Have you ever eaten a bag of Chex Mix and thought—boy, I wonder which of these pieces would kick the most ass. Well wonder no more, because Fred Chexter of Chex Quest fame is back, and he’s brought a ragtag crew of starchy squadmates with him.
For fans of this blog, Chex Quest needs no introduction. I’ve already written multiple articles on the game and how my childhood fondness for it set off a chain reaction culminating in my site’s immaculate conception from the Milky Way’s milkiest æther. If you need a quick refresher on how we got to this point, allow me to brief—I don’t want my current play session to get soggy.
In 1996, General Mills contracted a small game studio, Digital Café, to design a CD-ROM to be packaged in cereal boxes. Working on a tight timeframe, they ended up doing a full, family-friendly DOOM conversion about a snotty Flemoid alien invasion of a breakfast star system. The hero, Fred Chexter, uses Zorch technology to send the lil boogers back to their home dimension.
After a sequel and unofficial trilogy-ender (still developed by the game’s original art director Charles Jacobi, who also spearheaded CQ:HD), the series has General Mills’ official blessings again—though the branded focus has shifted from Chex cereal, which retains an air of chaste & responsible purity, to Chex Mix, which has adopted a more bold & youthful voice. In my post about the game’s announcement, I talked about how I have mixed—pun intended—feels about the officialness of Chex Quest HD. Sure, it’s great to have it distributed on a wider platform, but the DIY nature of Chex Quest fanmods gave the property a sort of artistically independent, whimsical outlaw nature that I’m worried could be diluted by corporate hegemony.
But enough background: let’s dive bootspork-first into this polygonally remastered, free-to-play and multiplayer-ready return of the game that can be considered Cerealously’s asexual space mother
Wow, I have a lot to say: most importantly, this is more than just a pure HD remake of the original Chex Quest. Yes, all the weapons, level themes, and enemies are the same (with the exception of Flemoid larvae, Chex Quest 3 enemies that briefly appear in HD), but plenty of bells and whistles have been added to the level designs themselves, so even accomplished Chex Quest speedrunners won’t be able to breeze through everything immediately.
This includes the addition of minor platforming elements—jumping and vertical aiming is largely new to the franchise, so this adds a welcome dimension to complement the 3D reimagination, even if the jumping can be floaty and unpredictable without much sense of responsive landing. Speaking of the 3D graphics, I think they, by and large, look pretty nice. This isn’t a game meant to blow you away with detail, but the characters and enemies in particular benefit the most from this dimensional translation. It sort of reminds me of the 3D Worms, which had its fair share of spiteful 2D purists regardless.
At risk of losing myself on an endlessly meandering monologue, let me just break down the highs and lows of Chex Squadron’s return to Bazoik:
The Good
My favorite part of Chex Quest HD are the player characters. Personifying each piece of Chex Mix is a fun idea, and thanks to the game’s team collaborating with Flight School Studios, these intergalactic heroes have depth and charm—as well as an impressive amount of original voice acting.
I did my first play-through with Wheatney Chexworth, and found myself enjoying both her personality and between-level animations, even if they do look a bit awkward at times. Likewise, I like the concept behind unlocking them with codes on specially marked bags of Chex Mix, as it harkens back to good ol’ cereal-prize filled heyday of the O.G. Chex Quest.
Many of the levels are beautiful, too, with the arboretum in particular feeling lush and lively. Also true to the original, levels contain secret areas and items, as well as neat Easter eggs with original text and nods to the older games.
Since Chex Quest HD got original sound designer Andrew Benson on board, the soundtrack is also a boppin’ bright spot. Courageous, dramatic and at times menacing, the songs are worth giving individual attention on the game’s official Spotify playlist. Interestingly, this playlist and the Chex Quest HD FAQ both suggest that later games will be getting the HD treatment, too—though this first remake’s open-ended final cinematic suggests further adventures may go in a different direction than the original trilogy’s lore.
