Roland Goes Digging

Copyright : Amsoft | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Amsoft & Gem come up with another adventure for their infamous character without a second name, Roland, and once again it was given away free and should not ever have been sold separately - but it probably was.

In this adventure Roland is working on a building site and has discovered a gang of aliens (as you do) trying to take over the unfinished structure (tut! builders) The foreman (a sensible man) has offered a bonus to Roland to clear the building of the space squatters.
Roland (not at all sensible) tries to think about things and decides to take him up on his offer providing he is paid per kill (he sounds clever enough to me) and grabs his spade in order to earn some extra cash for his somewhat less than New Deal (minimum) style wage. To catch the aliens you must dig wholes in each floor and then give them a wack on the head with your spade, you?ll recieve a cash bonus for any time that is remaining and only be able to progress to the next building after you have killed everything on screen.
Does it sound familiar yet?

Graphics

For those of you that still have no idea what this game sounds like, it?s an early version of the all time classic game with the same idea "Lode Runner". But this one didn?t cost you any money and it was created by Gem Software way back in 1984 to be given away free with the Amstrad computer.

The graphics in this game are pretty damned cool to be honest and it looks like any other PD release of Lode Runner that has since been released on the Amiga. Roland looks different (again) and the aliens look like something that have dropped out of your nose (not a design fault in the game though), a good use of colour for the time the game was developed has been used throughout the game and our character never gets lost in the background.

Sound

Sound is as usual great, all of the Amsoft titles have some kind of sound to them and not just dubbed over music which was seen in so many games that were released right up to 1992. You get to hear Roland digging into the ground and wacking the aliens over the head and as usual you can turn the music on or off while playing the game.

Gameplay

Gameplay is like the Lode Runner game that came later, you simply have to avoid the aliens, climb the ladders, dig holes in good places and wait for them to walk over them. It sounds easy but trust me the game isn?t by any stretch of the imagination a doddle, the aliens move faster as you progress and the alien count increases with it - plus the fact that if you don?t kill them all before the timer runs out your pretty dead. The controls are simple and you have been given the option to either use the joystick or keyboard to control Roland - it?s a great game and one that you will play again, even if it?s only once.