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Open up, and say "Ahhh Right!", Drill Dozer is finally here!
February 7, 2006 | 10:35 PM PSTby: Stephen Smith
You know, sometimes I just love to reminisce about the good ol' days. When all it took to seek revenge on a group of evil thieves was a suit of powered armor that comes pre-equipped with a huge drill bit. Thankfully, Nintendo has released Drill Dozer for the Game Boy Advance. So all of us can remember how it was so much simpler way back when.
Facts and Features:
No Room to Doze
Let me be perfectly honest, I don’t ever remember the good ol' days like that, but maybe some people do. Like the lead protagonist of Drill Dozer: a young girl named Jill. She, along with her father are members of a friendly group of thieves knows as the Red Dozers, if there is such a thing as a ‘friendly’ gang of thieves. Anyway, a rival group of thieves known as the Skullers have stolen the Dozers most prized possession, a red diamond. Not only that, but they critically injured her dad during the attack. So while her father recuperates, she leads the Red Dozers on a quest to recover their precious red diamond, and to punish the ones responsible for hurting her dad.
Faced with insurmountable odds, Jill’s only weapon is the aforementioned and game title; the Drill Dozer. This powered armor can demolish, and destroy anything in its path. Thanks primarily to its giant drill bit which allows you to drill in four directions (up, down, right, and left). Plus scattered throughout each level are gearboxes. Once obtained, these boxes allow you to change gears to increase the power of your drill’s rotation. Changing gears is easy thanks to a handy power bar that indicates when to shift gears. When you do shift gears, the rumble motor provides feedback that corresponds perfectly, but more on that later. Drilling is your only weapon in this game, but don’t think for an instant that this limits the game play.
Special Maneuvers
Your drill bit does allow you to do all the things you would expect like destroying enemies, and tunneling, but can also can also perform special moves. You can deflect projectiles by simply spinning your drill. Another interesting aspect to Drill Dozer is the ability to drill clockwise by hitting the R button, and counterclockwise by hitting the L button. This comes into play in many areas in the game. Certain tunnels will only allow you to drill in a certain direction of rotation. But don’t worry; they are color coded so you will know which ones correspond to clockwise, and counterclockwise. Speaking of this, there are certain blocks that will help sling shot you to various platforms. These blocks use a similar technique. You must drill into them, and then immediately reverse the direction of your drill bit.
Your Drill Dozer can be a difficult beast to maneuver. It tends to be a little too heavy and clunky for its own good. But thankfully there are ways around this. For one, your powered armor can jump rather quickly given its size and weight. But by far the easiest way to maneuver your Drill Dozer more effectively is to do a sort of power slide by holding down and hitting the A button. This is especially useful for maneuvering into small spaces. There are several times when you can also interact with the various environments to aid in your progression through this game.
Game Design
The missions vary in locality, and challenge, but they all contain a fundamental structure. Certain walls, or blocks will not be able to be broken until you have obtained gearboxes. Typically, you have 2 gearboxes to find in each level, for a combined total of 3 gear speeds. There are enemies sprinkled throughout each mission to slow your progress, plus a few small puzzle elements to help craft a fun, but familiar design. You also have the token boss characters at the end of each level. Each boss also comes with a special weak area that must be violated to succeed. No area in the design is very original, but it is a time-tested formula.
At the beginning of each mission you will be treated to a cinematic sequence where Jill will meet up with the Red Dozers aboard their van. While on the van you can do a variety of things including check the status of your Drill Dozer, and even access a help menu that shows you how to operate the various functions of your power armor. There is also a shop on the van that becomes available after you reach a certain point in the game. Here you can buy extra energy tanks (health), or more powerful drill bits. How do you pay for these upgrades you ask? Well, scattered throughout each level are chips that you can obtain that double as currency.
One of my favorite things about Drill Dozer is its wonderful cartoon-like graphics. The cut scenes in particular have an amazing visual flare that conveys so much personality. Sound is no slouch either, and runs the gambit from standard to noteworthy. All of this reminds me just how much I truly miss the heyday of the 16-bit era.
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
I played Drill Dozer at last year’s E3 when it was known as Screw Breaker. I don’t remember it using a rumble motor, so this added feature was a welcome surprise for me. Believe me, it really works well with Drill Dozer. Every time you start your drill, the feedback really adds to the experience. The simple act of shifting gears is way more satisfying with the rumble motor due to the feedback that corresponds so naturally to the changing of gears.
With any game you will run into problems with the design, and unfortunately Drill Dozer is no different. One of oddest things about Drill Dozer is how after every mission you lose all of your gearboxes. This forces the player to reacquire these gears throughout each and every level. I know they choose to do this to make the design more accessible, but I am sure I don’t have to tell you how redundant it can be. Speaking of redundancy, during missions your fellow thieves will contact you with relevant information. Which in itself isn’t that bad, but the sheer amount of times they contact you, and the amount of dialogue you have to wade through gets, well, redundant.
Here's the Drill
Drill Dozer is a prime example of what can be done on the Game Boy Advance. While some companies try to push technology to the forefront, and hope that gameplay catches up, Game Freak, and other companies like them, strive to put the emphasis on design over all else. I'm not necessarily saying that Drill Dozer isn’t a visual treat, it's just that visual splendor tends to age far faster than a truly fun gameplay mechanic.
