Dig Dug Deeper

Friday, November 3, 2017

Platforms:	PC
Publisher:	Infogrames Europe
Developer:	Creature Labs
Genres:	Arcade
Release Date:	October 31, 2001
Game Modes:	Singleplayer

Dig Dug Deeper is a budget remake of an older arcade classic. Armed with your mighty pump, you harpoon the beasts and inflate them to death. In Deeper, our intrepid hero has taken off into space and is challenging them on their home turf. It’s up to you to… do the same thing that you did before. Which would be fine and dandy, because the original arcade game is bloody entertaining. But Dig Dug Deeper features sloppy controls and dumber AI (if you can call it that… the Pookas and Fygars rarely chase you around anymore). Once you’ve completed all the levels, the game ends with a little “You won” graphic.

Couldn’t the developers at least try to make the dug out areas look somewhat… well, dug out? In the original, everything had a slightly rough edge, but now his high-tech shovel digs out perfectly flat walls. The sound is abysmal, with Dig Dug emitting an annoying “Yippee!” every time he gets a powerup. The pump sound has effectively gone away (it’s faint and indistinct), the digging sound is grating. It looks bad, and sounds worse.