by Louise Wulfe

Created on: February 15, 2009   Last Updated: February 17, 2009

Mining your way to becoming "The Best"!

Mystic Mine by Koonsolo scores a 4/5. Use your mining cart to collect gold and pick up various objects as you speed along the tracks. Some items, like dynamite, you will not want to hold on to for very long, so have fun playing mining bumper carts as you ram the other cart(s) to pass these objects on to the computer or another player. At the end of each of the over 200 segments, you are ranked and given an experience level ranging from "Beginner" to "The Best" based on how well you played.

There is nothing like playing a party game with six-person multi-player potential while crowded around a single keyboard. Since the game uses one-key playability, each person is assigned a different key to push. Amuse yourself practicing Mystic Mine solo, and you will be assigned either the space bar or the mouse for control. This does not mean that there will not be other carts in the game during the levels, though. The computer controls a cart that steals your coins, bumps into you, and passes items to you.

The game has a slow starting pace until you get past the first few levels. After that, the complexity and speed of the game accelerates quickly. There is one feature that would be a nice addition to the game. If you could replay levels to compete against your own score, giving you the opportunity to raise your experience level, it would be nice. Otherwise, it is easy to get sidetracked and have your score come crashing down to Beginner before you know it.

Graphics and animation show you how creative Koonsolo can be. Right from the opening screen, Koonsolo's talents are apparent as a character rides in a mining cart down an invisible track. Once inside the game, your cart races around a track which uses an optical illusion to allow you to get to any part of the map accessible even with the multitude of hills. The animation skill is especially evident in the way the cart speeds up after going down a hill and slows when attempting to go up a hill.

The music follows the theme of the game well, with the rhythm speeding up slightly to match game play. The sound effects, like picking up coins and dynamite blowing up, are a good fit.

Mystic Mine is well thought out and innovative, pioneering a passageway to the old west through its most prospective element - gold. This party game for any age group or gamer level will hook your attention after only a few rounds of play, as soon as the complexity starts to build. I have not seen many options out there that would compete with its enjoyment for the price.

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