"Perplexing"

Color Dreams (Wisdom Tree), a rather small organization trying to get their foot into the gaming market by making obscure Nintendo games. Do you know of any other company that went to the extent of selling bible games to the Nintendo fan base? Yeah, thought so.

So, typically, when I saw who produced Crystal Mines, I was skeptical. I had rights to be, I didn't want to be preached to again by 8-bit models. Skepticism is a feeling that left me shortly after the starting of Crystal Mines, A hybrid puzzler that can take hours from your life and never give them back.

The story begins as you're on a new, desolate, uninhabited planet. This planet doesn't have a name, and you invested a lot of money in it for a mining firm. It's like the gold rush on a larger scale. The kind of loot you're after is crystals. How do you get them? Use your remote-controlled robot.

The robot you own is a big wimp. One hit kills him and he can't even hold his own against some of the monsters and obstacles in Crystal Mines, which there is seemingly no shortage of. The first stages of the game are polluted with ogre-like monstrosities. The mere sight of these colossal beasts would scare any regular human being to his grave. Instead, the robot just fires an onboard cannon at them three times to end their existence. This is a sweet victory for the robot, but a short-lived one. Soon, red, fiery giants come to end the party. The robot fires his cannons a second time, but to no use. For these beasts can only be destroyed by falling boulders.

The robot can't find a boulder to kill the hulk with, and he dies, only to be restarted at the beginning again. Starting over and over again is something that can drive one man nuts. But, luckily, each level has many ways that it can be beat, so this is not a problem. The ways in which you can manipulate boulders and kill enemies are endless. Boulders come in different colors and they can be a killer. Silver ones will ricochet any shot back at you. Common brown ones will be easily breakable. Reddish ones can virtually not be destroyed. The dynamite ones can clear houses. All are positioned around the level for maximum fun. The same goes for the enemies. Aside from the ones previously mentioned, you still have a lot of diverse monsters. There are some that can fire shots back at you, and tough ones that can be killed in just a few hits. There are even a few that will just loathe around that can't be killed; they're just there to be something else for you to go around.

Aiding your attempts to beat levels are power-ups. These are positioned around stages so you'll have to look for them. Most power-ups consist of making you be able to shoot further, or to
make your shots stronger. Others make you move around faster or make it where you can maneuver better. The power-ups are balanced, and they don't cause the game to become too easy.

What's left is how you get from level to level. A series of crystals are lying around. Your job is to pick them all up. At this time, a little portal will open up, letting you proceed to the next stage. Here lies the problem. The gray boulders, which were mentioned earlier, can smash the crystals, making you have to start the WHOLE game over again. After a few times, this gets monotonous and it will tire you out quickly. Later levels will take hours and hours to beat, which isn't surprising for a puzzle game, and it adds to the challenge. But, in the end, you will feel like you worked too hard for such a little accomplishment.

The graphics are 8-bit and are still able to function. Crystal Mines won't strike you as a graphical powerhouse, but have you ever seen a puzzle game that has? Most boulders will require you to stare at them a bit to distinguish them from others. The colors are mostly non-innovative and bland. The explosions look like someone threw baby powder on the ground. The robot is corny, as he doesn't have much, if any detail to him. Considering you're on another planet, it looks like the middle of the desert. I'd rank them about average compared to most other NES games of the time. The textures still have some detail to them, and they can actually be deciphered, unlike some games of the time.

The msuic is like a NES games that just doesn't come up to par. Every level has the same theme, which isn't a bad one in itself. But, when it's played over and over again, it can get annoying very quickly. The sound effects are all the same, which is not original. It's a shame they got this far with a good game and then blew it with the music. What you have in the end, is a game that never really got public recognition as a ''great title.'' Furthermore, it couldn't compete with the Nintendo giants at the time (DK, Mario, Etc)

Final = 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/03, Updated 10/08/03