less times retrying a fight the better, am I right?

The third and final mode is Sanctuary Time Attack. This mode is a time attack of the very last stage of the main game. This stage should be noted however as been frustratingly difficult. Chances are it will take you well over 100 times of retries just to get through, and that's if your lucky. I have yet to get through it myself. You get the choice at the beginning area to fully upgrade yourself with all weapons and power ups, choose as little of the weapons and power ups as you wish or randomize your equipment. This mode is definitely for those looking for a challenge. If you get frustrated easily, I would advise to avoid this. Though it is still a fun add on, so I highly recommend checking it out regardless. See how far you can get before pulling out all your hair.

Graphics

The visual style of the game is reminiscent of the NES/8 bit era of games like Metroid, Castlevania and Mega Man. Because of this choice in design, it adds an unmistakable charm to Cave Story. On top of that, the character and enemy design are mostly in a Japanese chibi art style, adding a very well welcomed cuteness factor to the game. Not all enemies have this chibi style though. Some of them, mostly the later bosses, have a more darker and all to real tone to them. Personally, I find these later bosses to be very Metroid-esqe in design. However, while one may think that they would be too different from the normal look and feel of Cave Story, the bosses just seem to mix in all too well. I really enjoyed the chances I would get to fight these monsters, if only because of their design and the attention to detail paid to these creatures. The same could be said for the levels the player will explore. Not only are there many paths to explore as I mentioned prior, but the color pallet, and specific detail added into each stage makes Cave Story stand out so well.

Sound

The music here could almost warrant the purchase of Cave Story alone. All of the tracks were written and composed by Pixel himself, and alone show just how much effort and soul he put into Cave Story. Just the original Midi soundtrack has so much soul in it, but when the tracks got updated with this Wii port, they became even more full of life and emotion like something straight from a NES or even SNES title. Imagine the difference between the music in the original Legend of Zelda and the music in the SNES title A Link to the Past. The sound effects are really nice as well. If a gun is meant to sound heavy and loud or quiet as a whisper when it's firing, the sound that comes from it is matched perfectly. A ton of effort went into the sounds of Cave Story, and it shows.

Controls

The controls for Cave Story are pretty simplistic. Whether your using the Wii-mote itself, or the Classic Controller(for this review I used the Classic Controller Pro) the game plays smoothly. Though while simple, the controls have a weight-less feel to them that could take a few seconds to get used to. It's interesting and allows for some very intriguing level design with the added height achieved when jumping to your fullest. Some of the weapons also have affects on the control, and while minimal, actually can impact something as simple as a jump. So a nice strategy element is added and adds to the difficulty of the later stages.

Conclusion

What's really left to say? While not perfect, Cave Story is an excellent game that should be played by everyone. While I might be giving a little too much praise here, I feel this title warranted my recent purchase of the Nintendo Wii. The story is excellent, if a little confusing at the start. The game play and platforming are wonderful, and the combat is satisfying to say the least. Honestly, if your still reading this, why? Go out and get it already! It's only 1200 Wii points, or $12 converted into US currency. You won't regret it.