Who would have thought that a game that involves mining could be so darn addictive? Well believe it or not but Pocket Mine is perhaps one of the most fun, easy to play, addictive games to play, since Angry Birds. So what makes this game worthy of being on your Android device, please read on fellow gamers.
Pocket mine is a super-simple, fast-paced arcade game that is about mining. Your objective is to dig as deep way down underground as possible before you pick breaks and being crushed to your death from the top of the scrolling screen. There really is no point besides upgrading your pick so that you can go deeper underground.
When I mentioned that Pocket Mine is super-simple, I meant it. All you do tap on the screen, where you want to go, and your miner (pardon the pun) will destroy a square, click on an open space to move your character. You'll notice as you play longer that you'll run into gray squares that will take two hits to destroy and brown, squiggly squares that you cannot destroy with your normal pick. It really adds to the game and makes you think about your next move. As you progress through the game you'll earn money to upgrade how many times you can use your pick, gain special cards that will help you in your mining adventures and even find treasure that you can trade in for cards or rubies. It's a super simple game and yet it's strangely very addicting.
There is always a point in time where the miner's pick breaks. When this happens, the round is essentially over, as the miner can no longer dig, and the scrolling screen quickly overtakes him. After each round, players then tally up the money they've earned and can use it to upgrade their pick or buy cards. Upgrading the pick makes the digging tool last longer, while buying cards affects the way each round works. To explain, each round in Pocket Mine starts with a pop up displaying the three cards that will apply that round. These cards grant items like dynamite and grenades or can increase the likelihood of other items appearing.
Pocket Mine also includes secondary objectives for players to complete on each run, making each new dig present a new challenge. Unfortunately though, a bulk of the challenge feels like it has to come from these secondary missions since digging itself isn't hard (I usually only lost whenever my pick broke). Also, Pocket Mine has plenty of in app purchases and social hooks.
There are at least 5 different random environments. It doesn't really change the gameplay or difficulty at all, but it's a nice touch. I'm also not one to really harp on music, but Pocket Mine has an amazing soundtrack courtesy of Big Giant Circle. The animations are also simple, yet effective. I love that when the miner loses his axe, he uselessly kicks the dirt squares.
Overall Pocket Mine is a very enjoyable game, it is free at the Google Play Store, and it is game that is worth checking out you will be addicted to it.
