You can raise the power of your weapons by killing enemies, and raising their levels. What you do in Cave Story is basically gather weapons as you move along in the game, sometimes by just finding them laying around, sometimes having to work for them. The keys never mess up, and the game runs smoothly for the entire time that you are playing, adding onto the perfection of the game. The graphics may not be up to the level of some freeware games, but with the consideration that it is a mere 0.99 megabytes to download, they are stunningly good. All in all, the plot is so charmingly addictive that once you start playing, you can't get yourself to stop. The basic plot is a bit hard to understand at first, as it is in all truly good adventure/RPG games, but bit-by-bit, the storyline is pieced together. It beautifully combines all of the best features of an RPG, a shoot 'em up, adventure, and arcade together in a swirl of perfection. In all honesty, Cave Story is by far the greatest freeware game that I have ever personally played. I will not reveal anything of the story for if you have read this then i hope you will play the game and find out why i have bothered to write such a long review. Now for the story: i found that the story not only was very entertaining and original but also brought a nice break to the gameplay every now and again. This also goes for the music, which is original and i found that each area had suitable music to accompany the theme. Graphics are not stunning but are clear and often entertaining (the dogs : ) ) This is not an easy game, be prepared to repeat areas when you die - but is very rewarding when you finally beat that god dam boss (i am talking about towards the end of the game, early on it is not too hard). Each level up greatly increases the strength of the weapon and even changes it slightly (bigger bullets, further reach, bigger area of effect etc). Another bonus to this game is that you can level up your weapons by picking up the experience or 'energy' that the enemies drop when they die. For example you can throw fireballs or release bubbles which surround you and protect you from enemies as well as the traditional weapons such as rockets and a machine gun (which by shooting downwards you can fly through the air - very useful). The gameplay is great, many weapons to acquire (clue: Remember the fireplaces you see!) and each is quite original. I have tried many games on this site and this would be the game i have played the most (next would be ocular ink). I would not give this a 10/10 but when put on the scale of the other games on this site i would give a 15/10.

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