Mr. Driller Drill Spirits

"A very Unique DS title"

Mr. Driller is a very unique puzzle game. The first puzzle game I have seen that doesn't have dropping shapes that you must move and match together.

In Mr. Driller you play as Mr. Driller(other characters are unlockable) and you must drill your way down to the end of each stage. To do this you must drill colors that if matched together you will drill all at once. While drilling down you must get air for you will not die.

Although this may sound easy, its more challenging then someone would think, while drilling, blocks will be left above you, if you drill on their foundations they will fall until they are stopped by their same color. If they are not stopped you can get squished by them.

Graphics- The graphics are nothing impressive. It is colorful but dont expect to be blown away by graphics. It is a puzzle game and since the blocks and the character is small, you wont catch much detail. The detail is better during the few cutscenes you will see. The backgrounds are pretty nice, but nothing spectacular
5/10

Sound- I enjoyed the sound, the sounds worked well for what I was doing and the background music was happy and fit the mood of the game. The background music changed on every stage and it was enjoyable. It also had voice overs in the cut scenes, but they were nothing impressive.
9/10

Control- With the Nintendo DS you have the choice to use the touch pad or the buttons. I've tried both and I prefer the buttons. The controls work well, the only time I ever have problems is during speed rounds I seem to go faster than my driller which sometimes gets me drilling the wrong direction, but overall the controls are responsive and work well.
9/10

Overall- Overall this game is pretty good, it has 3 modes plus multiplayer. Just going through the levels is pretty fun, although for some the levels may drag on a little longer than I wanted. Of course the other two modes were fun as well, time attack was fun and took coordination as well as remembering where to go. And the pressure driller was an interesting twist where you have to shoot above you at a monster who strangely attacks with a flower. For puzzle gamers it is a must have but for all others, just try it, and if you need a new game for the DS buy it.
8/10

Let downs- The only let down I had was mainly just the touch screen and unlockables. I was hoping with other modes there would be more to unlock and the touch screen is used well, but I wish they could have had a mode where using the touch screen was essential. Even a mini game would have been cool.

Replay value- Moderate, It will all depend on how much you like the game, the only time I wanted to play more is with friends

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/04