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Over the years, Namco has developed quite a few classic franchises. Some have lasted through the test of time, such as Pac Man and Galaga; and others like Soul Calibur, Tekken and Ridge Racer are most likely destined to be future classics. I guess when the ideas on the drawing board are slow coming, you can always resort to what made it for you in the first place. Dig Dug: Digging Strike for the Nintendo DS is such a title. Dig Dug is centered around a character who has a goal to dig underground and eliminate all the monsters that lurk beneath it. Armed with your trusty digging/pumping tool, you find the enemies and pump them up until they explode. Your digging tool will also help you out in a jam if you are surrounded by multiple baddies and will loosen rocks and obstacles to flatten enemies that you don’t have time to pump up. In the end, you dig, pump, explode, and repeat. This was all good many years ago, but does this formula hold true for a new title?
Dig Dug: Digging Strike is not a ‘new’ title per say, but it takes the classic formula of Dig Dug, expands upon it and brings it to the DS. The story is pretty hokey; you are on the lookout for fossils when the island you are researching is attacked by big boss baddies. To acquire the necessary fossils, you must first take out your enemies who are blocking your path. What you get is just a silly text and slide show story line to accompany the classic style of gameplay. There are some new ideas added to the fold including; bosses, bonus games, new weapons like larger drills, dash boots, air tanks, boxing gloves, lighting bolts, and much more to really add variety and depth to this classic game. If that weren’t enough, you’ll even get to man vehicles from classic Namco titles like Hori X and Horivalou to fend off big monsters and bosses. Dig Dug: Digging Strike offers 15 stages and 80 areas for single player mode, and with the added multiplayer fun, two people can dig dug their way to victory. The Vs. Mode allows two players to play wirelessly and go head to head seeing who can collect the most number of coins in a certain allotted time. While Dig Dug: Digging Strike appears only on the Nintendo DS, the game has very little to do with the touch screen aspect of the system. Besides tapping arrow icons to move the story along, you never use the stylus in this particular game, which is a major disappointment. The game also never really uses the power of the system, and teases you with a “what could have been” 3D top screen, while the actual game play remains virtually untouched. In the end, Dig Dug: Digging Strike will appeal mainly to fans of the series, and not much more. I personally would love to see Namco do a better Mr. Driller for the system, or if you are to revive the Dig Dug franchise on the DS, for the love of crumb cake, use the stylus!
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