by Don Kwikshot

Created on: February 13, 2009   Last Updated: September 16, 2011

Mystic Mine: Game Review.

Overall review: 1/5. I'm afraid that this was so poor that I was unable to complete the free-trial of 60 minutes. This is generally a poor game based on the old arcade formula which would be more suited to the 386 machine than to the sophistication of today. I found it aggravating and frustrating and found my thoughts wandering away from the screen after the first five minutes. It clearly is a game designed for the 7 year-old who is still learning basic computer skills and eye-hand co-ordination. It is one of those 'wake me up when it's over' games which makes one wonder why the inventors bothered with it in the first place. No cigar!

Game Play: this is very simple and only relies on the use of the space-bar to change the direction in which the car goes. Unfortunately, I found that, simple as the controls are, they often failed to operate fast enough to send the car in the desired direction, resulting in the frustration of having the car run round the track the wrong way in order to pick up the coins. The speed of the car increases as the game goes from level to level, and the number of cars on the screen also increases, with the result that one is never quite certain which car one is controlling. 1/5.

Graphics: dull colours, all in shades of brown and on a rather reduced screen, make this a difficult game to read. It is also unclear whether the gradients are up or down and only experience shows the difference. No real innovation or imagination has been used in creating the basic grid of the game. 1/5.

Sound: Again, tedious. An (at least to me) annoying hillbilly-type music continues on an endless loop as the car moves and is only alleviated by the 'chink' sound as coins are picked up. 1/5.

Creativity: This was poor and was very reminiscent of early computer games, which I found more captivating. The whole game is based on the old Pukman concept and soon became dull and uninspired. 1/5.

Innovation: Just a different take on an old idea. 1/5.

This is not a game I would ever waste money on buying. It left me with a feeling of frustration and an attitude of 'so what?'. The game was hard on the eyes and the dreadful music tended to reverberate in the mind for hours afterwards. There may be some merit in advertising this game for the under 10 year-old player who wants to drive his parents nuts as fast as possible. Generally a rather poor offering and certainly nothing I would want to play for more than the ten minutes I forced myself to endure.

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