GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Terrible
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 04/03/2008
- Released on: 04/02/2008
- Originally published on GameSpot: Mr. Driller Online (Xbox 360) Review
Namco Bandai's Xbox Live Arcade games are lauded for two things: classic arcade gameplay and easy achievements. Mr. Driller Online departs from both of these traditions by breaking the storied gameplay and making the achievements more difficult to unlock. The single-player experience is shallow and the online is unplayable. It all begs the question: "How can you call it Mr. Driller Online without the online?"
Mr. Driller originated as an arcade game in 1999 and arrived on the Game Boy Color, PlayStation, and Dreamcast in 2000. In every instance, the gameplay has been the same. You control Susumu, or one of a handful of other characters, and dive into the multicolored layers of the Earth's crust. As you dig down, the blocks fall around you. Blocks of the same color stick together, so drilling one of them will take out an entire like-colored mass. You can drill in four directions and move from left to right if you've opened up a path. Most of the danger lies in the possibility of being crushed by falling blocks, but you also need to collect the air capsules that show up from time to time or you'll run out of air and lose a life.
The single-player experience is very shallow with only two modes of play: Standard Driller and Quest Driller. Each mode has five maps, with the only variation to the gameplay coming in the depths to which you are tasked with diving. While the starting locations are supposed to represent different and exotic locations around the world, the levels all look the same. Sure, the strata of earth change from tier to tier as you dive, but the appearance is identical to previous installments' level designs. Quest mode is only differentiated from Standard mode because each tier of earth you dig through has a condition for completion. You may be limited to only picking up a certain number of air canisters or you are tasked with finishing in a certain time limit. The conditions for each tier are easy, but the Standard mode, by comparison, is made all the more mundane in comparison to the Quest mode. Though the gameplay is simple, a limited number of lives ensures that only the most excellent of excavators will survive the repetition and complete the deeper levels to unlock all of the achievements. After you've explored the depths of the single-player experience, the gameplay only has one direction to go: down.
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