Commander Keen - Episode 4: Secret of the Oracle

The fourth episode of Commander Keen's adventures, which is also the first episode of the two-part Goodbye Galaxy mini-series! For the needs of Secret of the Oracle, id Software introduced several important changes to its flagship cycle - mainly in the game itself, although it also did not do without visible improvements in the visual layer.

In Secret of the Oracle, we again play the role of a little boy, Billy Blaze, whose life goal is to fight aliens trying to conquer the galaxy. This time, the eight-year-old genius has no mean trouble - his opponent is a ruthless alien race, known as Shikadi. After receiving alarming signals about the attack of enemies, the young man decides to meet with the Oracle and get the information needed to eliminate his rivals. Unfortunately, it soon turns out that the latter is completely useless. Eight members of the Council who looked after her have just been kidnapped by Shikadi. Keen has no way out. In order to defeat newcomers from the beyond, he must first find lost allies.

The idea of the game has not changed by a single jot, so the struggles are still divided into two phases. In the first of them we move around the world, observing Keen from a bird's eye view - here we choose the level, activating one of the available locations. The second phase is a platformer in the classic edition and here you can see any improvements. In comparison to the predecessors, the graphics have been significantly improved. Improvement of the visual layer was achieved by isometric projection, adding pseudo-three-dimensional depth to the locations.

Innovations have also touched on various aspects of gameplay. Graduation of difficulty levels, the option of viewing corridors located directly above or below Keen, as well as the ability to enter buildings have been introduced. Other improvements include the main hero's extensive puppet that could shoot in four directions, as well as his new skills: grabbing the edges of the platforms and descending/climbing on the pipes.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015