Digg into this opinion! (Mr. Driller (DC))

Member Name: jlovett2k

Product:	Mr. Driller (DC)
Date:	25/05/01 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple

Disadvantages: Cartoony

With the needs of today's gamers this game wasn't meant to be a huge success. This game is so simple three buttons do exactly the same thing. Now some may think this a bad thing, but the simplicity and ease makes up for the lack of modern styled levels and graphics.
The aim of the game is to steer Mr.Driller down through 100 metres deep stages of coloured blocks, stacked either singly or linked in groups. If blocks of the same colour touch, they form larger groups of blocks. These groups are not ruled by the laws of gravity, so over hangs and ledges are created. Drilling one of these big lumps gains more points than a single block or smaller group. But beware - anything that was on top of it falls down towards Mr.Drillers head.
Cutting a path down through the blocks without getting crushed can be tricky. But that's the challenge.
Our plucky hero must also maintain a supply of air so he doesn't suffocate. The game begins with his reservoir filled to 99 percent capacity, and gradually depletes as you play, the deeper you go the faster it is used up. To replenish Mr driller's tanks you must seek out air capsules, which are tucked between blocks on the way down. Each one will add 20% to the air supply, giving you plenty of time to clear a safe path in the early stages. By the last stage you'll be pumping the drill button like an amphetamine fuelled lab monkey in control of a banana dispenser, just to get to the end in time with out dyeing.
Just to complicate things, nestled among the coloured blocks are tougher, brown bricks, which more often than not surround the air capsules. Cutting into one of these babies empties 20% from Mr Driller's air supply, equalling the amounts stored in the air capsules. Instead you must clear the normal blocks from around the brown bricks in such a way so as to open a path to the air supply.
The standard arcade mode comes in normal and expert flavours, which equate to 500m and 1000m drill
depths per level. However Namco's designers have also put a fair amount of variety into the different stages.
In addition to the arcade option there is a survival mode, in which you must drill as deep underground as possible with only one life. Alternatively you can opt to take on the time attack game, which specially constructed stages to tackle. On the way through these you must collect clock icons to subtract between one and three seconds from your overall time. And while the target times in video games are often quite easy to beat the ones in Mr Driller are often stunningly hard to match.
Special mention has to be made of the music, which outside of a video game would have you chewing through your hi-fi's power cable, but in the context of a crazy Japanese puzzle game is the perfect accompaniment.
The bad thing about Mr Driller is that there is no multiplayer mode. It deprives the game of the ability to keep a couple of friends glued to there joy pads, in the way that "Bust-A-Move" can. This game is easily the most addictive game you will ever play on the Dreamcast.

Summary: