CAPITALISM DESTROYED OUR RESOURCES SO NOW THIS LITTLE ROBOT AND YOU NEED TO SAVE US ALL BY FINDING ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF POWER! FUN!
AND NOT TERRIBLY RELEVANT TO REAL LIFE AT ALL! YAY!
Jokes about the impending doom of Earth aside, Ground Divers! is a fun little experience. It’s sort of a real time strategy game but not in the traditional sense. Working on a grid, the goal is to guide the robot Tsuruhashi down to the precious resources at the deepest level of every stage. The reason I say it is real time is because Tsuruhashi technically will move on his own, but the goal is to keep him constantly moving towards markers set by the player. This is the most basic aspect of the game and it sounds extremely simple on paper but there’s a lot of juggling to be done.
PLATFORMS: SWITCH
MSRP: $14.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $14.99
Foremost is the AP system. Placing pins, making bases, and using special drilling powers all takes AP and AP is gained from drilling blocks, with certain blocks giving more AP. Tsuruhashi also has a health system and there’s items and base upgrades that can heal him in trade for AP but if he drops to zero that’s all progress and materials lost in the stage. He also has levels and energy consumption that affect how he performs but these upgrades can only be done at a base in a level and they require upgrading the base which requires AP.
BUT WHAT ABOUT CHEER CRYSTALS! Well, Tsuruhashi gets powered up by the player constantly tapping the R button and it feels like I am revving a motorcycle constantly. Gotta gas up my little robot buddy so he can lay the hurt and be more efficient. Defeating enemies and digging out certain blocks gets materials and items. Items can be sold at bases for AP while materials can be used to craft upgrades at the main hub.
If I sound like I’m typing this like I’m holding my breath it’s because all of this has to be thought about because each layer of each level has a time limit before monsters come and destroy the base and that is also a loss of all resources and progress made in that level. It has happened to me quite a bit as I would feel as if I had enough time to clear out all enemies on a layer and collect all the items and save all the UFOs, but then I would be too slow and the enemies would kick my base down. It hurts every time.
Each level has certain side objectives that help get a three star ranking, and each level has a normal and hard mode. Trying different equipment will make certain levels easier or harder, but I like the fact that the game supports replaying levels consistently, making each level randomized upon entry but also allowing the player to hoard resources and collect the currency that allows purchasing of upgrades and drilling licenses needed to open later stages.
The interstitials between levels are done in a visual novel style but everything is done in a lighthearted way with extremely colorful designs. Even in the levels the pixel art is really vibrant. No levels feel the same even though generally I’m digging in dirt. I enjoyed the music, very lighthearted as well, but I really appreciated it as an indicator to move onto the next layer before my base is destroyed. It’s got a good presentation but arguably the hook and the most important part of Ground Divers! is the gameplay and I think that’s where it succeeds the most. I don’t really need a reason to dig, just make it fun and Ground Divers! succeeds in that sense.
Generally though this game only has so much to offer. If replaying stages doesn’t sound fun, then I would likely say skip Ground Divers! because there are only seven stages and that does seem a bit small. I personally think Ground Divers! would work better as a mobile game where pins are put down via the touch screen and other actions can be done via on screen buttons because while intense, most levels are done fairly quickly because of the built in time limit the enemies place on the player. It’s fun. I will pick it up again from time to time and for the price point I think it’s priced perfectly but I can definitely understand if a strategy game about gently guiding a robot to where he needs to be underground isn’t everyone’s interest. I think it successfully pulls off what it sets out to do.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
