Yes, I’ll freely admit being a few years late to the party. I’m currently in love with Cave Story.

The thought that everything within was created and coded by one individual blows me away every time I launch the game. From the fantastic gameplay and spot-on controls, to the endearing characters and charming soundtrack, every piece of this game is quality. Why hasn’t a publisher picked this up? Cave Story would be a natural fit as a portable or XBLA/PSN release.

The core gameplay is reminiscent of Metroid or Castlevania, a 2d platformer with multiple weapons and upgrades, puzzles, and challenging boss battles. My recommendation would be to play the PSP port (custom firmware required), where it’s a perfect fit, but barring that, Mac OS, Windows, Xbox and Linux versions are available. A Nintendo DS release is even in the works. You have no excuse not to play this game.

I’ve been writing a lot about Sins of a Solar Empire lately, so I figured it was about damn time I actually sat down and spent a few hours (okay, days) with the game.

While initially daunting (even after the not-so-illuminating tutorials), things fell into place about 45 minutes into my first match, a co-op 2v2 duel against the AI. Now I agree that the idea of a realtime Civ-style game sounds like a recipe for a complete clusterfuck, but I’ve gotta say, Ironclad nailed it. The pacing is mostly solid, and neither of us (both somewhat experienced RTS/4X players) felt harried by the system or interface.

By the third game, we were easily stomping the Normal AI and had moved up to Hard. Beyond just difficultly, the AI temperament can be set or randomized, although I have yet to figure out how much of an effect it has on overall challenge. Back in high school we used to play a port of Risk on the Mac SE, where the temperament choices were basically easy, crazy, and kick-your-ass. I dunno if the Sins AIs are like that.

The lack of any sort of campaign is disappointing. The manual and launch movie do lay out some very basic groundwork for a story, which leads to the thought that Ironclad may be planning some sort of campaign mode in the future. As it is, all three factions feel a bit dry, and I didn’t find myself particularly attached to any of them. With a dev team of less than a dozen people, I suppose the campaign sacrifice was necessary, but I really hope they add something eventually, I’d like to see the story play out.