| Dig Dug: Digging Strike review |
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In a bizarre crossover between the real world and the game realm, Taizo Hori, the star of the original Dig Dug games from years ago, is annoyed that his son gets all the limelight. His offspring is none other than Susumu, world-renowned mega-superstar of the Mr Driller games. Well, renowned to anyone who's played them that is, but with the release of GameCube and DS versions of Mr Driller, that’s suddenly a lot of people, and certainly a whole lot more than those with memories of the ancient Dig Dug. So, Taizo has to do more than just save the islands from the certain doom of a variety of monsters – he must refresh his own fame and reignite the passion of the people for the world of Dig Dug. However, Taizo is a bumbling old fool now. In a loveable way. Luckily, he’s still got the monster-defeating skills, and his son is never too far away in case there is any way he can help out.
The game is split over the two DS screens in a dramatic fashion. The top screen is Dig Dug II and the bottom screen is Dig Dug, roughly translating to overground and underground respectively. More people will be familiar with the original Dig Dug, where you have a 2D playing area full of earth/rock waiting to be tunnelled through, along with a panoply of monsters and power-up items. There are also exits leading to the top screen, which contains a top-down 2.5D version of Dig Dug II, where there are monsters roaming around an island, which just happens to have a number of stakes partially inserted into it. To clear each level of this DS version of the game, you have to sink part of the island by jumping down the holes leading to the bottom screen areas and drilling all the rock away underneath relevant stakes, which will then drop through far enough to crack part of the island. As long as the boss monster is on that part of the island while it drops into the sea, Taizo is the don. His renewed fame awaits.
The co-ordination of what’s happening in the two different types of play area all sounds a bit hectic and indeed it should be to provide the traditional Dig Dug panic, but the game starts off very slowly. Rather than escaping from underground monsters by the skin of your teeth, you will run rings round them for an unnecessarily large number of levels. The timing of the stake drops are the only challenge and even that’s a case of just hanging around nearby without getting toasted by a monster’s flame-breath. Initial feelings are of intrigue and boredom at the same time. Despite this, something compels you to keep playing and happily, once level 8 out of an initial 12 is reached, the difficulty ramps up very suddenly. The stake dropping becomes more puzzle-oriented and the monsters start to give you a run for your money. It’s almost like the first 7 levels were an overly extended training session, so persevere, because the Dig Dug magic is still intact later in the game. After completing the available islands, a hard-mode version of the all the islands is unlocked. If only the developers had dispensed with the easy ones and gone straight to these far more exciting levels.
Touch-screen functionality is not used in-game, with movement and item usage controlled by the buttons. Depending on the item, each is used in a different way. Some are activated straight away like the alarm clocks to distract the monsters from Taizo momentarily. Some are stored on the buttons to be used when needed – these generally invoke “DRILLER TIME!” and Susumu comes to your aid on the top screen, for example by dropping a bomb on a boss monster to ensure it stays on the required bit of the island for a vital few moments, giving Taizo a better chance of finishing the stake drop at the right time. What a team! Other items are collected permanently to either build new power-ups like Speed Drill and Rock Generator, or for adding to the fossil collection, which eventually opens up a few new islands to rescue. It really is eventually though, because the fossils are hidden and only appear after specific pieces of rock have been drilled through (different in each location).
There are some crazy plot developments, the like of which have not been seen since Guru Logic Champ. Ok, perhaps not that leftfield, but the reason the monsters are loose in the first place is pretty astonishing. It’s all good clean fun though and the relationship between father, son and island officials is worth following.
So we have a game that’s initially too easy, but compels extended play anyway – probably something to do with the ridiculously infectious music. Keep playing and eventually the levels get exciting and worth slogging through the initial stages for. At the time of writing the game has garnered very little attention and Taizo’s mission to get his name on the lips of people everywhere hasn’t succeeded. Hopefully this review will go a little way to changing that. However, it has succeeded in staying extremely faithful to the original games whilst offering something distinctly new and interesting in the constant interaction between the very different playing areas of the two screens. If you enjoyed the original games, then this is definitely for you and if you know nothing about Dig Dug, this is all the education you need, wrapped up in a tight package.
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System: Nintendo DS
Genre: Arcade
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Players: 1-2
Version: United States
Reviewed: Feb 2006
Writer: Charles Rodmell
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Pros:
- Faithful to originals
- Exciting once it gets going
- Overall polish
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Cons:
- Initially dull
- No touchscreen
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Dig Dug: Digging Strike Video: 2.4MB
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