"Dig Dug 0wnz j00... Heh, this is a pretty good game."

Haven't done this in a while, heh.. Anyway, Dig Dug 2 was made in 1989 by a tag team duo of Bandai and Namco. The objective is simple: stay alive, and kill all of the enemies. This one is a bit different from it's predecessor, however. In the first Dig Dug, there were apples that you could push onto the enemies by digging through the ground underneath them. Most of the game took place underground. In Dig Dug 2, it's all above ground. Located on the surface are little posts or something. With those, you can use your trusty jackhammer-like object to make cracks in the ground. If you make the right cracks, you can send a big chunk of the island into the ocean, taking the enemies (and possibly you, so be careful) into their watery graves. That's one way to kill an enemy. The other way is to inflate them until they explode. If an enemy touches you, you die. If the little dragon dude spits fire and hits you, you die. If you fall in the ocean, you die. Normally, the enemies can't walk over cracks in the ground, but they can sort of 'float' over it. When they 'float' they move very slowly, so they're easy to kill by inflation, but they can still kill you if they touch you. If I'm not mistaken, this game never ends. I'm not 100% sure on that (if someone knows, e-mail me.) This can be played with one or two players in your standard turn-based fashion. Die and it's the other player's turn. It's still good if you want to compete for points though. Well, let's break it down a bit, shall we?

Graphics: 6/10
Coming from me, 6 is a pretty good score. The graphics aren't spectacular, but they get the job done, and that's all that counts. No glitches or bugs from what I've seen, so a solid effort in the graphics department nails down a 6.

Audio: 7/10
The music is cool... I like it. It's catchy, but not too catchy to the point where you want to throw a brick through your TV. The sound effects are decent, and it all wraps up into a nice 7.

Challenge: 7/10
It's nice and easy in the beginning, big islands, few enemies... It gets kicked into overdrive later on though, when you start getting more narrow pathways, and more enemies to fill them. The good news is, if you die, all the enemies you killed and parts of the island you sunk will stay that way, so if you kill 9 of 10 enemies, then the last one sneaks you, you won't have to worry about his friends coming back. A tough but fun game, it gets a 7 for challenge.

Gameplay: 7/10
'A' is your trusty jackhammer-like object. 'B' is your inflator (you can either tap it repeatedly or just hold it when you have them hooked.) As usual, the D-Pad moves you around, and start pauses. It responds pretty well, nothing to complain about, so it earns a 7 in gameplay.

Overall: 7/10
This is a good game... It'll keep you entertained for some time, and for the hardcore gamers, the challenge is there, you just need to work your way up to it. Go out and pick this one up whenever you can, it's cheap, and it'll provide you some good fun.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/02, Updated 06/12/02