CastleMiner Review

Online features

• Online multiplayer 2 – 16
• Online co-op 2 – 16

This a very nice game coming from DigitalDNA3; I was very pleased with how this game worked. I have had the pleasure of playing just about every miner game that’s out there right now and this game has some really good qualities about it. I will admit at first I was having a hard time adjusting to it. I really want to stress this to gamers: do not go into this game expecting it to be Minecraft. It has its similarities but also it has some really nice strong differences.

I loved the whole freedom of being able to build right from the start or just being able to go exploring. There are plenty of  places to explore in the world. You can dig for hours or start to build your heart away. The gameplay for this game is very nice and easy. Not a single bit of lag either, which I noticed happened a lot with the other miner games. The unlockables in this game are really what kept me coming back for more and also what made me keep mining and searching for the things needed to unlock more blocks. Speaking of blocks, this game has so many choices it’s amazing. It has blocks for anything you can imagine; which, for me, was a huge plus for this indie game. I loved having so many choices of different styles and colors. You will never ever get bored of finding and choosing which blocks you want. It’s almost as if the possibilities are endless; there has to be  easily over 200 blocks to choose from (once you unlock them all that is). Some other pretty cool thing you are able to do is either play offline or online. The online portion of the game is pretty cool. You can either set it up so your friends or guests can join and build along with you or set it so they can just join and explore your world. Just be careful because anyone can come in and destroy the world that you worked so hard to build.

The controls on it were very easy to get a hold of and pick up. You even have a jet pack! This really came in handy when I wanted to build large structures or happen to just fall down a hole and didn’t fee like digging my way out. There is also another cool feature with this game and that is teleporting. I used teleporting a lot when I was exploring caves. You are able to either teleport to the surface or to the start of your level. The start is basically where you spawn everytime you start up the game. Building off your spawn makes finding stuff a whole lot easier next time around. You can also switch between different block styles easily and quickly.

When it comes to graphics, it’s exactly how they want it- pixelated and blocky. The one downfall is the way the blocks are deigned; they have a really weird texture style to them. They would look really weird on my TV and hurt my eyes after a while. But you get used to it as you play through the game. This isn’t something that should keep you from playing the game though; you will learn to really enjoy yourself and let your mind go free with this title. Another cool addition to this game is that you are able to use your avatar as your miner throughout the entire game.

What it comes down to it, I would suggest anyone who like these styles of games to definitely try this one out. You more than get your moneys worth out of this game. So go out and download this game and build away. I look forward to more games from DigitalDNA3 in the future. Please remember what I said- go into this game with an open mind. Don’t base this game on Minecraft please; base it on its own gameplay and style and you won’t be disappointed.