Commander Keen: Shadowlands

  • Rating: 7.6

Reviews and comments

    KJAZZ Posted more than 20 years ago

    6

    Eh…Am I supposed to rate the tileset? I think you hosted it online once, and I liked it. Anyway. This tileset has lots of useful tiles, some tar pits for hurt events, and some kind of house…

    All in all. I give it a 6.0 Might change if need to be…

    This is a short review. It has less impact on the upload's score.

    aiko Posted more than 20 years ago

    8

    Well, "Commander Keen" was one of my favourite games at the beginning of the 90s because it had real exciting 2D platform action and a weird background story (in other words, Keen is a direct ancestor of Jazz :-).
    Now, Talec made a tileset out of it and it really looks spiffy. It has most of the graphics that were in the first levels of "Secret Of The Oracle" (platforms, houses) and some funky additional stuff like spikes, a "Spaz ate the Dopefish" animation as well as errr…a mobile phone? Not to forget a large palm tree, fire and the like. The masking is very good, from what i’ve seen.
    The pack also includes a small example level, which gives a good impression of the look and feel of the set.
    Unfortunately both, the example level and the example battle level, which is pretty nice by the way, didn’t have a correct next level setting.

    My conclusion: a MUST DOWNLOAD for all Commander Keen fans and EVERYONE ELSE :-)

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    Genotoxin aka iCeD Posted more than 20 years ago

    8

    WoW, another IMPRESSIVE tileset. Keen r00lz. It was one of the first games I’ve ever played and I still love it, and this tileset is also very cool. This tileset has a lot of stuff to work with and a lot of good ideas. Gotta love the amusing poles you can “climb down” (sort of) I myself don’t like the dull bg though… but I won’t take too much away from that.

    Also includes an an example level along with an example battle level (with wrong next level settings, as Aiko mentioned, btw.) which aren’t bad.

    Overall this is surely a MUST D/L! I can’t really decide between 7.5 or 8.0 on the rating.

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    FireClaw Posted more than 20 years ago

    8

    Well, like a lot of the other reviewers think, Keen was a great game. Anyway, the tileset is great, also. But there’s one think I dislike about the tileset, the background. (Well, at least the checkered one). Also, this tileset is… well, I would never guess it was a Keen tileset without the name right in front of me. Also, the poles that you clime are creative, yet buggy. Still, this is a great tileset!

    I’m sure it’s worth your download.

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    Derby Posted more than 20 years ago

    8

    Introduction to the “Commander Keen: Shadowlands” tileset:

    The “Commander Keen: Shadowlands” tileset is a take of the second Commander Keen series’ Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle’s tiles.

    Content:

    One tileset, one example level, one battle level, and one text file are in the reviewed zip file.

    Unbiased Review:

    This seems to be the most important section of the tileset review. The tileset is based on a game not related to this.

    Design/Content: 1.8/2.5

    There are a fair number of tiles in the tileset. The tileset also is able to cover the most frequently used events, which is very important, and many tilesets lack. Though it is possible to flip tiles, they don’t really make up for the left side of a platform very well. The masking of the tileset does hurt the tileset as a whole, but unfortunately, there is no such thing as
    a perfect masking.

    Tile/Tile compatibility: 2.1/2.5

    The tiles fit pretty well together. There is still the occasional excess room for confusion when putting tiles together in a level. However, this was made up by the formation of the tiles within the tileset (a common idea used by ideal tileset developers.) Extra animations were also supplied in the tileset. Perhaps the most amusing animation in the tileset was that of Spaz devouring the dopefish of the second Commander Keen series. This didn’t make up for any confusion in the
    tileset make-up, but the other animations did.

    Tile/Event Compatibility: 2.0/2.0

    The tileset covered most tile-event combinations. As long as the supplied events worked (which they did), the designer of the tileset didn’t have a problem with this portion of the rating.

    Tile/Concept compatibility: 0.8/1.0

    Besides the day/night transition animation, it was an original concept. This tileset has a strong showing of tiles and their concepts. Though they helped this rating, the extra concepts didn’t really carry out anything useful in any level.

