Drill Dozer

by Nintendo

Product Features

• Use the Drill Dozer to plow through everything in your path and make your way through the game.
• Explore every inch of the world in search of hidden gears that will make your Drill Dozer even more powerful.
• Rumble pack will give it a true drilling sensation.
• Jump across chasms, bore through blocks, and latch onto lifts to reach secret treasures.
• Battle big bosses with drill on drill action.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000CNESH6
• Product Dimensions: 4.8 x 5 x 0.8 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 6, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,196 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Drill Dozer gives you the chance to break some skulls! An evil crime syndicate has stolen a red diamond that belonged to your deceased mother. Now it's up to you and your fellow thieves to penetrate their hideout and take it back. With the help of your trusty Breakall Drillbot you'll plow through just about anything in your path.Format: GBA Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 045496736897 Manufacturer No: AGB P V49E

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2D Platformers Live On!, March 20, 2006

By 

S. Morales (Levittown, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Drill Dozer (Video Game)

THE GOOD: Rock solid gameplay; incredibly creative gameplay mechanic offers something new, yet very accessible; catchy music; rumble feature adds intensity

THE BAD: At only 6 areas, it's short; upgrade system isn't all too rewarding during the main mission; catchy music can get repetitive.

DIFFICULTY: Medium

Drill Dozer is just what the 2D platforming genre needs, something to wake it up. Not only are you platforming through puzzles that'll not only test your quick fingers but fast eye, but the new drill mechanic and breakable solids add a tremendous amount of variety and downright FUN that anyone just looking for a game that'll keep them enthralled for a little while will get exactly what they're looking for.
The story is simple, you control a girl who's part of a trio of theives. You stole a valuable red diamond but it was stolen by another gang of theives, therefore throughout the game you need to explore areas, destroy their bosses, and test your gaming skills to get to the end and get all you diamonds back.
The drill feature is one where the left shoulder button rotates your drill left, and right to the right. You start off in one gear but are able to find 2 more that can intensify your drilling and make it last longer. All gears are placed very properly throughout levels so it never makes the game TOO hard, but the gradual challenge in figuring out how to use your moves like dashing, drilling, or jumping off a drill, etc will definitely give your brain that excersize it needs. Sometimes the levels will split into 2 paths, but it's always good to explore all because chances are there's goodies on the other side. You'll also come across enemies, though some easy to kill, others require certain techniques that'll also require your drilling skills. considering the game gives you a very understandable and useful tutorial, and gradually increases the difficulty very fairly, anyone just looking for a good time can pick this one up and play. The control layout is simple, yet what is done with it will keep your eyes glued to your GBA for a few hours.
Bosses in DD have an old-school sensibility. They're hard, and take a unique method to kill, but it's fairly easy to figure out yet tough to execute. Defeating a boss in DD feels very rewarding only because it takes reflex chops to do. Yet later in the game the platforming puzzles and enemies thrown in become pretty overwhelming, so I suggest purchasing energy tanks to increase your health after every level break. Your money can also be used to buy continues, but there's always plenty throughout the level, AND other breakables and paths you can't access yet until you purchase a certain item. Fortunately, you can always play earlier levels whenever you want, therefore finding treasure and secret areas you couldn't get to before. That all adds substantial replay value to the game (not to mention the bonus levels), so even after the regular story mode, things still stay interesting.
Unfortunately, the game is short, given only 6 areas that are split into 12 levels. but you can save mid-level so though the game is challenging, it never becomes too ridiculous, if at all. On top of that, the build-up system isn't all too rewarding because you'd rather just use your money for energy tanks and you won't want to replay earlier levels until you beat the game. It just feels underdeveloped. If the game had been longer, the upgrade system would NEED to be more fleshed out, no choice.
Yet, I did give this game 5 stars because not in a long time had I just had this much fun with a game, and it kept my attention 100 percent of the time. An incredible experience all GBA owners should undertake.

