To be really honest with you up until recently I didn’t even know what Boulder Dash-XL 3D was so you can imagine just how blown away I was to find out this series has been around since 1984. Having spent some time with Boulder Dash-XL 3D I can say that whilst I enjoyed the core game this 3D update does little stand on its own especially when you consider a version of this already appeared on XBLA in 2011 and at a cheaper price too.
Boulder Dash to those not in the know is a puzzle game dating back to the early 80′s where you play as either Rockford or Crystal (yes they have names) who are a pair of small robots that must reach the exit within each area. The game is viewed from a bird’s-eye view and you don’t have total freedom to go where you like as movement is limited to up, down, left and right directions. Collecting a certain amount of diamonds along the way will unlock the exit and the number required varies depending on the stage.
You’ll come across enemies that travel in pre-determined paths so initially you’ll run right into them like an idiot but after a short while they’ll become nothing more than a minor inconvenience. The real challenge of Boulder Dash is not the enemies but rather the boulders themselves as not being careful can result in our poor little Rockford being crushed.
That’s something that’s actually rather confusing at first, the game is viewed from a bird’s-eye view yet the boulders behave as if you were viewing the action from the side much like a 2D game meaning if nothing is supporting the boulder it will fall. It certainly took me a while to get used to it but even now it still confuses me and the 3D didn’t help matters but more on than later.
The key to succeeding in Boulder Dash is to have an understanding of how your little reckless Rockford will affect the stage. The last thing you want to do in this game is set off a chain reaction with you under it so it’s very important to think ahead and make sure that everything that happens is because you intended for it to happen.
Later on the stages can get rather large and it’s not always obvious where the exit lies but thankfully you’re able to press and hold R to free have a look at the stage.
There’s five different modes within Boulder Dash-XL, arcade is the one where most players will start and there’s 100 stages to keep you busy. You’ll gain access to power ups like a telescopic arm that allows you to grab diamonds, items and boulders from far away. The speed up power up is my favourite just because I like being reckless and it’s pretty cool narrowly avoiding falling boulders.
Puzzle mode differs from arcade in that the timer is gone and stages are designed to make the player think , the stages never reach the size to that of arcade mode but I found it to be the most enjoyable part of the game.
Zen mode isn’t really anything new as it’s just arcade mode but without the timer but not being rushed means you can stop when ever you want to plan ahead, in all honesty I preferred this mode instead because I’m rubbish at Boulder Dash.
Next up is score mode which features four huge stages yet you only need one diamond to open the exit so if you want you can finish the stages in a couple of seconds but that isn’t really the point. What you want to do here is get the highest score you can in the shortest time possible before you exit which sounds pretty cool but the game lacks any sort of online leaderboard therefore making this mode a bit pointless.
Finally we have retro mode and it’s awesome, in fact this and puzzle mode were the most fun I had with Boulder Dash-XL 3D. First up retro mode changes all the game’s visuals and sounds to create something that looks and sounds just like the 1984 original, I was just expecting some retro stages with updated visuals but was pleasantly surprised to see the developers go all out. There’s only 25 stages in retro mode but they are extremely hard, retro mode will kick your ass and you will like it.
While Boulder Dash-XL plays well and can be a very enjoyable puzzle title to have on the go, some of it’s more modern aspects fail to make an impression.
Visually it looks fine but there’s nothing really special going on even when you make use of the 3D mode. Turning on the 3D does the usual “depth” effect where it looks like your game is taking place behind the screen but at the same time it just ended up confusing me a little. Remember I mentioned the game is a bird’s-eye view yet it plays like a 2D title, well adding in 3D creates a clear distinction between background and foreground on an otherwise flat image. What it ends up doing is making it look like our little robot friend is floating in mid-air therefore confusing me further.
The best use of the 3D actually comes from the title screen, it’s basically you looking into a cave and the sense of depth is great.
In terms of sound I seriously thought I was listening to the Cut The Rope theme whilst browsing the menus, it sounds extremely similar but it’s charming enough and suits the game so I had no problems with it. The in game audio didn’t enhance or detract from the game, you could easily play this one on mute on the train and not worry about missing much.
Boulder Dash-XL 3D is basically a port of the XBLA version which isn’t a bad thing by any means but you wish the developers had gone the extra mile to make the 3DS version a little more unique. There’s no multi-player modes to speak of and while I’m not suggesting Boulder Dash is perfect fit for multi-player I feel that a co-operative version of puzzle mode might have worked. If not then the ability to create your own stages certainly could have, with an online component where you could download stages from other players this would of been a much easier title to recommend.
Boulder Dash-XL 3D goes for a budget price of around £15 here in the UK which is reasonable but let’s face it, games like this is why the Nintendo e-shop exists. Boulder Dash-XL 3D as a downloadable title makes much more sense than it does as a retail title, in fact it already was back in 2011 on XBLA.
All in all Boulder Dash-XL is a good puzzle game that’s worth your time if you’re a fan of the puzzle genre. It’s perfectly content being an update of the 1984 original but you wish that there was more to it.