    Layer use: 0.5/1.0

    Aside from the content downfall, the compatibilities with the tiles and the layers was a sad downfall on the tileset’s part. The only real active layers are the few sprite layers, and maybe the background layer if there is a day/night transition. The eyecandy wasn’t at any current or previous standard (which couldn’t be helped since the original was done in 256 colors.)

    JCS compatibility: 1.0/1.0

    The tileset is fully compatible with JCS. As far as I know, this is a given for any tileset that works perfectly, and allows enough room for animated tiles to work.

    Overall rating: 8.2/10.0

    This tileset had limits, which probably could be resolved with a few tweaks that didn’t require much intelligence. The animations, tile make-up, and event compatibility had a well-rounded balance of ratings.

    Biased Review:

    My thoughts on the tileset aren’t much different from the unbiased review. There are a few different points that could be brought up, though.

    Reusability: 3.5/5.0

    There aren’t too many reasons to compel you to keep using this tileset for your levels. It isn’t a bad idea to use it for your levels at all, on the other hand. The tileset should be compatible with most of your ideas that apply to the official tilesets.

    My opinion on this tileset: 4.5/5.0

    The tileset is a fine display of work. I’m sure there was a lot of effort involved in designing this tileset. From the example levels, you can see the author was able to use it pretty well. In any case, this isn’t a tileset that you shouldn’t reconsider taking a look at, in my opinion.

    My overall rating: 8.0/10.0*

    From what I believed, I thought the tileset was pretty good. That’s all I really have to say about it besides my biased review.

    True rating: 8.1/10.0*

    Combined, the two reviews are only one tenth of a point apart. The tileset is considered not great, but good. The original rating of 8.2 is fair enough.

    Summary:

    If you are a fan (or were a fan) of Commander Keen, you should like this. If you are not a fan (or were not a fan) of Commander Keen, you might still like this. In other words, this tileset has my recommendation for a download.

    How could this tileset be improved?

    The left side of platforms and the eyecandy of the tileset could be tweaked a bit. Confusion with the tileset’s build could also be fixed by re-arranging the tiles in a more suitable manner, though they were done pretty well.

    Interesting fact:

    The tileset covers the tiles of more than just one level of Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle. The original levels were intended to look like Keen landed in a forest.

    • Only the unbiased rating counts towards the site’s review rating system.

    ~ Derby

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    Stijn Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    It’s a Cool Tileset! But i think i’ve seen it before… Ah! I Know! It was posted on Jazz2City.com also. So i knew it before now =).

    Anyway, this tileset Rox. It has many cool tiles, and it’s really good masked. It has all the needs for a good lvl. I suggest this download to everyone in town =)

    This is a short review. It has less impact on the upload's score.

    spazz Posted more than 20 years ago

    6

    Funny titleset, but it still needs more eyecandy, a 6 is good enof i think.[This review has been edited by spazz]

    This is a short review. It has less impact on the upload's score.

    wadledee Posted more than 20 years ago

    9

    YES! You bulded an tileset of C.KEEN4!
    I love C.KEEN! And it just looking like the REAL game! Well done, Talec!
    And becouse it’s so great, I give an 8.7!

    this review has edited by Wadledee

    This is a short review. It has less impact on the upload's score.

    Talec Posted more than 20 years ago

    Thanks for the comments :)
    I will have a fix up sometime…

    Talec Posted more than 20 years ago

    Alrighty! I am organizing the set, fixing a few minor problems, and… Making an Actual Background! hears cheers It’ll be Texturable, too! (If you’re wondering I just found out how to :)

    Odin314 Posted more than 20 years ago

    Cool! A tileset for Captian Keen!
    CK: That’s COMMANDER KEEN!!!
    RoW: Err… Sorry. Anyways, to the review!
    Graphics: 5/10
    Hand drawn. 5.
    Idea: 9/10
    I love the Idea for a Keen tileset. ‘Nuff said.
    Music: N/A
    No music, no rating.
    Hype: 7.6/10
    Peopole say it’s good, It’s good!
    Tilt: 9/10
    I LOVE CK. A lot. That’s why this gets a 9 in tilt.
    Avg.: 7.65/10
    …But these’s not 7.65, so rounding up, it’s a 7.7! Great job!
    -RoW[This review has been edited by RoW_Odin314]
    (Mostly fan-based review with unsupported rating removal edit. ~Violet)[This review has been edited by Violet CLM]

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