GateWorld similarities with Commander Keen/Cosmo
GateWorld similarities with Commander Keen/Cosmo
I don't know if anyone has ever heard of this game (I for sure wasn't) or if it was discussed before, but today I found this game by accident and I tried it. I found it to have some similarities to Commander Keen and some apogee games in general.
Similarities:
1. Smooth sidescrolling. Although the perspective isn't 2.5 as Keen and looks more like Cosmo, the scrolling effect is smoother than Cosmo and more like Keen.
2. The in-game menu similar to many of the apogee ones, i.e. with ordering info, recorded gameplay demos, previews, configuration, f1 for help etc.
3. Similarly Keen looking gun. It's a blue one, but still.
4. Although the main hero is known as Captain Buzz Klondike, in the story he was mentioned many times also as Commander. So the similarity here is obvious Commander Buzz - Commander Billy.
5. Billy and Buzz both travel through space with their own spaceships. The differences between Billy and Buzz though are their motives. For the Buzz it is the gold.
6. There is a bouncing ball very similar to the one in Keen 4! You can actually jump on it and use it to jump to higher places.
7. Foreground tiles that hides one-ups and other goodies.
8. Collecting 100 coins (instead of rain drops, vitals etc) for 1 up.
9. Wise mans (somewhat similar to oracles in keen 4).
Because the game was releases in 1993, I think it was inspired by Keen and similar games such as Duke Nukem, Cosmo and Bio Menace.
Also, this one might be the game I've been looking for many, many years and wasn't able to find out which one it is!!! There was a screenshot in one of the magazines back in 1993-1994 with a question of what is the game. And now, I believe the above screenshot is the one in that magazine back then!!!!! And it appears to be the preview of GateWorld. The screenshot looks cool, but only if I knew back then what a crap game it is... Ah, another mystery solved!
Similarities:
1. Smooth sidescrolling. Although the perspective isn't 2.5 as Keen and looks more like Cosmo, the scrolling effect is smoother than Cosmo and more like Keen.
2. The in-game menu similar to many of the apogee ones, i.e. with ordering info, recorded gameplay demos, previews, configuration, f1 for help etc.
3. Similarly Keen looking gun. It's a blue one, but still.
4. Although the main hero is known as Captain Buzz Klondike, in the story he was mentioned many times also as Commander. So the similarity here is obvious Commander Buzz - Commander Billy.
5. Billy and Buzz both travel through space with their own spaceships. The differences between Billy and Buzz though are their motives. For the Buzz it is the gold.
6. There is a bouncing ball very similar to the one in Keen 4! You can actually jump on it and use it to jump to higher places.
7. Foreground tiles that hides one-ups and other goodies.
8. Collecting 100 coins (instead of rain drops, vitals etc) for 1 up.
9. Wise mans (somewhat similar to oracles in keen 4).
Because the game was releases in 1993, I think it was inspired by Keen and similar games such as Duke Nukem, Cosmo and Bio Menace.
Also, this one might be the game I've been looking for many, many years and wasn't able to find out which one it is!!! There was a screenshot in one of the magazines back in 1993-1994 with a question of what is the game. And now, I believe the above screenshot is the one in that magazine back then!!!!! And it appears to be the preview of GateWorld. The screenshot looks cool, but only if I knew back then what a crap game it is... Ah, another mystery solved!
- Lumpytoast
- Vortininja
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The bar at the bottom looks-arghhh ninja'd by lumpytoast.
That first screen looks like it came right out of Duke II.
The ship flying looks like a similar scene in the story from Cosmo.
Please tell me that third screen is just a promotional mockup, and not an actual level. It's a complete mess! And... is that a hooker in the bottom-right corner??
That first screen looks like it came right out of Duke II.
The ship flying looks like a similar scene in the story from Cosmo.
Please tell me that third screen is just a promotional mockup, and not an actual level. It's a complete mess! And... is that a hooker in the bottom-right corner??
- VikingBoyBilly
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I agree with everything said here. The character looks like another cut-and-paste of the crystal caves/secret agent/duke nukem cookie cutter, graphics definately aren't far off from those games even for being limited by EGA palette, and if this weren't released in 1993 I'd say they stole the name from Buzz Lightyear
But I guess Buzz, Zap, Flash, and other 'sparkly' words are all common names for space-hero stereotypes.
But I guess Buzz, Zap, Flash, and other 'sparkly' words are all common names for space-hero stereotypes.
"I don't trust players. Not one bit." - Levellass
I thought it was DN when I first opened the topic, before reading the text - it is very similar!VikingBoyBilly wrote:I agree with everything said here. The character looks like another cut-and-paste of the crystal caves/secret agent/duke nukem cookie cutter, graphics definately aren't far off from those games even for being limited by EGA palette, and if this weren't released in 1993 I'd say they stole the name from Buzz Lightyear
But I guess Buzz, Zap, Flash, and other 'sparkly' words are all common names for space-hero stereotypes.
Oh and VBB - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Aldrin
Cereal Board!
(Cereal wiki has sadly died)Deltamatic wrote:Prepositions are things I end sentences with.
I didn't have the time to look up for Cosmo's screenhsots, but I was sure there are some similarities with it too. But these kind of HUD's for these kind of games were pretty standard ones back then.Lumpytoast wrote:I'm surprised that no one has mentioned how the HUDs in GateWorld and Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure look similar.]
I've downloaded episode 2 and I can assure you it's a mockup. Just a promotion in episode 1. But I think episode 2 looks much better with this jungle motive than episode 1. And the level design is a bit better too. But that doesn't save the game from being boring, unpleasurable and unplayable.Genius314 wrote:Please tell me that third screen is just a promotional mockup, and not an actual level. It's a complete mess! And... is that a hooker in the bottom-right corner??
And about the hookers... Actually yes, this is one of the funniest aspects of episode 2. They run towards you and when they bump into you, they die . They're kind of an alien suicidal hookers . What were they thinking?
- Lumpytoast
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Even the cheat codes are similar to the Keen ones with all the F10 + a letter cheats.
From The Apogee FAQ: Section [2.5]: Cancelled Projects:
From The Apogee FAQ: Section [2.5]: Cancelled Projects:
Code: Select all
Game Genre Date Comments/Reason For Cancellation
---- ----- ---- --------------------------------
Gateworld 1991-2 Poor quality; later released by
HomeBrew Software.