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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frantic fun, 15 Mar 2005
Mr Driller is a loose update to the 80's classic Dig Dug and invloves digging deep into the ground to a target goal. As you drill away you remove coloured blocks, drilling 4 or more instigates a chain reaction clearing multiple blocks of the same colour. Your snaking path to the depths of the Earth becomes ever more perilous as undrilled blocks from above get dislodged and tumble down on you, the result of sloppy quick drilling. But drilling slowly and carefully is not an option beacause you have a limited air supply and need to pick up air cannisters to keep on breathing. As the levels get deeper these air supplies become harder to reach. You usually start the game off with the best intentions; to drill cleanly and reach the goal in one piece, 20 seconds in and your's drilling for your life! Making more mistakes as you try and avoid the tumbling blocks!And that's the main hook; Mr Driller is a frantic session each time you play. It is often compared with other puzzle games because they share similar principles (blocks, chain reactions, time limits) but Mr Driller is uncomparable. This is fast puzzle action. Along with the aforementioned classic mode, there is a Pressure Driller mode where you're being chased by a giant mecha-drill-monster, a Time Attack mode where speed is king, and the Tristone Driller mode which where every drill you make costs you one point of air (as opposed to the other modes where your air slowly ticks down regardless of what you're doing). The Dristone Driller mode was in the original Japanse version of the game but was omitted from the US version. Namco must have realised the error (due to lots of bad reviews as this is one of the better modes) and brought the mode back for the UK version. Another feature which was in the Japanese game but not the US is the single cart multiplay. This allows you to play against 4 other friends to see who drills to their goal the fastest. This is included also in the UK version and is very cool. As you speed downwards you can see ghosts of your rivals working their way down the screen also each trying to get to the bottom first. The Mr Driller games are always well presented and feature bright cute Japanese graphics. The in game visuals are crisp and full of pixel perfect character whilst the menus and music are all bubblegum sweet. The game is touch screen but forget about it, it's best without. The touch screen is great for menu navigation with your fingers but once your in the game, grab the d-pad and go with what you know. To sum up, it's a game to pick up, have a drill and put back down again. You may lose several hours in between though!! Quick, simple and fun.
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