Cave Story (PC) Review
    So, It's finally time to make a review for my favorite new game, Cave story or really as it's called Dokutsu Monogatari. It is a game where you play as a character wearing a red suit, You start in a series of caves and have to find a way out. On you adventure you find out a lot about the world around you and other characters. Now I would cover the story here, but it is to big for that and has major spoilers, So I will wait until later.  

    For a little about the game, It was made by Daisuke Amaya or more commonly known as Pixel. He did it all, Story, Graphics, the engine, all of it. He worked on the game for 5 whole years during his time in college and after he got a job at a software company. He based the game of a game he played in his childhood, Metroid.

-GRAPHICS- 9
    The graphics to this game have a NES feel to them, all of the characters, caves and objects, are made of blocks. Though some may not like this, I personally enjoyed the Graphic style as it has that 'charm' to them. And Pixel did this style because he could design more art work this way over a 3D game. Everything doesn't look dark of dreary either, there are bright caves, sandy caves, and caves even with lush grass inside. There are very few caves that are dark inside and that really helps the game.
    The protagonist you play as look like he wears a red suit with white high-lighting and just a tiny hint of very light green. The reason of the was to make him stand out in the caves.


-SOUND- 10
   The Music in this game. . .I almost cannot describe the it. . . The music really is emotionally involving, I mean it, it's REALLY emotionally moving. I have never played a game in my life that has moved me with it's music. All of the other games like Sonic or Mario just have hunky-doey music that is good, but is just missing what this game has. The best tune in the game has to be the "First Cave" theme it almost tells a story right there. And what's weird is that another tune a really like is nothing at all. . . just dead silence after a great loss.


-STORY- 10
   I didn't expect much of a story in this game but I was DEAD WRONG! And I am glad of that fact. Just be wary I really don't want to spoil the story for those who want to play the game trust me, you will regret it if you read it and have not played the game before.  


*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*





   In the game you play as Quote, a Robot from the surface who came to this island to stop the Wearer of the Demon Crown. To tell you what that is I will need to back up a little.


Once upon a time there was a King, he ruled a Kingdom on the surface.

There was also a man named Ballos, a kind man who loved the kingdom and helped all the people the best he
could. And all of the Kingdom loved him.

He was no mortal though, He had Magical powers beyond imagination.

The King, in his jealousy, cast Ballos into the dungeon to under go extreme torture. Humans can be terrible creatures sometimes. . .

Under the extreme pain, Ballos Magic ran wild.

In an instant Ballos Magic destroyed the King and all of the kingdom, including his wife, children and. All of the dear Kingdom he so loved was now gone.

All he could do is, under his extremely saddened heart, was laugh from the whirlwind that he stould from.

Jenka, Ballos Sister, (also one with extreme magical powers) Cast Ballos to a floating island in the sky.

She could not bring herself to kill him, even in his state, because she loved her brother so.

But Jenka's Daughter Misery persuaded Ballos to create the Demon crown, however. . .

She was cursed to serve  anyone who wore the Demon crown as long as the crown exists

But the crown cannot be destroyed unless Ballos is destroyed because Ballos spirit lies in the crown in part.  


10 years before Cave Story. . .

By the greed of Humans, Robot's are dispatched on the island to find and retrieve the Demon crown.

They Kill countless humans and Migmas. (Cute bunny like humans)

The Migmas, who are all but extinct, see and eat the forbidden Red flowers that they are told not to.

They fly into a violent rage and kill the Robot's, but are never seen again. . . It is a sad tale

The Demon Crown is won. And the Violence is stopped.

Two secret robots are dispatched and are sent to kill the wearer of the Demon crown.

The Robot's names, Quote, and Curly brace

They damage the king but it is unknown if they kill him

They loose their memory and go into hibernation for 10 years. . .


Cave Story

A Helicopter lands on the island to research.

Sue Sakamoto
Kazuma Sakamoto
Momorin Sakamoto
Professor Booster
The Doctor
Itho

these are passenger aboard the craft and land in the island

The Doctor finds the demon crown (that's why the got on board that Helicopter in the first place) And awakens Misery to be his slave and Balrog, Misery's assistant.

You Wake up in a cave. . .

And your adventure begins!

