Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

1984 was a long time ago, so the fact that Boulder Dash has continued to see new iterations of its classic gameplay until now is commendable in and of itself. In many ways, now is a great time for one of those new versions to be released. Thanks to the popularity of digital download services and small-serving mobile apps, casual gaming is enjoying its highest successes to date. Kalypso Media has smartly looked to capitalize on this with Boulder Dash-XL for the PC and Xbox LIVE Arcade, the first time that the franchise has seen a major home console since its appearance on the NES back in 1990.

If you've played any of the numerous versions of Boulder Dash that have been released over the past 20 years or so, you'll be pretty familiar with them all. You take on the role of Rockford as he moves freely about a two-dimensional cave hoping to collect enough diamonds to open the exit and complete the level. In order to collect the diamonds and reach the exit, he must dig through soft areas of the cave and avoid being crushed by falling rocks or attacked by various enemies, all while racing against a clock. This basic formula is a proven success, and Boulder Dash-XL takes it to numerous levels and modes making the 800 MSP ($10) price tag quite easy to swallow. There's a lot of content here.

The game's hat hangs firmly on its Arcade Mode which offers 100 different caves. There are several new elements introduced in this mode, such as Rockford's telescoping arm and ability to make use of several different powerups scattered throughout the stages. A lot of them seem like great ideas at first: Dynamite can be used to blast areas open; teleporters take you to otherwise inaccessible areas; certain doorways can only be opened with appropriate keys. But when so much emphasis is put on the time limit and making a mad dash to the exit, the obstacles that require use of these specialties come off less as enhancements and more as inconveniences, or at worst, annoyances. As a result, while there might be a ton of levels in this mode, not all of them are that much fun. They occasionally come off as slapped-together, almost as if the developer figured that the sheer amount of them would make up for any shortcomings in quality along the way.

There is a Zen Mode available which acts as a brother to the Arcade Mode in that it uses the same levels only without the time limit. But there are two aspects that render this mode relatively skip-able: One is that you can only play the levels that you have already completed in Arcade Mode with the time limit; the other is that the levels that were annoying in Arcade Mode are probably still annoying in Zen Mode, so playing them twice isn't very enticing.

The Puzzle Mode contains easily the best level design in the game, making great use of the positioning of the diamonds and rocks and requiring a specific way to succeed. These small levels sans the time limit are also some of the most enjoyable as a result.

There is also the welcome Retro Mode which offers the classic Boulder Dash experience very much like the original one introduced in 1984. It truly captures the essence of the "dash" in the title as it encourages a rush through a very large level to the exit. You'd just better hope that you've collected enough diamonds along the way or you'll be giving it another go!

Across each mode, there are leaderboards available for score junkies. And never are they used to greater effect than in the Score Attack mode. It can be a lot of fun to race through these large, open levels to find the optimal routes that result in the highest scores and compare them to those on the leaderboards. But while there are a great number of levels across the other modes, for some reason there are only four levels in this one. So unless you are one of the aforementioned score junkies, this mode will probably not provide much replay value.

The overall presentation of the game is a nice and up-to-date take on the classic, but it goes a little overboard at times in all modes but the Retro Mode. There is a pleasing headlamp-esque effect that fades towards the edges of the screen, reminding you that you are in a cave, but a lot of the new animations and textures usher in a bit of sensory overload. This isn't helped at all by the often obnoxious sound effects that make the game sound like a fun house and drown out the otherwise pleasing musical soundtrack. Luckily, there exists an option to bring the sound effects down and bring the music up to suit your preference. By keeping it simple, the Retro Mode is definitely the most aesthetically pleasing of them all in sight as well as sound, proving once again that less is often more.

In an effort to pack in as much content as possible, Boulder Dash-XL not only gives off a quantity-over-quality vibe, but it also exposes somewhat of an identity crisis. The huge levels with restricting time limits suggest the desire to be a simple and nail-biting race against the clock while avoiding obstacles, something that made the original a mainstay in gaming culture long ago. But introducing a myriad of all-too-similar enemies and throwing in locked doors, dynamite, telescoping arms, and teleporters suggest that Boulder Dash-XL should be more about thinking than "dashing." Trying to force the two game archetypes together hurts them both, and in this case, it didn't end up in a better Boulder Dash. But ultimately, with so much content at only $10, almost anyone is bound to find something that they like in this title at a bargain. If you keep the servings small, you'll also keep it fun.