Sega Dreamcast: Mr. Driller
January 17, 2009 - 8:09 am - Posted by Luke C.
Mr. Driller for the Dreamcast is a strange little puzzle game that has spawned a series of niche titles.
The first thing you’ll notice when you start up Mr. Driller is that the entire game looks like candy. The main character is dressed in baby blue and a pastel pink, and the blocks through which he drills wouldn’t look out of place in a pack of Starburst. The sound design has the same aesthetic as the visuals.
Don’t let the kiddy look confuse you, though. Mr. Driller is one the hardest, most unforgiving puzzlers out there. Every block you destroy could potentially set off a chain reaction of falling and disappearing blocks; it’s amusing when you’re on top of the falling blocks, but can be terrifying when you’re in the middle of the pile.
Tension is added by a constantly-dwindling air supply. Fail to pick up air capsules (digging these out of the pile quickly becomes a puzzle of its own) and the main character will die the most adorable suffocation death in video games.
And you will die in this game. It will take a few rounds just to get used to how the blocks fall and disappear. After that it’ll take a few rounds to learn how to harness gravity for your own use, and then finally you might be able to beat the beginner challenge.
The sadistic challenge makes winning that much sweeter, however, and it is surprisingly exhilarating just to be in the middle of a chain of falling and disappearing blocks and survive, even if only for a few seconds. All in all I’ve found the game to be quite addictive.
My only suggestions are that you try to keep your temper while playing and that you play with the d-pad; the joystick felt kind of imprecise while I played and the last thing you want is to die because you drilled down instead of to the right.
I suck so bad at this game.