Something in the air--I'm going to blame all that dang fireflower pollen blowing around out there--has me in a retro mood. For all the 3D delights I could be indulging in (my brother loaned me Guitar Hero III), I've recently made a happy return to Pixel's Cave Story.
If you haven't played Cave Story, drop what you're doing and download it. No, I don't care if you're performing CPR on your half-dead mother, you simply must experience one of the most endearing and well-balanced 2D platformers ever developed. It's easy to find and it's free. You have no excuse. No, I don't care if trafalmadorians are lifting you into their saucer right this minute.
Granted, I avoided Cave Story for years because the name sounded like some slow and winding "adventure" through a key-driven maze. "Cave Story" brings to mind cheap NES bargain-bin knockoffs that your well-meaning aunt would buy you at Christmas. Wow, thanks Auntie Shiela. I can't wait to throw this at the dog next time he gets into the garbage--I mean, I can't wait to play this.
As reality would have it, Cave Story is far more ambitious than its simple title lets on. Though it is freeware developed over the course of five years by one noble man (Pixel), Cave Story plays like the best of Mega Man, Gunstar Heroes and Metroid and is comparable in length to many of your favourite 2D adventures. It's not too short and it doesn't drag on. Its difficulty is adjustable depending on how you play it; there's no challenge selection, but you can steer away from--or towards--much pain depending on the choices you make and the weapons you choose.
If you're masochistic, you can literally choose to go to hell. Good luck with that.
With its simplistic but distinctive graphics and its rocking 8-bit sound library that deserves to be on every iPod in the nation, Cave Story will bring you joy, peace and love. It's certainly filled up the airless black void that used to be my heart.