Manic Miner

Copyright : Software Projects | Reviewed by : Ritchardo

Miner Willy has a major problem! His greedy streak has led him into some dark and inhospitable caverns populated with assorted baddies as well as a huge stash of treasure.

Your task in this early collect em-up is to pick up all the treasure in each of the single screen rooms, while avoiding the nasties, allowing you to unlock the escape route before you?re air runs out.

The pre-runner to the 8-bit masterpiece that is Jet Set Willy, Manic Miner was viewed as truly revolutionary at the time: before Sonic, Link and Lara there was Willy! How does the original Miner Willy adventure stand the test of time?

Graphics

Fairly sparse use of colours makes the game look exactly like what it was - a Spectrum port. Having said that the colours never seem to clash and the sprites are all fairly well drawn if a little confusing as to what they are supposed to be at times!

The caverns are also designed with enough thought to ensure that the graphics never become too samey and, by and large, the baddies are rarely used again outside of the cavern you initially meet them in (with a few notable exceptions!) all of which gives the air of exploration and stops the graphics become too tiresome.

Miner Willy himself is also well animated and allows the player to judge how far they are from the edge of a platform by the way Willy is standing.

Sound

Sound is dominated by two fairly well rendered classical numbers, one of which (and in my opinion the better of the two) plays exclusively on the title screen while the version of ?In The Hall of The Mountain King? plays continually during the game - mercifully this can be turned off as it can quickly become very irritating! Sound effects are made for each collision and when jumps are made, objects collected etc. These are all very effective and make Manic Miner one of those games that you never turn the volume down while playing.

Gameplay

A simple idea, the game is made up of a number of caverns and the difficulty level is pitched just right to allow you to progress just that little bit further. Another game which I still haven?t managed to complete (without cheating!) but can still maintain my interest and make me want to beat it!

I can?t imagine there is anyone reading this who hasn?t at some point tried Manic Miner out but if you?re one of the few I can only urge you to give it a go. You will not be disappointed!