BOTTOM LINE: Fans of old-school games will adore this game, newer fans will wonder what's up with the cartoony simple graphics. But given gameplay this precise, it's rare nowadays. NOT at all a waste of money.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, March 28, 2011

By 

PinkLemonade - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Drill Dozer (Video Game)

The game is really fun, theres different levels that are semi-challenging. If you're a game collector, this is one that'd be a keeper.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It won't BORE you...ha, get it?, April 18, 2007

By 

C. Bakehorn (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Drill Dozer (Video Game)

Game Freak, best known for their Pokemon franchise, created a Game Boy Advance gem known as Drill Dozer last February. It went largely unnoticed in the sea of new Nintendo DS titles, which is unfortunate, because Drill Dozer delivered a fun action-platform experience that relied on one move: drilling.

The Skuller gang stole the Red Diamond from the real gang of thieves, the Red Dozers. Jill and her Red Dozer comrades have to find a way to steal back the Red Diamond, but they discover there are more diamonds to be found. So what is a gang of thieves to do? Steal more diamonds! Using the Red Dozers' trusty Drill Dozer, you'll spin Jill through twelve stages on a fun adventure to track down five different diamonds.

If it wasn't already obvious, the Drill Dozer is really the star of the show and the focal point of the gameplay. As a side-scrolling action-platform game, Drill Dozer has simple hop-and-bop gameplay without the drilling factor-but using the L and R buttons on the GBA allows you to spin the Drill Dozer's drill to the left or right. You can bore the drill into all sorts of things, like walls, crates, environmental objects and set pieces, and even enemies-needless to say, you'll be holding down L or R a lot in this adventure. The gameplay is made deeper by multiple "gears" that can be found in each level. When you find your second gear (the first is always installed into the Drill Dozer), you can shift up and increase the speed and power of the drill, though the drill still needs to recover after a few moments of spinning. The third gear is the strongest gear and keeps your drill spinning quickly indefinitely. Unfortunately, at the end of each level, the Drill Dozer's gears have to be removed, so each new level you'll start with that simple first gear.

Collecting the different gears in each level is a lot of fun, and the level designers have created some good maps for the special things you can do with the drill. For example, there are lifts that have a socket that the drill can bore into, so Jill can ride up to higher platforms. There are special "jelly blocks" that Jill can drill into, and when she reverses the direction of the drill (by pressing the opposite trigger button), she will be sent flying backward. Learning all the things that the drill can be used for is the only way to master Drill Dozer. Even the game's bigger enemies require you to drill in certain ways, for example, there is a mini-boss robot character held together by a big screw. Only by unscrewing the mini-boss's robot will you defeat it, and drilling in one direction actually tightens the screw, so you have to figure out which way to drill to succeed. It's a simple concept that is played out very well.

The Game Boy Advance's visual capabilities were tested well with Drill Dozer, which features big, bright, colorful sprites and all sorts of flashy story sequences between levels. Game Freak did a wonderful job creating cute, perky characters, and the Red Dozers as well as their enemies are spunky and full of charm. The levels are loaded with detail, and it's nice that the game actually asks you to pay attention to the background: in the museum level, there are several simple puzzles that require you to move around paintings found in the background. You are kindly forced to notice the background, and it's a nice way to appreciate the game's visuals even more.

Drill Dozer isn't a long game by any means. The twelve levels can be breezed through in a few short hours, but there is some replay value to be found. There are dozens of "treasures" located throughout the adventure in places that you normally couldn't reach. Near the end of the game you are able to buy stronger drills that break into blocks that previously obstructed your path-obviously, these blocked-off areas are home to special items, so re-playing the levels is necessary if you desire 100% completion of the game. Some would think that this was a cheap way to make you backtrack, but I found it to be a nice way of fleshing out all of the levels, rather than only the later ones. There are also six secret areas in the game to explore.

Drill Dozer makes a great addition to any Game Boy Advance library. The only flaw I can fathom, other than the slightly short length of the game, would be the drill sound effect. It works, and it works well, but it is done so much that it is closer to annoying than realistic after some time. Drill Dozer's simple mechanics are accessible to anyone. Don't be turned away by the cute graphics or box art-it's a fun game that uses a single concept very well, well enough to be done repeatedly for twelve levels and more. To me, that's impressive. Most games that ask you to do the same thing over and over for more than a few minutes get pretty dull, but this drill is always sharp.