The Dig
1995 Lucas Arts
3rd Person point and click cartoon sci-fi adventure game
W95/W98 - plays directly from the CD - you do have to configure your sound card

Space - The Final Frontier. There you are, Boston Low, retired astronaut, minding your own business, when you get a call from NASA informing you that an asteroid (dubbed Atilla) is on a collision course with earth. They need you and a selected crew to fly the space shuttle Atlantis to said errant asteroid, plant two nuclear devices, divert it's path, explore the surface and bring back samples.

You and your crew fly to the asteroid and plant the nuclear devices, explode the bombs, Atilla shifts it's course and you and your two traveling companions - Ludger Brink who is a geologist and archaeologist and Maggie Robbins - who is a journalist and linguist - hit the jet packs on your spacesuits and set out to explore that big rock - only thing is - it isn't a rock - it's a spaceship and you've triggered it's engines (being the inquisitive adventure person that you are) and off you go to some alien planet.

Your mission - find out everything you can about the aliens who built the spaceship and more importantly, get you and everyone else home in one piece from the planet Brink names Cocytus.

The game is simple point, click and you're there. Click to pickup inventory, click to talk to your companions (which you need to do because sometimes they have to help you figure out a puzzle), click to use inventory.

To save, load, quit et all hit F5. And for those of you who like to read the text also - there is an option to turn text on. I wish the games today were this simple to operate.

The puzzles are of the alien variety Sealed doors with coded panel locks having to do with colors and shapes, buttons to push, crystals to energize, light bridges to extend, trams to ride, turtle bombs to make, light panels to figure out. It takes looking around and checking things out in order to figure out what needs to be done because there isn't anyone going to tell you what to do.

***As a side note - I played The Dig in 1995 or 1996 so my memory was a tad hazy on the game. To refresh it I loaded the game in last night to take a quick peek - two hours later I was still playing the darn thing. I had totally forgotten what a fun, entertaining, and yes, frustrating at times, game this is.

Conclusion : if you haven't played it - do so - if you have - maybe it's time to play it again

Now if you'll all excuse me I have to figure out how to start up the power so the sealed door locks will work - [as soon as I figure out the code to the door locks that is, or ..........hmmmmmmmmm]

This is just a great game i havent completed it. but seeing this review makes me just wanna install it again. just a great game for everyone

Hi Syd.

Enjoyed your review

And enjoyed The Dig

[Fabulous music too ]

Cheers.

Mad

Before I started this game, there were no reviews of it here at GB, but now I see Syd has beat me to it. Maybe it's better that she did, because I would not have given it a very flattering review, although it appears I have the minority opinion.

I agree that the plot was good, as was the voice acting and the music. But, as I've noticed with all the other LucasArts games I've played, the puzzles use very convoluted reasoning for their solutions. I got soured on the game early on when I discovered that the “fix the broken lens in the power station” puzzle was total trial and error. And the turtle bones jigsaw puzzle was a headache and a half, even when I was studying a picture of the completed piece!

After you've discovered the major places of the planet, the end half of the game involves a LOT of walking back and forth to different locales, just to do or get one item, then walking all around again. Far too late I realized that you could double-click to avoid some of the scenes of Commander Low plodding along.

For the first time ever while playing a game, I just printed out the w/t and walked on through it. Anything to finish and get on to the next game. What a letdown after the high I experienced playing Realms of the Haunting.

ENDGAME SPOILER:
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Pardon me while I go brush my teeth right now. That ending with the reunited crew was too, too sugary sweet and much too hard to swallow – I'm sure it'll give me a few cavities. What was the point of killing those two people just to bring them back, healthy and whole. A total Hollywood ending. Ok everybody, group hug!

Yes Syd..you done great! I also replayed the game just recently..makes you wonder why the game companies can't make them all like this! Laura, I also liked the "Trams" and I rode on them a lot..mainly 'cause I coundn't get the darned "light bridges" to work! Glynn

I am a Dig fan, the downsides that Skully found were plusses to me!! The power source puzzle was easy once you realised that it was just substituting colours for movements... the Turtle, well that was 90% logic and 10% perspiration to get the last couple of bones in the right place.

Game is still and will always be in my top 10!!!

Hugs

Tig