Chex Quest HD test: Only children from the 90s will understand it
"Chex Quest HD is a short but pleasant hit from the nostalgia of the 90s."
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True to the original
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Simple but fun shooting
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Wonderfully nostalgic
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Missing basic user interface
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Very little repeat value
Let's get something out of the way right away: you already know if you will download Chex Quest HD.
That's because the free remake, which modernizes a 1996 staple from childhood packed with boxes of Chex cereal, is less of a game than a nostalgia journey of the 90s. Your enjoyment of this bizarre first-person shooter directly depends on how much time you spent as a child teasing Flemoide on your parents' PC. And if "zorching flemoids" already sounds like a foreign language, you shouldn't expect to get into the joke now. If you know, you know.
The quality of Chex Quest HD is inextricably linked to the context. For fans who grew up with the original, it is a loyal, if incomplete preservation that makes one of the strangest marketing stunts of games fun again. For everyone else, it's a minimalist doom clone that's about as deep as a bowl of chex.
Chex the right boxes
Chex Quest was originally developed as a trick to make Chex muesli more attractive for modern children. The game used id Software's doom engine to develop a healthy first person shooter that replaced chainsaws and shotguns with spoons and laser remotes. Instead of Doomguy, the players led the Chex Warrior on a mission to teleport snotty aliens back to their home dimension.
While the HD update swaps sprites for smooth 3D textures, the remake is still Doom at its core. In each level, players have to navigate through maze-like levels, find colored key cards and discover secret passages. A quarter of a century later, Chex Quest HD offers a double dose of enjoyable nostalgia: one for the game itself and one for a PC shooter style that dominated the 1990s.
This conservation is important because the time for the original game was not good. After finishing my pleasant hours of playing through the remake, I tried to revisit the 1996 version to see how much had really changed. I was surprised (well, maybe not too surprised) that it wasn't as fun as I remembered. The movement felt awkward and I couldn't put my head around the game's awkward keyboard.
Chex Quest HD offers a double dose of enjoyable nostalgia: one for the game itself and one for a PC shooter style that dominated the 90s.
In comparison, Chex Quest HD feels much closer to what I remember. This can be seen most clearly in the shooting (um, zorchen), which is easier to read thanks to revised animations. Zorchers feel more like radiation cannons and less like unwieldy TV remote controls. The improvements make a major contribution to making the game playable again without losing its goofball charm.
Mixed bag
While protecting my childhood memories, Chex Quest HD doesn't do much to overcome its nostalgic act. This is not because of not trying.
The big innovation is a multiplayer mode that can only be played with four friends on site or via Steam. This limitation suggests how it works best: sit down with a few close friends to laugh at the absurdity of a Chex Mix-themed death match. Separated from this context, it is little more than a novelty within a novelty.
Along with the new mode, the game features several characters that can be unlocked by finding passwords on social media or in pockets with Chex Mix. It's a smart marketing trick, but the characters don't add much to the experience. They all play the same thing, with the main difference that they come with their own hackneyed language lines. Each character has their own alternate campaign end, but I'm not sure if someone is so confused by the Chex lore that they want to go through story mode six times.
The remake adds a few new features, but none of them transform the game into anything other than a short walk through the past.
Chex Quest HD also lacks some features of the original. The remake removes the five difficulty levels of the original and removes the main source for the replay value of the game. And strangely, there's no way to display a map or display the game's controls.
Perhaps it is not particularly easy to scold a game with Chex Mix branding on almost every door because of its interface deficiencies. But considering that the remake is about a generation that doesn't take the joke, it's not too difficult to convert new followers. Chex Quest became a cult because the idea of a free video game for kids from the 90s was stunning. This idea just doesn't have the same effect in the Fortnite era.
Our opinion
Chex Quest HD is a no-brainer for anyone who wants to spend an afternoon in the 90s. Smoother recordings and optimized animations make for a more readable experience that matches the 1996 game, but the minimal package is unlikely to convince players who are not so enthusiastic about a "free" label in 2020. Missing user interface and flat extras make this strange oddity the embodiment of the meme "Only children from the 90s will understand it".
Is there a better alternative?
Dusk is a better balance between nostalgia and quality for those looking for a 90s-style shooter, but Chex Quest HD is the only Doom clone with a snack theme on the market.
How long it will take?
The five levels last about an hour, though secrets, unlockable characters, and local multiplayer are available to those who want to get an extra game session out of it.
Should you buy it
Yes. It's short, free, and just weird enough to deserve a curious look.
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