 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Game Freak |
| Publisher: | Nintendo | |
| Genre: | Platformer | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | N/A | |
| Accessories: | Rumble Pak (built-in) | |
| Buy Now: |   |
In may just be one of my little quirks, but in my opinion, the sign of a true platformer is in the controls - the quality of the controls really gives you a sign of things to come within any game, come to think of it. That said, I especially prefer it when a platformer assigns the jump to the A button. If a developer has done its job, the action/button-correlation tells the player whether to expect lots of fighting or lots of jumping and, in some cases, there is a fair balance of both. Such is the case with Drill Dozer, and the controls speak of it. While the jump action is indeed assigned to the A button, there is no conflict between it and the B button, no constant switching back in forth. In truth, the B button is hardly used at all, since it is only used to scout, showing players the briefest glimpse of things directly around them and not to attack as you might expect. Naturally, the D-pad controls your direction and the start and select buttons have the most menial of tasks, opening the save menu (also with options to sleep and exit the level) and the equipment/help screen, respectively.
Since the game is based around a drill, and the level design plays to it, players need to be able to control it with ease, so the meat of the Drill Dozer's control lies in the left and right shoulder buttons. In most cases holding the right shoulder button will move you in whatever direction you are facing, and the left shoulder button will do just the opposite. As you accumulate gears, it's necessary to tap the buttons while you squeeze them in order to get up to a higher speed/power, but it's still quite a fluid motion.
When I first put in Drill Dozer, I also found myself very pleased with the graphics. Everything, from the sprites to the backgrounds, is intricately detailed. In fact, the sprites, in their humorous and cartoon-like way, are actually some of the best I've seen. Just so long as your aren't looking for PSP quality or photo-realistic graphics and know what you are getting when you pick up Drill Dozer, I think you'll be very pleased. There are also a variety of visual effects that add greatly to the experience. For instance, your HUD is quite simple, showing just your health and current gears (which also adjusts as you actually use your drill), but it is incredibly effective, and it doesn't take up that much space either. Also, as you initiate your drill, switching up into new gears, a large meter appears on screen to tell you what gear you are in, when to tap and hold the shoulder button again and how much longer you can hold that strength for. Though some people might find it intrusive, and others still may long for the challenge of knowing when to switch gears by themselves, it is another fine example of the game's effective visuals.
Though usually seen during the boss fights, there is another quite nice effect that makes wonderful use of the background. When you enter the level and battle on through, sometimes enemies will rise on up from the background and, when you defeat them, they will sometimes rocket off the screen, giving a 2D side-scroller an extra, and much needed, layer of depth akin to Viewtiful Joe.
While I am really wonderstruck by the graphics, I only wish I could say the same thing about the sound. Though I am grateful that the drill wasn't quite as grating as I might have feared, I was still disappointed to find that other things were even more so. Take for example Jill's scream. Now there is no real voice acting in the game, just a few isolated effects, and whenever Jill gets hit, she lets out a pitiful whimper that can really become distracting during some of the more difficult fights.
The music could have used some work, as well, since it seemed completely out of place most of the time. When the music is at its fastest, it is often the slowest moments of the game, when you are trying to figure out exactly what to make of the level. I'm not sure if this is an attempt to keep up the games tempo throughout the entire thing, but it just gives you an unneeded sense of urgency that can certainly lead to mistakes.
There is a gameplay element in this game that lends itself to independence, a sort of thinking man's action game, if you will...even if the main character is a young girl who can't be more than, say, seven. However, whatever chance there might be for the game to have such a title is quickly taken away by its incessant babying. Throughout the entire game, your fellow Red Dozer's will keep constant contact with you, actually freezing the gameplay to give you information. Unfortunately, this isn't always helpful information and sometimes it is pointless commentary for things you can quite easily figure out for yourself. Do I really need the timeless wisdom of a veteran thief to tell me not to get hit by the enemy's attack?
In the first level, and even in the training level that becomes unlocked at the Red Dozer home base afterwards, this was okay. I mean, they both served as very helpful practical tutorials, but by the fifth level or so when I'm encountering branching paths, one closed off with a gigantic metal wall and the other free and clear straight to a door, do I really need the game to tell me which way I can't go? Well, all I can say is that it would have been nice to have either multiple difficulty settings or, at the least, to make that training course mandatory, since most questions you will have and a lot of the scenarios you will encounter are included at some point along that level.
There are also cutscenes for just about everything else, too. It doesn't matter if you are entering a level or exiting it, you will see a little animation of Jill getting into the Drill Dozer and out of the trailer as well as into the trailer and out of the Drill Dozer. Also, every time you start a level, you will have to find your 2nd and 3rd gears all over again and, every time you do, you will have to watch a little animation for it!
Now, perhaps my biggest problem with Drill Dozer is that the game is just too short. Everything else I have mentioned is just minor quibbles and will pale to the fact that, once you finally beat the game, you will undoubtedly want more. There's little more than a handful of levels and most of those, perhaps unnecessarily so, are divided into two parts.
It also doesn't help any that the game is very linear. I mentioned before the branching paths, one closed and one open, well, that's a frequent sight in Drill Dozer. About the most choice you will have is whether to get some piece of treasure now or later. Of course, the fact that there is a "later" really adds to replay value of Drill Dozer and those of you can't stand to have an unfinished game lying around will probably double, if not triple, your playtime as you revisit every level and collect every treasure once you have all your drill bits and Drill Dozer upgrades. Perhaps the only disappointing aspect about that is that collection all that treasure doesn't earn you anything. Once you have it, you can just visit Grutch on the start-up screen and see a complete list, that's all.
Bottom Line:
For all the faults I've listed above, Drill Dozer really does have the potential to draw in and entertain a wide variety of people. For once we are seeing one of those greatly unique games (without being too oddball, that is) that Japan usually gets all to themselves. It's a nice change and, for someone such as myself, it's great to see that the people behind POKéMON do still have some creativity tucked away somewhere.
The technical feel of the HUD, the smooth controls and even the built-in rumble (though it makes your SP/Micro/DS somewhat unwieldy) have the power to really immerse the player into the game. Drill Dozer looks great, has a decent story and the level design is something that all games should really aspire to. It may be short, to be sure, and perhaps even too linear for some, but if quality, not quantity is your mantra, has Nintendo got the game for you!
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 8.5 |
Posted: 2006-02-18 14:40:08 PST