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Treasure Digger

Published by BrainWorkz
Price $7.00
Download
Primary Genre Secondary Genre

There are times that my reviewing of indie games is more than a bit akin to the title of this weeks game: Treasure Digger. Like an archaeologist, BrainWorkz Games has tunneled into the past to tackle a genre that- without too much digging- has been cloned many times since its first appearance in 1984: Boulder Dash.

All alone in the grid. Build your own cave.

In Treasure Digger, you play a prospecting Dwarf. You must guide the digging Dwarf through 20 levels of caves collecting gold nuggets while avoiding falling rocks. There are two types of rocks you must be wary of - grey ones that fall down and blue rocks that fall in an upward direction. Once all of the gold is collected on a given screen, you will advance to the next level and each level becomes progressively more difficult to complete. This is an easy game to control, for all of your movements are directed with your arrow keys and your space-bar.

The graphics are a bit simplistic and of the 2D variety. You guide the dwarf through grids of various sizes, and the gold that you collect is represented as a gold "blob" as are the rocks (blobs) that can fall on you. There are walls that separate areas and you must use color-coded "tunnels" to bypass the walls, said tunnels all look alike aside from color.

A wide range of... grids!

The sound environment of Treasure Digger is almost nonexistent. There are two sounds in-game that I heard during my game sessions that occurred when I collected gold and when rocks fall. Furthermore, both sounds are both Windows default sounds. And that is all you get. There is no soundtrack or creative sound effects to add to the gaming experience.

While the gameplay is fairly simple insofar as controls, graphics, and sound is concerned Treasure Digger can present its challenges. This is a game of logic and the process of figuring out how to get from point "A" to point "B" to "C" and so on in order to collect gold without getting killed in the process can present a challenge. And of course, if the 20 levels do not leave you flummoxed, BrainWorkz provides a built in level-editor/creator to keep you in digging and collecting mode even longer.

So, I find myself getting close to the end of my review of Treasure Digger and I am thinking to myself - "Just how playable is this game?". Well... not very. I enjoy a good puzzle/logic game from time-to-time (recall Atomixer), but I expect an interactive PC game to provide me with a stimulating environment unless I'm playing a game of chess even then I prefer playing the game with another human. Since Treasure does not provide much environment at all- I found myself easily distracted and my concentration would just wander away. Frankly, if I do not find a game very playable well, whether I come back to said game again-and-again does not even come into picture for me.

Game reviewing is a mercurial effort at best for this writer- those that have read a bit of my Bytten blog know that I have my "favorite game niche" and when a game outside that niche does not capture my imagination or sense of whimsy, well I've not much to say about it. Treasure Digger, with its elementary interpretation of the "Boulder Dash" genre, did nothing to capture my aforementioned imagination or whimsy. However, if a unpretentious and tranquil logic game with a level-editor is what you're looking for- then this is the game!

Graphics 40%
Sound 40%
Playability 45%
Longevity 50%
Overall Score 45%
No Award

Published on 28 Jul 2006
Reviewed by David Simpkins

Keywords: treasure digger review, brainworkz reviews, brainworkz games, treasure digger scores, pc game reviews, indie game reviews, independent gaming.