Mr Driller Drillland Review (Xbox Series S)
For our Mr Driller Drillland Review, we take on the popular action puzzle game “Mr. DRILLER DrillLand” which makes its way onto consoles! You’re invited to a secret amusement park known as “DrillLand” – 500 meters underground! Explore and conquer the five “attractions” with simple yet exciting gameplay that guests of all ages can enjoy!
Mr Driller Drillland Review Pros:
- Decent cartoon-like graphics.
- 1.7GB download size.
- 1000 Gamerscore.
- Stamps act like in-game achievements.
- Solo or co-op play.
- Online and offline matches – race or battle.
- Two difficulties – casual (adjusted for newcomers) and classic (same difficulty level as it was in 2002).
- Fast loading times.
- Fully voiced cutscenes in Japanese with English subtitles.
- Five attractions to play in – the hole of Druaga, Drindy Adventure, Star Driller, Horror night house, and world drill tour.
- The game is presented as a theme park with an overall park where you can select attractions at will or visit the shop.
- Three shops to visit – card shop, Goods shop, and item shop.
- Items make the game easier like having more hearts or fewer objectives etc.
- Bits are the currency of the game and are earned from playing the attractions.
- Each attraction has its own set of cartoon cutscenes that can be skipped.
- How to play text for each attraction as they all have their own set of rules.
- Six characters – Hori Susumu, Anna Hottenmaier, Hori Ataru, Hori Taizou, Horinger – Z, and Puchi. Each has a unique specialty.
- Your goal is to get to the bottom of the level. As you break blocks, similar colored blocks will group together and break then fall, solid blocks will cost air to break and will fall. Any bricks landing on you is instant death.
- Air is needed in order to play and is constantly going down, collect air capsules, and hit milestones to top it up, breaking the solid blocks costs a lot of air.
- Combo and chain together block clearances by having them join together.
- Very addictive.
- Every run in every attraction feels different.
- Bouncy happy soundtrack.
- Clear easy to read Hud.
- Gallery where you can rotate and zoom in and out of Mr Driller merchandise that you buy from the shop.
- Cards are displayed in an album and clicking a card brings up interesting facts.
- Handy stamp chart to show what attractions and levels you have completed.
Mr Driller Drillland Review Cons:
- No English voice setting.
- Takes a while to get to grips with the many ways to play the game.
- Constant difficulty spikes.
- Doesn’t have save states. (more an FYI)
- Using items will void all scores.
Related Post: Beyond Blue Review (Nintendo Switch)
Mr Driller Drillland
Developer: Bandai Namco
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Store Links –
- Graphics - 9/109/10
- Sound - 8/108/10
- Accessibility - 8/108/10
- Length - 8/108/10
- Fun Factor - 9/109/10
Summary
Drilling makes me feel good! Mr. Driller is a game series that I liken to Beautiful Katamari in terms of its bright happy atmosphere and stellar gameplay. In Mr. Driller you have to drill down the level and reach the goal, likewise, colors will cause them to pop and disappear or fall and crush you. It sounds oh so simple but I can assure you it isn’t! In this version of the game, it is all presented as a theme park with a handful of attractions, each attraction is a different spin on the game formula from space with random effect blocks and black holes to traveling the world in the world tour drill. The shop has a selection of Collectibles from cards to merchandise complete with a product viewer. It’s a package that will cater to new and returning players. Mr. Driller is an addictive fun game and this iteration is one of the best examples of the game series.