--Stephen Smith
Facts and Features:
- Pilot the Drill Dozer, a robot that can demolish anything.
- Explore a vast and beautiful 2D world.
- Buy upgrades to maximize the Drill Dozer’s powers.
- Rumble motor built into the cartridge.
No Room to Doze
Let me be perfectly honest, I don’t ever remember the good ol' days like that, but maybe some people do. Like the lead protagonist of Drill Dozer: a young girl named Jill. She, along with her father are members of a friendly group of thieves knows as the Red Dozers, if there is such a thing as a ‘friendly’ gang of thieves. Anyway, a rival group of thieves known as the Skullers have stolen the Dozers most prized possession, a red diamond. Not only that, but they critically injured her dad during the attack. So while her father recuperates, she leads the Red Dozers on a quest to recover their precious red diamond, and to punish the ones responsible for hurting her dad.
Faced with insurmountable odds, Jill’s only weapon is the aforementioned and game title; the Drill Dozer. This powered armor can demolish, and destroy anything in its path. Thanks primarily to its giant drill bit which allows you to drill in four directions (up, down, right, and left). Plus scattered throughout each level are gearboxes. Once obtained, these boxes allow you to change gears to increase the power of your drill’s rotation. Changing gears is easy thanks to a handy power bar that indicates when to shift gears. When you do shift gears, the rumble motor provides feedback that corresponds perfectly, but more on that later. Drilling is your only weapon in this game, but don’t think for an instant that this limits the game play.
Special Maneuvers
Your drill bit does allow you to do all the things you would expect like destroying enemies, and tunneling, but can also can also perform special moves. You can deflect projectiles by simply spinning your drill. Another interesting aspect to Drill Dozer is the ability to drill clockwise by hitting the R button, and counterclockwise by hitting the L button. This comes into play in many areas in the game. Certain tunnels will only allow you to drill in a certain direction of rotation. But don’t worry; they are color coded so you will know which ones correspond to clockwise, and counterclockwise. Speaking of this, there are certain blocks that will help sling shot you to various platforms. These blocks use a similar technique. You must drill into them, and then immediately reverse the direction of your drill bit.
Your Drill Dozer can be a difficult beast to maneuver. It tends to be a little too heavy and clunky for its own good. But thankfully there are ways around this. For one, your powered armor can jump rather quickly given its size and weight. But by far the easiest way to maneuver your Drill Dozer more effectively is to do a sort of power slide by holding down and hitting the A button. This is especially useful for maneuvering into small spaces. There are several times when you can also interact with the various environments to aid in your progression through this game.
Game Design
The missions vary in locality, and challenge, but they all contain a fundamental structure. Certain walls, or blocks will not be able to be broken until you have obtained gearboxes. Typically, you have 2 gearboxes to find in each level, for a combined total of 3 gear speeds. There are enemies sprinkled throughout each mission to slow your progress, plus a few small puzzle elements to help craft a fun, but familiar design. You also have the token boss characters at the end of each level. Each boss also comes with a special weak area that must be violated to succeed. No area in the design is very original, but it is a time-tested formula.
At the beginning of each mission you will be treated to a cinematic sequence where Jill will meet up with the Red Dozers aboard their van. While on the van you can do a variety of things including check the status of your Drill Dozer, and even access a help menu that shows you how to operate the various functions of your power armor. There is also a shop on the van that becomes available after you reach a certain point in the game. Here you can buy extra energy tanks (health), or more powerful drill bits. How do you pay for these upgrades you ask? Well, scattered throughout each level are chips that you can obtain that double as currency.
One of my favorite things about Drill Dozer is its wonderful cartoon-like graphics. The cut scenes in particular have an amazing visual flare that conveys so much personality. Sound is no slouch either, and runs the gambit from standard to noteworthy. All of this reminds me just how much I truly miss the heyday of the 16-bit era.
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
I played Drill Dozer at last year’s E3 when it was known as Screw Breaker. I don’t remember it using a rumble motor, so this added feature was a welcome surprise for me. Believe me, it really works well with Drill Dozer. Every time you start your drill, the feedback really adds to the experience. The simple act of shifting gears is way more satisfying with the rumble motor due to the feedback that corresponds so naturally to the changing of gears.
With any game you will run into problems with the design, and unfortunately Drill Dozer is no different. One of oddest things about Drill Dozer is how after every mission you lose all of your gearboxes. This forces the player to reacquire these gears throughout each and every level. I know they choose to do this to make the design more accessible, but I am sure I don’t have to tell you how redundant it can be. Speaking of redundancy, during missions your fellow thieves will contact you with relevant information. Which in itself isn’t that bad, but the sheer amount of times they contact you, and the amount of dialogue you have to wade through gets, well, redundant.
Here's the Drill
Drill Dozer is a prime example of what can be done on the Game Boy Advance. While some companies try to push technology to the forefront, and hope that gameplay catches up, Game Freak, and other companies like them, strive to put the emphasis on design over all else. I'm not necessarily saying that Drill Dozer isn’t a visual treat, it's just that visual splendor tends to age far faster than a truly fun gameplay mechanic.
--Stephen Smith
February 8, 2010
