Best Keen game

RoboBlue · Post by **RoboBlue** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:37

The Keen Commander wrote:Why does Keen 2 get no love? Easily the best of the Vorticon trilogy...

I dunno, Keen 3 is my favorite of those. The Keen 2 overworld is pretty boring, and the levels could definitely use more color.

Bubbatom · Post by **Bubbatom** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:11

Yeah, I've never been too fond about keen 2. But none the less keen 2 featured some great things, like the fact that you can get a game over by accidentally flicking the wrong switches...

StupidBunny · Post by **StupidBunny** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:14

I have mixed feelings about Keen 2. The level design is arguably the best in the Vorticons trilogy, and the Vorticon Elite are a pretty cool enemy (though they can be rendered useless on most of the levels they appear on), but...yeah, the visuals are pretty dull. Keen 1 was pretty boring-looking too, but even it had the ice levels and made widespread use of dark and light tiles as well as the colored blocks, which are present but underutilized in Keen 2. I guess in that sense Keen 1 is the most balanced of the trilogy, given that Keen 3 has very diverse and colorful visuals but some pretty sub-par level design in a lot of places. I guess it's all about one's preference.

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 13:59

I dislike Keen 2 for the same reason I dislike Keen 5.
Dull, monotonous sci-fi atmosphere, and unoriginal and unlikable enemies. (Yes, I think enemies in games should be likable)
But like you said, there are some gems about Keen 2 that keep it fresh and interesting, and thus I too have mixed feelings.
For example, I thought the best addition to the game play were the Scrubs.
I feel that the game play possibilities have not fully been explored with these little guys, and that they have a lot of potential for interesting and original new level ideas.
Though had I designed the game, I probably wouldn't have allowed them to be killed.
Same with the Bounders in Keen 4 being permanently stunnable.
I've just always disliked the idea of the player being able to trap themselves.
I always revert back to when I was really young, like maybe 3 or 4, playing Monster Bash, and there was a certain spot in the game where you can fall down a hole, and no matter how much you tried, you could not get back up, or even kill yourself. This concept of getting "stuck" in a game just made me sick to my stomach, and I kind of obsessed over it.
I guess it's not so bad as long as you provide the player with means to kill themselves, as to restart the level.

tl;dr: Keen 2 doesn't appeal to me aesthetically, and I don't think you should be able to destroy your exit routes in games. (Although Keen 4 never relied on Bounders to exit the level, I'm pretty sure Keen 2 relied on Scrubs to finish certain levels)

guynietoren · Post by **guynietoren** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 17:19

My flavor of Keen requires more yorps. Too bad there's only one candidate, minus the Keen6 demo. I love the charge-jumping mechanic of the original trilogy. Feels more real than stopping my jump halfway in the air. Even though you can still turn around and change directions mid-air.

condenaocadista · Post by **condenaocadista** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 17:03

FOr me, 6>4>5

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 18:16

I don't understand why Keen 5 has more votes than Keen 6.

guynietoren · Post by **guynietoren** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 20:38

If everyone were to rank them all instead of picking 1 favorite, we'd probably have a different average.

Boreas249 · Post by **Boreas249** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 21:49

Keen 4 was just awesome. It was my most replayed one.

I'm new here btw, hello everyone.

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 22:35

We need some kind of running total to which people can add... Something like: Favourite gets 7 points, second favourite gets 6 points, third favourite gets 5 points, etc, all down to least favourite that gets no points...

Lava89 · Post by **Lava89** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 22:42

I love the atmosphere of Keen 4-- to me it really shines as giving the series this off-beat, comical feel and threw a little more humor. I think the Goodbye Galaxy feel was somewhat continued with Keen 5, but I mostly like 5's atmosphere because it feels the most sci-fi of the series. Keen 3's atmosphere was probably the best out of the original trilogy, but I don't think it struck the funky vibe that Keen 4 had.

I really like the challenge of Keen 2, to me it was harder than Keen 1, but not as intimidating as Keen 3 could seem like. But in the end I like Keen 1 the best, because it was the first game I probably played, and has some unique aspects (gotta love the yorps). So I probably have the most fun with Keen 1.

I like Keen Dreams the least, mostly because its atmosphere didn't flow well with the other games and I didn't have as much fun with it. But I hate to really pick on that game. The atmosphere of Keen 6 is a little bittersweet...on one hand it had some really unique elements to it, that fit better with keen 4 than keen 5 did, but then I also think that the 'funkyness" of Keen 6 went a little overboard into some bizarre stuff (like hanging eyeballs).

This is how I rate them:

Keen 1 > Keen 4 + Keen 2 > Keen 5 + Keen 3 > Keen 6 > Keen Dreams

Paramultart · Post by **Paramultart** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 22:43

I agree with guynietoren and DHeadshot.
We need some way of ranking the games to see how each individual game truly stands up to the community.
Maybe an off-site polling system thing? Or perhaps just enable multiple selections so that people can choose their top 3 favorite Keen games?

(My top 3 would be Keen 4, Keen Dreams, and Keen 3.)

My complete list would look like this:

Keen 4 > Keen Dreams > Keen 3 > Keen 6 > Keen 1 > Keen 5 > Keen 2

Also, hello Boreas249, and welcome!

Scarlet · Post by **Scarlet** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 23:37

What if there are ties? It's hard to rank in that case. :/

-MegaTrip: · Post by **-MegaTrip:** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 0:22

DHeadshot · Post by **DHeadshot** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 0:46

Paramultart wrote:I agree with guynietoren and DHeadshot.
We need some way of ranking the games to see how each individual game truly stands up to the community.
Maybe an off-site polling system thing? Or perhaps just enable multiple selections so that people can choose their top 3 favorite Keen games?

(My top 3 would be Keen 4, Keen Dreams, and Keen 3.)

My complete list would look like this:

Keen 4 > Keen Dreams > Keen 3 > Keen 6 > Keen 1 > Keen 5 > Keen 2

You missed out Keen GBC; though given the general attitude to it here, I assume you'd put it at the end...

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Best Keen game

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