Power Shovel

""Save Turtles!""

In this highly original game, vaguely reminiscent of insane Japanese games like Incredible Crisis, from Taito, the makers of such classics as Space Invaders, you control a digger out looking to make a quick buck by partaking in activities like destroying limousines, shoveling sand and adding two hundred litres of sauce to plates of curry. Plus you save turtles. This game is mental.

In true Bishi Bashi style, Power Shovel is rife with bad English and Japanese voice acting. I'm uncertain as to whether this is intentional, but it sure is hilarious!

This game is an arcade port, so there's nothing in the way of story in Power Shovel, but why would you be playing a game about diggers for a story? Answer me that!

The controls are rather complex and it takes a good half-hour to get used to the controls. The shoulder buttons move the digger, the directional buttons control the digger's arm and the main buttons control the actual shovel. The challenge comes when you must manipulate all three at the same time under the pressure of a time limit. I enjoy playing this game with an arcade controller, and I recommend anyone with one give it a go, it adds to the realism, even if you're collecting turtles from a swimming pool with a digger!

There are several sections, a tutorial, with three difficulties, mind you, a license mode to hone your skills and the actual game. The actual game is basically a dozen or so minigames strung together, the menu forming the Jobs section of a newspaper. Completing the tasks earns you money you can spend in the shop on such things as new minigames, sound tests and a whole new game mode. The shop really gives you incentive to play the game again and again!

The graphics are so-so for games of this era, although graphical glitches are all too common, the sand sometimes visible through the shovel, the cones poking through the digger and all the unfortunate errors common in PlayStation games.

The background music is typical Japanese fare, light and bouncy and the commentary is all in Japanese, although text flashes on the screen with the jist of his musings, so you need not worry that you're missing anything.

Power Shovel is an excellent game, which I hesitate to give anything less than a ten to, however, there are some troubling graphical glitches, for which I remove a point. If you come across Power Shovel in a second-hand game store, purchase it forthwith!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/05, Updated 08/09/05