Dig Dug: Digging Strike Review (no fat)

Game Description

After two decades of watching the marketing monster as Pac-man dominated the Namco lineup, Dig Dug finally returns in an enhanced DS version. New and more strategic gameplay of Dig Dug: Digging Strike will keep players on their toes with the multitude of items and secrets that promises to be a fresh new surprise for everyone.

An entertaining multiplayer takes advantage of the latest wireless DS technology to double the fun of this remade classic.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike –Mr. Driller

In news that shocked the industry, the main character in Dig Dug (Taizo Hori) fathered a child known as Mr. Driller. In a cute little marketing ploy Namco set up as the storyline, Taizo is jealous of his son’s success. And he very well should be, considering his son has had some great adventures for the last couple of years.

Taizo is unsettled about everyone forgetting he is the original dirt demon. The equivalent of opening up your grown son’s postal mail is replicated as Taizo intercepts a distress call intended for his son, and goes to save the day himself.

The entire storyline screams Nintendo but as cute as it is, it won’t get you to the point where it is unbearable. You will just laugh at how silly all of it is, pretty much along the same silly lines as Bust a Move.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike Gameplay

The old Dig Dug had simple gameplay, but it was fun as heck to play. It was the kind of old school game you could play for hours and not get tired of. But in a new era where innovation is a demand over consumers wants, there comes the knife in a gamer’s back known as ‘Publisher Says’.

The ‘publisher says’ can be identified as going with the mantra of if it ain't broke don’t fix it-but oh, don’t forget to pile on extra features so it stands out. With the stifling of what could be an entire new direction for the series to go, developers push releases not as they were intended. The funny thing about all this is that Namco is not only the publisher, but the developer as well.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike keeps a lot of the old game elements intact, while incorporating new (and possibly damaging) game elements such as objectives for each level. The goal of each level is to beat the boss on the island in the top part of your screen by cleverly finding ways to sink him, from the bottom of the screen.

Fans of the series will be familiar with the bottom screen, which is very easy to follow as you dig underground, beat enemies, collect powerups and etc

.

Overall the flow of the game is easy to follow, top part boss on island, bottom part dig, send island to pieces by cleverly digging and drown the boss without drowning yourself. Simple…but then there is the execution of it all.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike – Execution

The game is fun to pick up for a while, but immediately noticeable is the tedious play. There is a lot to uncover, including a horde of Namco references. Any diehard fan will flip their lid when they see some of the Mr. Driller powerups containing Rally-X and Xevious. You really should see these things and there are plenty of them-the ones with Mr. Driller are a lot of fun and necessary as they distract the boss and in some cases stun the boss.

Taizo has a lot to work with, and although calling out his son for help is a bit weird considering the situation, it is a fun aspect of the game. All this is great, but even with harder difficulty levels to uncover later it still can become a bore if played too often for the average gamer.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike Graphics

Perfect graphics for the game, Namco did a great job and didn’t try to do too much with the Nintendo DS hardware, thankfully. The colorful and cartoony graphics are more than well suited for this adventure, and the little advancements they did graphically don’t hinder gameplay with unnecessary slowdowns.

They did all this without robbing gamers of the wonderful visual joy that is known as luring the AI into getting squashed by rocks, or the ever so fun blowing up attack. That’s just plain classic.

But a trend with the DS has its touchscreen being underutilized yet again, with minimal purpose other than skipping through cut scenes. The multiplayer mode as extremely limited as it is would have been paid great respect with the use of the touchscreen. And a word of warning, the multiplayer mode is nothing more than a race to collect the most coins. Pretty useless and Mario 3ish for the most part.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike Sound

Once again a fine job, besides having the regular classic Dig Dug music there are also some remixed tracks. Some eerily old Nintendo music seems to have sneaked its way in as well, apparently added to cash in on the nostalgia value. The soundtrack is very good and the sound effects are just plain funny.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike – 2cent

Dig Dug: Digging Strike is in no way for everyone, and it could have been a lot better. But the gameplay can be somewhat addictive for some, and it is strictly a taste game. Fans of Mr. Driller will definitely pick this up and play for hours, while non-fans of the genre may have trouble getting attached.

Perhaps in another version Namco will make Dig Dug more consumer friendly, until then this round goes to his son…yet again.

Dig Dug: Digging Strike Cost

The game retails for $26.95, at the time of this review.