Mr Driller's debut on the Nintendo DS will no doubt please fans of the arcade and console games from which he is best known. One of Namco's unsung heroes, Mr Driller amalgamates a simple premise with fast and furious gameplay making for one of the most entertaining and addictive videogames out there. But surely you know this already – the reason you're here is to read about what's new in the DS version, right?

 

Well, the graphics still retain the bright, cutesy and colourful feel of the Mr Driller series, and the aim of the game remains the same. Controlling Mr Driller (Susumu) you need to drill through tunnels of coloured blocks, destroying as many as you can. When you destroy a block, connecting blocks of the same colour also disappear, making the blocks above it fall down making for an almost Tetris-like affair. In the DS version, unsurprisingly, you can control Susumu by way of the touch screen – tapping a block next to Susumu will make him drill through it, while tapping an empty space will make him move to that space. With the traditional control pad and button system available as well, it will be interesting to see whether DS drilling is more effective with the touch screen or buttons.

 

All the standard Mr Driller features such as Time Attack and Mission modes are all present and just for the whimsical gem that is the DS, a new exclusive mode has been introduced; the Pressure mode. In this mode a giant drill appears on the top screen of your DS and chases you down the tunnel. Your objective is to destroy the drill by shooting 'Drill Souls' at it. The twist is that you need to recharge your energy after each shot, so you have no choice but to escape down the tunnel, firing as many shots as you can while staying away from the drill. This looks like it will be yet another addictive gameplay mode and should add a whole lot more lifespan to the game making sure that the game card will stay inside your DS for a long time indeed. If you haven't played a Mr Driller game before, watch out for this one coming to a DS near you soon…