Whoa Nelly that's a LOT of story, and the adventure  has just begun!
Of course all of this info is given to you AS YOU PROGRESS through the game. And on your first playthrough, you will most likely never hear the word "Ballos" unless you are using a game guide.
Now, after you wake up, you go through the first cave and net a polar start from a sleeping guy. You enter this one cave and fall, down into a Migma village that had been raided by the Doctor, only three migmas are left. And Sue who has been turned into a migma by Misery. You learn about a Migma called Tokoro, a sweet little migma child. Misery and balrog come and mistake Tokoro for Sue, and kidnap her to take her to the doctor. You must use the teleporter to go to the Egg corridor and find Sue. In the Egg corridor there is an egg that has a Sky dragon that will allow one to get off of the island. But when you return with Sue. Because of the Kidnapping, King, (the leader of the village), imprisons Sue and holds her responsible for Tokoro kidnapping. Sue asks you to go in her place to grasstown where her brother, Kazuma Sakamoto, it stuck.
    You head to grasstown and assemble parts to a bomb to blow open the door to the building that Kazuma is stuck in and return with him and professor booster. When you return, Sue has just finished explaining what the doctor is planning to do with Tokoro, feed her and the countless migmas red flowers so they will rage and take over the surface so that the doctor can rule it. King would never allow that. Professor booster says that the Sand zone is where the flower seeds are. He sends you to go get them and return in one peace, nice. When you teleport the Sand Zone you meet Curly Brace, your long time friend, but she doesn't recognize you and you don't recognize her either. You must knock her out and tell her that your on her side she will offer her machine gun to you but if you don't take it you will be able to get a better gun in place later. In the Sand zone you meet Jenka, Ballos brother. But Balrog has gotten to her first, he demands the key to the store house where the flower seeds are held. Jenka "playes the fool" but Balroog doesn't bit, he leaves when he sees you as to not cause a fight. After retrieving Jenkas five puppies Balrog steals the key and heads to the store house. When you enter you see the Doctor and Misery and Balrog. You see the doctor leaving, tokoro has just eaten a red flower, and king lying on the ground with fatal wounds. You are forced to kill Tokoro to prevent what happened 10 years ago. . . King tells you to avenge him and leave behind his sword as he simply disappears. After leaving the store house Balgor lands on you and Misery warps you to the labyrinth. Inside you find the core to the island after you destroy it, Misery becomes angered and with the doctor warps it to their hideout.
    Also you find Curly in the labyrinth, she helps you fight the core but sadly the room fills with water and Curly gives you her bubble shield and dies there. . .unless, you have skipped some weapons and refused to upgrade others. You can save Curly by attaching her to your back using a special cable. and get her to safety and drain the water out of her. If you do she will float away in the water way and land up in the plantation. You end up in the Migma village instead and go see Kazuma in the Egg corridor. He has hatched the Sky dragon, if you refuse to flee with him, you must climb the out wall and enter the plantation. You meet Itho there, but he is a very timid man and hides until you tell him you won't kill him. In the plantation you find curly, you must give her a mushroom to restore her memory. Also you must build a rock using Momorin Sakamoto's help to access the kings chamber. You get up there and destroy the doctor once and for all, as well as the core. But the island is sinking you have to run for your life!
if you rescued Curly you get to go to a special place. As you run you see a house with it's door open. Go inside and you have access to the sacred grounds! Then you go on and learn about Ballos, and finally meet him. He tells you that he is deeply saddened and requests that you kill him so that he may rest in peace forever, or else He will kill you (remember, his magic controls him at this point) you destroy him and Misery is set free from the curse that was cast so long ago, The island floats back up and is now peaceful again.

*SPOILERS END HERE*





-DEPTH- 10
   The game has two very different endings. Many story twists, multiple side quests, and many completely different weapons.
About the weapons. They start at level 1, to upgrade them you must get the triforc... err. . . Small golden triangles. Collect enough of these goodies to upgrade your weapon to level two and then level three (it is extremely easy to get a weapon to level 3) but you lose the triangles if you take damage and if you get hit enough, you level down and your weapon is weaker!

 There are 5 completely different weapons that you get. A basic firing weapon, a sword, a bubbler that makes a shield of bubbles around you. a Missile launcher (Cool! can I have one?) And a fireball shooter.
    that's quite a bit really, there are also 6 main areas to explore and they are not at all small, they consist of at least  5 different caves and take quiet a while to explore.


-ADDICTIVENESS- 8
    Because you must beat the game twice to get both endings, you will put at least 20 Hours in this game. Pack on an extra 5 hours if you don't know what your doing and need to fight the same boss over, and over, and over (especially the true final boss who is extra tough). I loved this game and will play through this game at least once more before I put it up for a long time.


-DIFFICULTY-  9
 
     I will say, the difficulty in this game is extremely tough, especially if you get the best ending. It is unbelievable what you have to go through. The bosses are super tough, and actually I got stuck for about 1 hour of play time on a single boss! So yeah, this game is most definitely hard core.
 

-OVERALL- 9.7
    I honestly loved cave story, it's the best game I have ever played and really should be played by everyone.