|
|
Game Information
|
Preview
|
Review |
Screenshots |
Forum |
»Drill Dozer
"A loud, powerful drilling machine? What could be better for covertly stealing stuff!"
As contradictory as it may seem, Drill Dozer is, in many ways, a
typical quirky, unique sleeper hit. You have what appears to be a
normal platformer, with a seemingly minor quirk to it that ends up
being the center of the gameplay, leading to all kind of puzzles and
unique boss battles, and it’s got character designs that look like
they’ve been pulled straight out of a Treasure game, not that that’s a
bad thing. Drill Dozer is an enjoyable platformer/puzzle game that
earns its sleeper status.
The story of Drill Dozer is fairly simple, there are two rival groups
of thieves, one evil and one good, and the bad one has stolen your
group’s gem and injured the leader. The leader’s daughter commandeers
the group’s dozer, and sets out to avenge her father, get the gems
back, and eventually hunt for even more gems. The dozer is a relatively
small drilling vehicle that you pilot and use to get through the
levels. The levels are large and somewhat non-linear, each level
requiring you to power-up your dozer twice (the same two power-ups each
time, you lose them at the end of the level), and containing plenty of
puzzles. The enemies are somewhat insignificant, but there are some
unique and sometimes challenging boss battles.
The core gameplay centers on your drill. By itself, the drill is
simple, you hold a shoulder button to start it and… drill stuff. But
the game finds dozens of different uses for this, setting up all kinds
of drill-based puzzles. One of the most common drill tricks is to grab
onto something with the drill head, and then using the force to propel
yourself in the opposite direction. At first, you’ll only do this to
reach higher platforms, but eventually you’ll be scaling vertical rooms
launching from drill point to drill point, taking the power of the
drill into account to launch where you want to. The game keeps throwing
new stuff at you as you go through, and solving the puzzles is
satisfying and rarely frustrating. Combat can be a bit sluggish though,
when the enemies do present a significant threat it can be hard to
avoid taking hits due to your somewhat clunk movement, but you get a
good amount of life. Boss battles have a more balanced difficulty; they
present a good challenge but are rarely frustrating. The game can get
kind of frustrating in later levels, especially a timed one near the
end of the game.
The graphics are adequate for GBA; everything has a simple, cartoony
look, not bad but doesn’t really push the system. The character design
is across somewhat anime-based, similar to Pokèmon, Game Freak’s
flagship franchise. You only have a couple normal levels in each world,
so you get a good amount of variety in backgrounds.
Music is the same, suitable music that fits the game well. The drill is
the most common sound effect, and it’s very effective, due to the
game’s built-in rumble feature (no batteries required, I still can’t
believe they ever made you buy batteries for each cart) to let you feel
the drilling. The game doesn’t really stand out in either area, but
nothing that is going to bother you.
Replay is fairly high. There are secret levels, secret treasures in
each level, and a large amount of upgrades you can make with the money
found scattered throughout each level, adding to your dozer in a
variety of areas. You eventually do get permanent power-ups for your
dozer, which open up new areas in the levels you’ve already done. How
compelled you’ll feel to do all of this is medium, not something you’ll
be magnetically drawn to, but not something you’ll find frustrating and
not worth it.
Overall, Drill Dozer is a paradox: a typical quirky and unique game.
But that doesn’t take away from it, I’ve always felt strongly that a
good game is a good game whether it feels new or not. If you want a fun
and memorable adventure for GBA, Drill Dozer is a very good choice. The
set up may seem kind of clichéd, but the meat of the game is creative
and enjoyable. Go ahead and see just how many things drilling can turn
into.
Article by: KI Simpson
Posted on: Feb. 16th, 2007 |
|
|
|
Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| Well designed puzzles, well constructed levels. |
 |
|
|
Graphics |
| Nothing special, but gets the job done. |
 |
|
|
Sound |
| Like the graphics, somewhat typical, but it works. |
|
|
|
Replay Value |
| Good amount of extra stuff to do, game is worth continuing play. |
|
|
|
Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
