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(This is going off the story mode)
The plot is paper thin as all hell, but the character designs are charming.
Gameplay is pretty fun, albeit just typical Boulder Dash with slight flourishes.
Even comes with the original Boulder Dash if you're itching for more action, tho it's obviously less modern in terms of...everything. Overall, a pretty nice package.
The plot is paper thin as all hell, but the character designs are charming.
Gameplay is pretty fun, albeit just typical Boulder Dash with slight flourishes.
Even comes with the original Boulder Dash if you're itching for more action, tho it's obviously less modern in terms of...everything. Overall, a pretty nice package.
Boulder Dash EX is not your typical Boulder Dash game. The game contains story mode, which is basically a damsel in distress situation where you have to collect “Mirror Jewels” to open a portal to jump between worlds until the last one. However, the story is definitely not a selling point of this game. The gameplay is what should sell one on the game with a good story being a nice bonus. And in that regard, the game delivers.
Boulder Dash EX brings some innovations to the usual Boulder Dash formula. You still have to dig around, collect the jewels and avoid getting crushed by rocks or bodied by enemies, but there are some changes to make it a little more interesting. The main protagonist named Alex has a Life meter, which means touching an enemy doesn’t mean an instant death. However, that’s not the only thing that decreases life, things like pushing rocks or suffocating while surrounded by rocks also slightly decrease life. Speaking of pushing rocks, Alex can also kick a rock from the side, which will send it flying across all gaps until it reaches an obstacle, and it can be used to crush the enemies. There is one more major addition – inventory. Alex can carry up to five items that aid in puzzles. There’s a Crystal of Hope, the name of which is silly, but it allows to rotate the entire level 90 degrees, which is cool, and it affects the enemies and the gravity of rocks. There are also Magic Gloves, which allow the main character to grab a far away jewel or an enemy from the side. There are Time Bombs, which can be placed anywhere and detonate after a short time to clear some walls or rocks or enemies. Lastly, Super Pick allows to destroy a single rock. Those items do spice things up, adding a layer of complexity and strategy. Aside from inventory items, there are traditional pickups, which are various mushrooms, that can restore life, speed up or slow you down, and a mystery one, the effect of which is random. Now, those innovations may have appeared in some earlier iteration of Boulder Dash that I’m not aware of, but those definitely make the traditional gameplay feel fresh.
There are 6 worlds in the game, first three contain 10 levels, and the last 3 contain 15 levels, with a total of 75 levels. The levels range from traditional tight puzzles, to more open ones, to action levels where you simply need to act quick. In my opinion, only worlds 5 and 6, World of Ice and World of Evil respectively were particularly challenging, with a few challenging or frustrating levels before. You can try to just collect a set threshold of jewels to advance to the next level, or try and collect them all, earning a Perfect!, which I did for all levels. The reward is one of the game’s Cards for the Card Collection. There are 40 in total, received for completing worlds or killing enemies. They only serve as fleshing the game’s lore and inhabitants, which is a neat inclusion. I mean c’mon, there’s a penguin that has killed, and will kill. Also, there are two of main character’s friends that don’t appear in the story mode, but serve as additional characters in battle mode.
That’s right, prepare your Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable and try out the multiplayer Battle Mode, another neat inclusion. Actually, you don’t have to whip out the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable, sorry for wasting your time like that. The game supports multiplayer, but you can play it single player against CPUs. The goal is to collect more jewels than the other opponents. They can randomly appear in some spots, but also the ever so helpful items can also aid in that task. There are also pre-made stashes with many jewels inside, and if you collect them, you’re pretty much guaranteed to win. None of the CPU players where able to get out a single digit count, while I had around 20. I only played a single round, so maybe the tides could’ve turned further down the line. Still though, I imagine this being enjoyable to play with other people.
BUT, that’s not all! What I talked about, was all in EX Game. When you start the game, you have three options between EX Game, Classic Game and Options. Classic Game is more content for the game, basically making it a 2 for 1 deal. According to the game itself, it’s based on the 1984 original release. The level design does look familiar to me, thanks to me playing NES and Game Boy ports of the original, but it’s also remixed several times for different letters. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how it is in the original, y’know, to save on memory by slightly altering existing level design (not too dissimilar to Super Mario Bros. for example). It looks, sounds and plays pretty much the same as the original. You can dig or collect a gem from the same spot by holding A (this isn’t a thing in EX Game), you explode when crushed by anything or even when you’re right next to an enemy. The only issue is that scrolling isn’t smooth. I checked the footage of some of the early versions of the original, like Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 and MSX, only MSX didn’t have smooth scrolling. I wish there was a toggle for that to make it easier on the eyes. On the other hand, a quality of life feature of map preview, carried over from EX is present, which is nice.
The presentation is also quite nice. The graphics are pleasing, they’re colorful and detailed. The animations are good, and there are even a few charming ones like a close call when dodging a rock or sleeping when left the game idle for long. The animated cinematics and card images look a little rougher since they use pre-rendered graphics. They don’t look bad, but do stand out from the traditional pixel art. The music is pretty great, utilizing sound channels both legacy and new, creating some great memorable tracks and chiptunes. The remix of the classic game’s title screen theme is good as well.
