Mr. Driller Online

I find it sad how easy it is for a game to get a horrible reputation these days. It kills games before they are ever in their complete state. Others are not given a chance to correct themselves before they are blasted and find themselves candidates for the worst game of 2008. Since Gamespot usually annoys me I thought I would strike back.

Mr. Driller Online was held to too high a standard I think. Not that that is a bad thing but I think people were expecting something glorious and flawless when it hit XBLA and I don't know where that expectation came from. There are almost no perfect releases anymore. Fallout 3 is one of the buggiest messes I've seen recently. But I love Fallout 3. I do not necessarily love Mr. Driller though I feel it deserves a fair chance.

Compared to other Mr. Driller games, Mr. Driller Online is a decent continuation. The series has been characterized by deceptively simple game play and puzzles that yield multiple right and wrong ways to solve them. The learning curve is high if this is your first introduction to drilling and the levels are at times agonizingly long.

The biggest complaint I have is how the difficulty differs between star ratings. In Standard Driller mode the difference between the America level and Egypt is ridiculous. America is a cake walk compared to the air-restrictive designs of Egypt. I suppose this comes from the game only having 5 levels in both modes but there is not a gradual step up in difficulty. Once you leave the first two levels you are thrown into a pit of despair. I would have liked to see a better transition between difficulties.

What I love is the different feel between depth markers. In the Egypt level the first series of blocks have a sandy feel to them and that is followed by a stonier look beneath. They did get the look of these levels right and most times the music syncs up nicely with the mood.

The characters also add an extra bit of depth to the game. All the characters are playable right off the bat and I do enjoy playing as Susumu more than anyone else but Horinger-Z's run through of levels adds more strategy as his air requirement is very very small but his movements are slow. But the one character I don't see any use for is Taizo or Susumu's father. He is slow and he requires so much air that he gets you killed more than anyone else. But the 6 playable characters gives you a chance to customize your experience with Mr. Driller Online.

I am not an Online gaming person so I feel this game suffers from the online play although it has been patched since the first reviews. It is a puzzle game, not a group puzzle game and that shift into making it multi-player seems forced. That killed this game in the eyes of reviewers and I agree that it is certainly not worth its price tag. But it is not one of the worst games to be released as the main gameplay is fun and classically Drillerful.

In the end I think the game is not worth buying on its own but if you rarely get anything on the Arcade and find a copy of Namco Virtual Arcade for cheap it is a welcome title. I don't think it is something that should be completely dismissed but I do not think it merits indepth play.

Mostly I wanted to prove that Mr. Driller is not nearly as horrible as people make it out to be. But I am a dying breed of gamer. I don't enjoy online competition. I enjoy walking through worlds on my own. I am annoyed with the scathing reviews from people who supposedly played this game.

So, if you acquire this because you wanted dig dug 1 & 2 and Galaga Legions, give Mr. Driller Online a chance.