The Dig

"Believe it or not...It's fun!"

POINT OF GAME: Stuck on an alien world, you (as COMMANDER BOSTON LOW) must find a way to get you and your two crew-mates (MAGGIE ROBBINS and LUDGER BRINK) back home. Solve puzzles and make discoveries that could potentially change human lives. But be warned...this game will try your I.Q. and patience. The adventure will even wear down on one of your crew-mates (*cough* Brink *cough*) as he goes insane with obsession.

GRAPHICS: For it's time, the graphics were okay, kind of a mix between 2-D and 3-D. I really love the artful environments. Character animations are a bit repetitive, but not to an annoying degree.

SOUND: Let's get this out of the way...I don't care what anyone else thinks, the music is awesome. Very adventurous and very epic. Dialogue is pretty great too...a little too serious, but great nonetheless. Sound effects were pretty decent, but could have been a bit better.

CONTROLS AND PLAYABILITY: Very simple controls...all you really need is a mouse. Just point and click for movement, that simple...not very exciting, but simple.

ENTERTAINMENT: Some of the puzzles are easy, but quite a few of them are pretty challenging (Ah! The bone puzzle...my mortal enemy...). The story is really nice too (Steven Spielberg, duh!) and should keep you occupied for a bit of time.

REPLAY: 3 out of 5 (Good for a while, but not for a long, long time) Although, I feel many urges to play it again, but I can't due to my computer being too advanced (no MS-DOS).

THE GOOD: The puzzles are fun to play and exploring the world is great entertainment. Dialogue sets up a good story written by Steven Spielberg and two great actors star in this game too: Steven Blum (Brink), who has voiced the main characters in many animes like Cowboy Bebop and s-CRY-ed; and Robert Patrick from Terminator 2 (Boston Low).

THE BAD: Graphics are a little weak, but not too bad. The atmosphere is a little too serious, very little humor compared to many other Lucas Arts games around at the time.

THE BOTTOM-LINE: The Dig is a great game to play. May not be the best choice for some, but many (including myself) enjoyed this game. Unfortunately, you'll need to find an older computer with MS-DOS on it if you want to play this game again. It will not work on the newer computers we use today.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/25/08

Game Release: The Dig (US, 11/30/95)