Cave Story is not your ordinary 2d retro game, neither is it a game that must hide from recent classics like Minecraft or Skyrim. It has its own class.

the game has 3 sets of graphics and music: The old-school one from the 2004 original, an updated set and a Christmas-themed set. So technically-speaking, you can play through the game 3 times with a different feeling each. It has 3 difficulty settings too.

If you're searching for a surprise hit this year, this is it.

When I first played the game, I never thought it would ever recommend it. But the polished and well-done gameplay is undeniable.

This game is difficult, really difficult. If you want an old-school hardcore game, this is it. Be warned though, it is visually quite disturbing. The Newgrounds style helps you eventually accept it, but be warned: This game is not for kids or people who didn't like the content from Silent Hill (in terms of enemies).

You should at least give the soundtrack a chance though, it's great!

Valve knows how to make a good game. When they released Portal 1, the two biggest features were the portal mechanics and Still Alive. Knowing that the first game had a rather easy difficulty and the mod Portal Prelude was raising the bar quite a bit, they tried out a lot of new things which makes this game more varied than Portal 1 ever was.

It's not just the new gadgets thought, the game has a new main menu, loading screens and new portal gun animations and sounds. This is no longer a Source game, it has more of its own character than Portal 1 ever had.
Accompanied with excellent music, great story, great level design and terrific voice actors, it allows the game to go beyond the basics of the first game and is able to surpass it and find its own style.

The singleplayer campaign will take 7 hours minimum. Aside from that, there is a co-op campaign, challenge mode (with leaderboards) and a developer commentary. It is well worth its money.