Review: Mined Out, Dragon 32
I know that the older tape based systems don't seem to get much love or attention, but I really enjoy revisiting some of these games. Mined Out is one of the gems from my childhood, I originally played a friends copy - the same friend who donated his Dragon 32 to my collection last year in fact - and I loved the game even then. I don't think I ever really understood it though. The mechanics are pretty straightforward, you have to manoeuvre your character from the bottom of the screen to the top, avoiding the hidden mines along the way. After each move a little message tells you how many mines are adjacent to you, similar to Minesweeper in windows. From there you have to make informed decisions about how to progress, risk it and push forwards, or back track and look for a safer route, with the added danger that you might be caught by the chasing bug which appears after a length of time. Step on a mine at any point and it's instant game over, and you're given the option of starting again from the previous level, although the layout of the mines will have changed. After almost 25 years I finally feel able to tackle the perils of rescuing Bill the Worm.
Progression through the game was fairly easy, reaching level 3 presented no difficulties. There are seven levels to the game in all, of progressing difficulty, usually adding more mines to avoid. Level 4 included a wall with a moving gap half way up the screen which you must pass through, and other levels included 4 question mark boxes which contain bonus points, and sometimes mines. The choice here then is ignore the potential bonuses, or risk it all for higher score? The bonuses do nothing for later levels, they simply add to the final score. On level 7 I got sight of Bill the Worm - he's imprisoned in a walled enclosure in the centre of the screen, and again there's a minefield to navigate to reach him.
I didn't really have any problems with the game now, and I can't say the challenge is that great, it's amazing what the addition of 25 years experience makes to playing a game. The only times I really had difficulties were getting over-confident with my mine-logic, hitting a mine when I was sure there wasn't one. Back-tracking to the previous level and re-doing it presented no further problems. When the bug appeared for the first time I got myself into a bit of a tangle and managed to head straight for it, instead of away, but that was the last time I made that mistake. All in all the game took me about an hour to complete, which is not exactly great by today's standards, and for something that cost GBP8.00 in 1983 that was a lot of cash, for not much return. I can understand why dad was always so reluctant fund a regular supply of games now, it would have cost him a small fortune.
It's a great little game to while away an hour or so, especially if you try and beat your score. Attempting to shave a couple of moves off levels is good fun, but it doesn't have long term appeal and the sound effects will probably get to you before long.