Overall, Boulder Dash EX is a good game. Great even, the puzzles are generally solid and the new gameplay changes make it a fresh experience. There’s a good amount of extras, not least of which is classic mode, for those who have never played the original game. If you’re a fan of Boulder Dash, or puzzle games in general, I highly recommend this game.
Boulder Dash EX brings some innovations to the usual Boulder Dash formula. You still have to dig around, collect the jewels and avoid getting crushed by rocks or bodied by enemies, but there are some changes to make it a little more interesting. The main protagonist named Alex has a Life meter, which means touching an enemy doesn’t mean an instant death. However, that’s not the only thing that decreases life, things like pushing rocks or suffocating while surrounded by rocks also slightly decrease life. Speaking of pushing rocks, Alex can also kick a rock from the side, which will send it flying across all gaps until it reaches an obstacle, and it can be used to crush the enemies. There is one more major addition – inventory. Alex can carry up to five items that aid in puzzles. There’s a Crystal of Hope, the name of which is silly, but it allows to rotate the entire level 90 degrees, which is cool, and it affects the enemies and the gravity of rocks. There are also Magic Gloves, which allow the main character to grab a far away jewel or an enemy from the side. There are Time Bombs, which can be placed anywhere and detonate after a short time to clear some walls or rocks or enemies. Lastly, Super Pick allows to destroy a single rock. Those items do spice things up, adding a layer of complexity and strategy. Aside from inventory items, there are traditional pickups, which are various mushrooms, that can restore life, speed up or slow you down, and a mystery one, the effect of which is random. Now, those innovations may have appeared in some earlier iteration of Boulder Dash that I’m not aware of, but those definitely make the traditional gameplay feel fresh.
There are 6 worlds in the game, first three contain 10 levels, and the last 3 contain 15 levels, with a total of 75 levels. The levels range from traditional tight puzzles, to more open ones, to action levels where you simply need to act quick. In my opinion, only worlds 5 and 6, World of Ice and World of Evil respectively were particularly challenging, with a few challenging or frustrating levels before. You can try to just collect a set threshold of jewels to advance to the next level, or try and collect them all, earning a Perfect!, which I did for all levels. The reward is one of the game’s Cards for the Card Collection. There are 40 in total, received for completing worlds or killing enemies. They only serve as fleshing the game’s lore and inhabitants, which is a neat inclusion. I mean c’mon, there’s a penguin that has killed, and will kill. Also, there are two of main character’s friends that don’t appear in the story mode, but serve as additional characters in battle mode.
That’s right, prepare your Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable and try out the multiplayer Battle Mode, another neat inclusion. Actually, you don’t have to whip out the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable, sorry for wasting your time like that. The game supports multiplayer, but you can play it single player against CPUs. The goal is to collect more jewels than the other opponents. They can randomly appear in some spots, but also the ever so helpful items can also aid in that task. There are also pre-made stashes with many jewels inside, and if you collect them, you’re pretty much guaranteed to win. None of the CPU players where able to get out a single digit count, while I had around 20. I only played a single round, so maybe the tides could’ve turned further down the line. Still though, I imagine this being enjoyable to play with other people.
BUT, that’s not all! What I talked about, was all in EX Game. When you start the game, you have three options between EX Game, Classic Game and Options. Classic Game is more content for the game, basically making it a 2 for 1 deal. According to the game itself, it’s based on the 1984 original release. The level design does look familiar to me, thanks to me playing NES and Game Boy ports of the original, but it’s also remixed several times for different letters. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how it is in the original, y’know, to save on memory by slightly altering existing level design (not too dissimilar to Super Mario Bros. for example). It looks, sounds and plays pretty much the same as the original. You can dig or collect a gem from the same spot by holding A (this isn’t a thing in EX Game), you explode when crushed by anything or even when you’re right next to an enemy. The only issue is that scrolling isn’t smooth. I checked the footage of some of the early versions of the original, like Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 and MSX, only MSX didn’t have smooth scrolling. I wish there was a toggle for that to make it easier on the eyes. On the other hand, a quality of life feature of map preview, carried over from EX is present, which is nice.
The presentation is also quite nice. The graphics are pleasing, they’re colorful and detailed. The animations are good, and there are even a few charming ones like a close call when dodging a rock or sleeping when left the game idle for long. The animated cinematics and card images look a little rougher since they use pre-rendered graphics. They don’t look bad, but do stand out from the traditional pixel art. The music is pretty great, utilizing sound channels both legacy and new, creating some great memorable tracks and chiptunes. The remix of the classic game’s title screen theme is good as well.
Overall, Boulder Dash EX is a good game. Great even, the puzzles are generally solid and the new gameplay changes make it a fresh experience. There’s a good amount of extras, not least of which is classic mode, for those who have never played the original game. If you’re a fan of Boulder Dash, or puzzle games in general, I highly recommend this game.