Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle

Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle

MS-DOS - USA - Micro Star.

Developer id Software Publisher Apogee Software Published 1991-??-?? Platforms DOS Genres Action, Comedy, Metroidvania, Platform shooter, Platformer Themes Action, Adventure, Cartoon, Science Fiction Series Commander Keen Distribution Commercial, Shareware

Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle is an action platformer game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS in 1991, originally as shareware. Although it is numbered as the fourth game, it's actually the fifth game in the series.

Personal

Own?	Yes. 3.5" floppy released with Gravis GamePad.
Won?	Yes. Easy difficulty, all maps but secret level.
Finished	Around 1992.

I first encountered this game because a special shareware version was included with the Gravis GamePad I bought around 1992. It had added support for the four-button controller making the game much easier to play than with the keyboard or a two-button controller.

Review

5	4	5	5	4

Best Version: MS-DOS

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game is both fun and challenging.
• The graphics and animation are well-drawn.
• Bobby Prince's music and sound effects are great.
• The story is pretty funny.
• The game is quite large with a lot of levels to play.

Bad

• Like most DOS games, the EGA colors were way out of date compared to the consoles of the day, although the great art style makes up for it.
• Large sections of several maps, and even a couple of levels entirely, do not need to be entered in order to win the game. This is poor level design.
• Far too much of the game is based on expecting the player to collect treats to accumulate points for no reason.
• None of the control options are very fluid. The keyboard isn't very good, the joystick doesn't handle enough buttons (trying to use two buttons to shoot often results in mis-presses), and movement on the pogo stick is slow and difficult to control.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  Since this episode of the game was released as shareware, there aren't any professionally made boxes for the game. Instead, we see various cheap covers like this, with just a screenshot.

Documentation

• 

  Masters of Doom. Describes the development process.

Maps

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  Shadowlands.

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  Bean-With-Bacon Megarocket.

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  Border Village.

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  Slug Village.

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  The Perilous Pit.

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  Cave of the Descendents.

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  Chasm of Chills.

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  Crystalus.

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  Hillville.

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  Sand Yego.

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  Miragia.

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  Lifewater Oasis.

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  Pyramid of the Moons.

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  Pyramid of Shadows.

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  Pyramid of the Gnosticene Ancients.

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  Isle of Tar.

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  Isle of Fire.

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  Well of Wishes.

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  Pyramid of the Forbidden.

Screenshots

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  Title.

Videos

Longplay.

Speedrun, hard, any %, no glitches.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Princess Lindsey is helpful, but a very minor character.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There is only one woman.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Princess Lindsey is black, but a very minor character.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Download

Commander Keen is still being sold, but this episode is a shareware release. This archive contains shareware and demo releases for versions 1.0 to 1.4 for both EGA and CGA graphics.

• Download (Info) - All versions.

Links