Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes

The Good
Before id Software released their hit first-person shooter, they created a trilogy of platform games starring Billy Blaze, who transforms into Commander Keen after donning his brother’s helmet. His first adventure took him to Mars where he recovered four vital parts to his Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket the Vorticons stole. Keen then returned home only to find their mothership hovering above Earth. The second game, The Earth Explodes, finds Keen on board this mothership.

When you start the game, you are presented with a top-down view of the mothership. As you go through it, you will find it resembles the shape of a flying monster. There are different types of rooms (Engine, Weaponry, and Home), and several warning lights that are not used at any point. Your main concern though is the X-14 Tantalus Rays housed in eight of the rooms, aimed at the same cities featured in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. Destroy all eight rays, and you will complete the game.

When you enter a room, the view switches to a side-on perspective, and the aim here is to find the exit, while unlocking a series of doors blocking it. Once you have found the exit and go through it, the entrance will be replaced by a red square with the word “Done” in it, and you can’t enter the room again.

The thing I noticed straight away is the change of graphics. The gray background from the last episode is gone, replaced by nice patterns with a touch of gray to them, and they look like a good match for your next bathroom. The corridors of the mothership contain tiled floors that look like the gray blocks from Arkanoid, while some of the levels have patterns that resemble a chain-link fence.

The items are similar to those in the first episode. With the exception of the Stuffed Toy Vorticon, every item has a food theme. You can get candy bars, hamburgers, chocolate cake, and “Vorta-Cola”. Of these items, the Toy Vorticon has the highest number of points. These stuffed teddy bears are often out of reach, but if you manage to collect two or three of theses, you may find yourself awarded with an extra life. Keen is equipped with his pogo stick which he carried from his last adventure, and this will help him reach items he cannot get to by foot.

There are several creatures to watch out for. Several Vorticon Elite guards are found protecting the Tantalus Rays from intruders like Keen. Other enemies include the guard robot and the Vorticon Grunt. Contact with any of these creatures will result in a loss of life. He can get a raygun that will help him deal with these creatures. Each raygun contains five charges. Since some of the creatures require more than one shot to kill, it is important to stock up on ammo.

The two impressive cinematics are on par with the first episode in terms of quality, and these are worth watching more than once. One of these signals a game over, and is triggered when you flip a switch in one of the Tantalus Control Rooms. The other one occurs when you successfully protected all eight cities.

The Bad
The same problem is present as it is in the last game. You keep firing your pistol by accident because you need to press two keys simultaneously: the [Ctrl] and [Alt] keys.

The Bottom Line
The second episode of the Keen series, in which you have to save certain cities from destruction, has the same gameplay as its predecessor: top-down view for the world map, side-on view for the rest. Even though the sounds and controls are similar, the graphics have been improved, with the background changing from a dull gray to an actual pattern. Like in the last game, you can save the game in one of nine slots, as long as you do it on the world map. Even though that Keen was made in the early Nineties, this game can be played on modern systems due to the fact that there are no timer issues you need to worry about.

The Good
Practically the same as the original gameplay-wise, The Earth Explodes is the second and probably best episode in the original CK trilogy. As you came back from Mars at the end of the last game, you happened to notice that the Vorticons had positioned their dog-shaped mothership near earth, and apparently they mean to blow it up! As Commander Keen, defender of the galaxy, Billy Blaze has to get back on his starship and get to the mothership in order to kick some Vorticon ass and save the earth.

As I mentioned, this game is practically the same as CK1, but now you aren't collecting space ship parts, instead you have to explore the mothership and disable it's individual laser guns (each targeted at a different location on earth). I feel that this simple change makes the game much more foccused than it's predecessor and with new and much more intriguing levels and enemies like the fearsome Vorticon warriors, who jump around but remain land-locked when the lights are out (a significant gameplay concept that one has to remember to beat some levels), plus the addition of a much more cohesive background and graphic style (you are after all in a space ship) gets you a much more solid Keen game than it's prequel.

The Bad
Practically nothing, the only bad aspects CK2 has come with the genre, and that's about it.

And the lack of major additions can't be really considered since this was the second episode on an already developed trilogy instead of a "real" sequel (following the standard "first episode free, two others by order" shareware mantra).

The Bottom Line
Probably the most enjoyable of the first Keen trilogy, packed with good, challenging yet balanced gameplay, cute graphics, good clean humor (you can blow up the earth if you want to!) and some great levels and enemies make for a fantastic PC-only platformer.

The Good
Graphically it's OK and just about the same as part one, which means cute graphics and funny and totally crazy looking enemies. The game continues the story started in the first episode, but has a story of it's own too. Keen has infiltrated the Vortican Mother ship build to destroy earth. He now has to find all the laser cannon's and destroy them to save the famous cities where they are aimed at, such as Moscow, New York and London. You will find these in the different levels spread on the main map similar to part one. Just like the graphics the gameplay is the same because it's basically the second part of the same release. This means you will find smooth gameplay rarely seen on the PC in games of that age. This one is not shareware just as part 3 and unlike part 1 (This system is used in many of Apogee's games). You can still buy this game, however. If you loved the first part you will love this one too, for sure.

The Bad
The gameplay is a bit dated by today's standards. Another problem comes with shooting because you need to use the combination of ALT+CONTROL to shoot. This is especially frustrating if you need to shoot and do a hi-jump with keen's pogo stick since you use CONTROL to jump and ALT for the pogo and combining these two results in a hi-jump which is needed sometimes.

The Bottom Line
Another fun classic platform game that is just the second part of the same release as part one so don't expect anything new. This is not really a problem since part one is also a brilliant classic.

The Good
As the direct sequel to Commander Keen 1 : Marooned on Mars, there is very little difference. Sure the areas, puzzles, monsters, etc., are all different, but it is basically the same game.

Personally, I prefer this to the first episode. This time, you're aboard the alien's spacecraft and you must destroy all the death rays focused on Earth's major cities. The levels are kind of cute, and I definitely got a kick out of running around their spaceship.

The Bad
Since it was based on the same engine as the first episode, it suffered from the same problems. Particularly, the awful idea that CTRL+ALT should be the fire control.... stupid, stupid!

The Bottom Line
As a continuation in the series, it's a must for anyone who loves Commander Keen. The story is as strong as the first, and the levels a little more entertaining. A definite in my book.

The Good
With a different setting, but graphic, sound and gameplay are otherwise identical to the other two first-generation Keen games. And that's just brilliant. If it ain't broken, why bother to fix it?

Two minor differences makes the second game remarkably cool, though.

1. You can turn off the light on levels, if you prefer playing blind that is!

2. You can activate a doomsday machine and blow up Earth! You lose the game with it, but having the liberty to do something you aren't supposed to is just awesome!
   
   The Bad
   Like it's the case with most of the Keen games, it can probably be beaten in ten minutes as soon as you know your way around the levels.
   
   The Bottom Line
   Football helmet / pogostick / zap-gun action at it's best. My personal favorite of the three first games.

The Good
Back in 1990, you didn't see smooth-scrolling EGA graphics unless you were playing Commander Keen. The storyline is great, the enemies are funny yet dangerous, and it's just like playing Super Mario on a PC.

The Bad
Nothing.

The Bottom Line
The first classic PC smooth side-scroller, the Keen Series paved the way for other developers to see that the PC was a real gaming machine, at last.

This episode of Keen is set on the Vorticon Mothership hovering over the earth, ready to use its Tantalus Rays on all the major cities of the planet unless Keen can disable them in time! If not, The Earth Explodes!