Less Minecraft, More Boulder-Dash

I like free games. Why not? The price is right. And the free games usually have two main flavours. Match Tiles, or Tap-a-thing war. Every now and again there's a JRPG-style fighter game, but I'm all about peace. Not war. And, ever since Minecraft, there have been retro-pixel dig-and-craft things that started to look identical after a while.

Now, I'm old enough to remember when retro-pixel was state of the art. So assume that, if I haven't seen 'em all, I've certainly seen lots

This game, Dig Out! promised to be like one of my ancient favourites from the days of the Amstrad 464, Boulder-Dash. You dig, you pick up gems, you try to avoid everything that's trying to kill you. Aaah, nostalgia.

The movement mechanic is swiping. You swipe down to go down, swipe left to move left... you get the idea. So it wasn't long before I was piloting my little miner dude on an instinctual level. Fab. And as I recall, Boulder-Dash required some good dodging reflexes in order to get all that delicious bling. And the same is true for Dig Out!. You either have to plan your path and proceed cautiously, or dig away and hope for the best.

There's not a lot of room to plan, since the sideways orientation gives you a heads-up of three squares, only. I know I ran straight into a snake whilst trying to avoid a boulder. Thanks guys. And you can't retrace your steps, because every time you re-incarnate, the game space randomly generates.

I thought this would be a Minecraft Imitator, given the mechanic and the player character who looks astonishingly like Xephos from the Yogscast... but it's almost nothing like Minecraft. You mine. You do not craft. And when you run out of tools or just die, you pop back up to the surface to witness unlocked features descending into your view from the heavens.

It's cute. It's easy to grasp. And it won't cost the bank if you are mindful about the in-game purchases.

I would recommend it for kids, but do make certain that they're not allowed to buy things with real money.