C&VG
1st January 1988
Publisher: Incentive
Machine: Amstrad CPC464/664/6128
Published in Computer & Video Games #75
Driller
Incentive. Curious word, that. It means something inciting or encouraging to action, especially to increase output. And that's just what Incentive's new and latest game Driller does.
It raises the blood pressure and gets the adrenalin coursing through your body. Driller's astounding 3D solid vector graphics and amazing realism are brought together in this truly original space arcade adventure. This is the best game Incentive has produced for a long time - and I mean a long, long time.
Driller features an all new 3D graphic environment called Freescape. This allows the player to move to any point in three dimensional space, look in any direction and see the view as if he was actually there.
Each three dimensional building or object can have a different texture and shade of colour. This quality gives a much better look and feel to the game, and enhances all the visual aspects with a sense of high adventure.
Due to the advanced compression techniques used Driller has over 20,000 billion screens which are brought together via the unique re-drawing technique used, you can hardly notice it!
Your overall mission is to make safe each of the eighteen sectors of your moon's surface, by positioning a drilling rig over suspected gas pockets in each of the sectors. Big job!
You have two forms of transport under your control. An Excavation Probe which you use to place the drilling rigs wherever you see fit. The other is a Reconnaissance Jet which you can use to scour the moon before venturing out in your in the Excavation Probe. It's a lot faster!
Each vehicle is equipped with a high intensity, high frequency quadruple dual action lasers, shields and high amounts of energy reserves. While on your travels you will encounter various planetary defence systems which include laser beacons and scanners.
The laser beacons are positioned throughout the moon. If you are detected within range of a laser beacon you will be attacked. Laser beacons fire highly damaging lasers - and they never miss! Scanners are different, these are tiny ships which orbit the moon and attack from above.
Whatever transport you are using, your lasers, shield, light and motion and all dependent on Rubicon crystals. Time and use will gradually decrease your stores of energy, this is shown by a horizontal bar graph, with length proportional to your existing supplies of shields and energy.
Extra Rubicon crystals can be located within small shed-like buildings, scattered about on the moon's surface, and can be consumed via the lasers.
The lasers are essential for destroying outlawed defence systems and also for operating switches and levers, and for solving puzzles. These have to be used correctly in order to achieve access to other buildings and sectors.
There is a dark and light side of the moon, and both have hazards and dangers which hinder your every move. The dark side is a lot more hazardous than the light, so it is wise to solve the light side first.
Movement is controlled via the joystick and keyboard. The joystick is used to move your current form of transport in all of the usual eight directions.
For the Excavation Probe only, there are a few extra, keyboard controls, with which you can tilt left and right slightly, look up and down (this is handy for spotting attacking Scanners). Rise and fall vertically permits you to peer over high walls and the like. U-turn, increase, decrease step size (allows longer or shorter distances moved between each step) and increase, decrease rotation angle.
The screen consists of several windows, each showing the user a different piece of information. The main window shows the view from the cockpit of your current vehicle, this is where all the action is.
If the 'I' key is pressed at any time during the game, an information screen will appear in the main window. This shows you which sector you are on, how much gas was found and tapped, total amount of sage sectors and also a load and save option.
Driller is definitely one of the best arcade adventure games to have hit the streets for ages. There is nothing I can say to downgrade this excellent piece of software even if I tried! Driller brings together all the magical ingredients that make a game stand out amongst the rest, such as astounding visuals, high adventure and compulsive gameplay.
Driller is packaged with a 30+ page operations manual, a 3D mapping model and a novella. All of this comes in an impressive illustrated cardboard box. All versions are £15 each, so it may be a good idea if you talk someone into buying it for you for Christmas, and then, buy another cheaper game with your own dosh. Simple, eh?
One more thing, the C64 version has a superb soundtrack written by Matt Gray. Reserve your copy of Driller today before they're all sold out!
Scores
Amstrad CPC464/664/6128 VersionGraphics | 90% |
Sound | 90% |
Value For Money | 80% |
Playability | 80% |
Overall | 85% |
Scores
Commodore 64 VersionGraphics | 90% |
Sound | 90% |
Value For Money | 80% |
Playability | 80% |
Overall | 85% |
Scores
Spectrum 48K VersionGraphics | 90% |
Sound | 90% |
Value For Money | 80% |
Playability | 80% |
Overall | 85% |