Gem Miner: Dig Deeper

I didn't notice this until just now, but Gem Miner: Dig Deeper is another title by Phil Symonds (author of Abduction! World Attack). Clearly he's building a name for himself as one of the better Android developers.

Like his previous effort, Gem Miner is a simple game that grows with you. The premise is simple... you are a miner and you're digging up wealth from the ground. Typically that wealth will come in the form of a coal (or iron...) deposit, but sometimes you'll get lucky and find other stuff like fossils, gems, and maps. When you dig deeper you need to make sure you have enough ladders to place to get back out of the mine. Likewise, some rocks are unstable such that when you release them your Android will begin to vibrate and you'll have a little time to place a support otherwise the rock will fall either closing off an area or worse; crushing and killing you.

The fun of the game comes from trying to get more and more stuff to sell and then buy the higher end tools and thus be able to "dig deeper" and get even more valuable stuff. While digging, however, you'll be limited by your own stamina on the green stamina meter at the top of the screen as well as your cart's storage limit of 10 items.

The game offers 3 difficulty levels and has a nice tutorial mode. The graphics are very sharp and the sound is simple, but appropriate. The game is controlled entirely by the touch screen so there shouldn't be any issues regardless of the type of Android device it is played on.

This is the type of game that I see a power gamer drooling over as there always seems to be something better to get as you "level up". The exploration factor isn't bad either, but is somewhat repetitive. Find the coal... drop it off for cash... buy stuff... find more coal... You do have tools such as the seismic analysis to get a picture of the mine area surrounding your miner which should help eliminate exploring sections with no value. And the tutorial indicates there's a "fabled giant amethyst" to uncover, but I have not yet succeeded at that.

While downloading the game I couldn't help wonder if the game would be a Boulder Dash type game, but it isn't. There's no real puzzle... just exploration and the occasional rush to drop a support. For under $3 this is a nice little game with a lot of polish on it. The game does offer a trial version in the marketplace as well called Gem Miner (i.e. no Dig Deeper tacked onto the name).