Difference between revisions of "Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle (DOS)"

Revision as of 17:24, 19 October 2009

Releases

USA - Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle

Platform: DOS
Publisher: Apogee Software, Ltd.
Released: 1991/12/15

Credits

Audio Credits:

• Composer: Robert Prince

Developer: id Software, Inc.
Rip Credit: Andrew Durdins
Vorbis Credit: Dean Tersigni

Screenshots

Reviews

Game

Commander Keen 4 was a major upgrade from the first Commander Keen trilogy. It had better graphics, improved sound, and many technical enhancements. You still play the part of Billy Blaze the supra-genius 8 year-old who has a habit of saving the world. Your faster-than-light radio has intercepted some plans by the Shikadis to destroy the galaxy, so you hop in your Bacon-with-Beans Megarocket and head towards the planet Gnosticus IV where the Oracle will be able to answer some questions about the invasion. Unfortunately, when you arrive the Elders have been kidnapped and taken to the Shadowlands.

The game is a very smooth platformer with responsive controls and a crisp look. It could have easily been seen on a console system, but it instead gave merit to the action PC games of the time. You can jump, pogo, shoot, climb, and swim your way through several levels in your attempts to save the Gnosticus Elders.

Music

Commander Keen 4's music fits perfectly with the game. It's lighthearted and upbeat, just like the game itself. It is also the first game to use the IMF format. The original music was written in MIDI format and then downgraded to IMF to play on an AdLib board. A couple of the original higher quality MIDI files are included in the rip download.

Bobby Prince composed an additional track for Commander Keen 4 called "Jazz Me", but the tune never made it into the game.

Ripping

The IMF files were ripped from the Huffman compressed Audio.CK4 file, using the look up stored in the LZ Compressed EXE file. The IMF music was played with AdPlug 1.7, and recorded with Winamp.

Links

• Wikipedia: [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commander_Keen_series

Soundtracks

Albums

This game soundtrack was never released in an album.

Game Rip

Rip (31 KB)

Recording