Mr Driller: Drillland
» System: Switch, PC » Buy it from: Online » Buy it for: £15.99
We’ve waited a long time for an official English version of Mr Driller: Drillland, as the original Gamecube version was cruelly denied an international release back in 2002. The game was considered something of a cult classic by puzzle fans, and the quality hasn’t diminished a bit over the years.
The basic premise remains the same as in previous Mr Driller games – there’s a big well for you to drill down, filled with coloured blocks. Blocks of the same colour join together and can be taken out as a group, and if you take out the support underneath a block, it’ll fall. This can potentially crush our hero, but if a block falls into a group of four or more of the same colour, they’ll all disappear. You’ve also got to find air capsules to replenish a constantly diminishing air supply, and have to avoid hard blocks that sap that air supply.
Where Drillland elaborates on the formula is in its amusement park theme, which provides not only the plot of the game but its underlying structure. The game is made up of various attractions that present a different spin on the core Mr Driller gameplay. For example, Star Driller adds plenty of power‑ups, while Drindy Adventures removes the air supply constraint and tasks you with collecting gold statues on your way down, but adds rolling boulders that can crush you. The most interesting mode is The Hole Of Druaga, which adds enemies, items and a map system to turn the game into a mini‑rpg. Beat all of them and you can challenge a boss in the ultimate attraction.
Elaborating on a simple concept like this isn’t often easy, and it’s impressive to see how many ways Namco was able to do so. What’s more, the art style works well in HD and the sound is as good as ever. If you like a good action‑puzzle game, pick this up – it’s the best version of Mr Driller out there. >> Score 88%