So the PlayStation Classic was released in recent memory to critical acclaim, I think it was, and one of the twenty titles was Mr. Driller, a colourful little arcade game from Namco that began life as Dig Dug 3.
"Why?" seems to be one of the more prominent questions people have of the PlayStation Classic as a whole, and now I get to ask why Mr. Driller finds itself on the 1001 list as well. Can drilling blocks really be that much fun? And how is a drill the best tool for the job anyway?
I suppose we'll need to dig into this one a little further.
Fun Times
Mr. Driller is as simple as follows:
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| Drill blocks to get them out of the way. |
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| Collect air tanks so that you don't starve yourself of oxygen deep underground. |
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| Drill blocks, tiring though it may seem. |
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| Avoid getting crushed by anything falling from above. |
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| Grab some more air. |
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| Drill some more blocks. |
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| Die and set a high score. |
What's appealing about all this then?
There's nothing more to Mr. Driller than drilling down and not dying, and if you're not trying to go as deep as possible in general before dying, then you're going as deep as you can within a time limit, and whatever other game modes you can wrap around this idea.
I suppose the thrill might come from that notion that this is like an infinite Dig Dug, where there's no turning back to try a different route. You are committed to drilling down, and how you get there and what problems that puts you in is all your fault, really.
You might then want to plan your route down a little more carefully, so as to not undercut weak blocks above. You don't want anything falling on your head, of course. That's madness. But you can't slow down, because your air supply is running out, and can only be increased (and nowhere near fully) by collecting air tanks, which you will have to drill towards. While running out of oxygen. While blocks crash down around you.
Frustration
I don't know why, but I wasn't gripped by that. I wasn't caught along with the panic of blocks falling on my head or air not getting into my lungs. If I died, I just went 'oh well' and carried on until I ran out of lives.
I once ran out of air quite badly, and that was mildly perilous, I will admit, but there were no stakes for me. I wasn't invested in getting a high score or even in finding an oxygen tank. "That's this run over with then. Oh well..."
If all the colour and spectacle was what I should have been feeling, then I was the wooden X blocks getting in the way of the fun, having none of it, and blocking off the air tanks.
Oh well.
Final Word
I don't think I care for Mr. Driller. I don't know if you get that impression from what I've written, but yeah. This is a little time sink for those occasions where you absolutely need to play something for a few minutes until you think 'no, actually, I should do something today'.
Can I imagine someone playing this for an hour? Yeah, easy. Maybe it's you. Maybe it's me when I'm really bored. Can I imagine why this is on the 1001 list or the PlayStation Classic? Nah. No, I'm definitely missing something there.
If you can't get enough of Dig Dug and simply must play a version of it with air tanks, then you can do no better than Mr. Driller. Me, well, I'm probably going to wait for the next game with a bit more of a plot to come around. I think that's just the kind of gamer I am...
Fun Facts
The in-game Universe ranks Susumu Hori, the main character, as the highest-ranked Driller in the world. He's just a kid!
Mr. Driller, developed by Namco, first released in 1999.
Version played: PlayStation, 2000, via emulation.