Finally, though I have yet to dive into the multiplayer—it is split-screen only and requires multiple controllers, so I’ll update you when it’s biohazardlessly advisable to have friends over again—the fact that they added it at all brings me great cheer, as the arena shooter format was a big part of the independent Chex Quest modding community I mentioned earlier.
The Not-So-Good
No matter how much I love Chex Quest, I can see some of the shortcomings that will no-doubt earn Chex Quest HD some less-than-stellar reviews. Most importantly, if you don’t have a sentimental soft spot for the old Chex Quest games already, much of HD’s aesthetic enhancements and storyline expansions probably just aren’t going to click. Chex Quest HD’s very existence would be near-impossible to explain to an unassuming bystander (yeah, so it’s like this game based on this 24-year-old game based on this violent 27-year-old game, but with breakfast cereal), so without the levels of nostalgia that prop HD up in my mind, the game has to work a lot harder to win over newbies.
And the chief issue there is the formulaic gameplay. Chex Quest fans know that the game’s all about Zorching enemies, opening doors and collecting colored keys. Again, and again, and again. And even though the game is free, the standard for what a free game can offer has risen substantially with the advent of Steam. Though kids may be engrossed by Chex Quest HD’s heroes and villains, anyone much older will likely be bored with Mini-Zorching the same three Flemoids by the first level’s end.
Chex Quest HD is also incredibly easy and short (about an hour to beat all five levels), further narrowing its appeal. Where ’90s Chex Quest had several difficulty settings ramping up to the caco-demonically difficult Super Slimey!, Chex Quest HD is locked on just one, fairly straightforward and unchallenging level. Though ammo can be sparse at times, you’re unlikely to have much trouble with any enemies besides the Armored Flemoidus Bipedicus, whose long-range projectiles can rack up damage easily. And though this is consistent with the original, losing all your HP starts you at the level’s beginning, which is a quick way to get tired of those once-endearing, now-repetitive dialogue quips.
Other small things detract from the Chex Quest HD experience: I’m a little disappointed with how small the formerly menacing Zorchers are on the game’s HUD, I miss seeing my character’s face as a health indicator, and I experienced a few small bugs. For example, I got stuck once in an elevator, and trying to fire a weapon while starting or stopping motion often doesn’t work, leading to unnecessary damage.
The Oozing Conclusion
Despite these drawbacks, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with Chex Quest HD thus far. If you enter only expecting a nostalgia trip for cereal shoot-em-ups past, you’ll get plenty of smiles and happy throwbacks for the low, low price of nothing at all. While I hope the game gets expansions for Chex Quests 2 & 3, and hopefully new stories as well, for the time being I’m content to try all the different characters to hear their dialogue alone.
If nothing else, Chex Quest HD is a triumphant testament to specific nostalgia: those little warm moments that nip at the back of your memory, even if you forgot what Chex Quest was until today. Though I may forever be a tad bit bummed that the players’ pirate ownership of the Chex Quest IP has been re-corporatized, I see this indie spirit still lives on with Limited Run Games, whose loving treatment of Chex Quest through collectibles has given the franchise eternal physical life beyond its dwindling supply of original CQ disks. My deepest thanks to them for hooking me up with more Chexy goodies than I know how to store.
WOW! Shoutout to @ChexMix & @LimitedRunGames for making this a legendary Chex Quest HD release day.
Stay tuned: I'll be highlighting some of these goods, as well as the game, throughout the week—with a BIG GIVEAWAY to come, too. Happy Zorching! 🛰 https://t.co/fVv3bVsclm pic.twitter.com/Gpnad6h3pW
— Cerealously 🥛 (@cerealouslynet) May 18, 2020
Stay tuned, as I plan to do a big giveaway of some Chex Quest swag on Twitter, soon. You can also follow me there for further musings about my experience with Chex Quest HD. But until then, happy Zorching!