Denial

Mine Madness
Company
Thorn EMI [THC 2200_]
Author
unknown (1983)
Game Type
Original maze / elevator game.
Required
8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.

Programmer:
Allen, James R. H.
Mine Madness (1983, VIC, Thorn EMI)
The Mad Doctor (1985, C64, Thorn EMI)

Rarity code: 8/10

i wonder how many teenage boys felt tempted to buy that game, based solely on the cover

vic user wrote:i wonder how many teenage boys felt tempted to buy that game, based solely on the cover

Chris.. You are quick.. I was just fixing those [img] things to show pics ok..

I remember game well from old finnish magazine MikroBitti when I was kid.. Didnt have this game then.. But when I start collect Vic20 stuff again I got this game boxed. I think gfx are very nice for Vic20 game.

It was little difficult make up my mind what game should I choise.. Mine Madness or Lode Runner, but this time Mine Madness won..

That cover is just wrong.

Whats wrong..

Next week game by: Schema

But lets talk more about Mine Madness first..

Have you guys played this game?

It took a while to discover the controls unless you have a manual to read:

To pick up something (e.g. gold or women), you press up + fire. You drop it with down + fire. You can hold one nugget in each hand. Once you are inside an elevator, you can control it with up or down.

On the plus side, the mazes seem to have some variation (random?) between games, and it is an interesting way of death when you fall down but doesn't completely die until the elevator comes to crush you. It gets even more traumatic when you are holding your girlfriend (?) in your arms after having rescued her from the bottom of the mine and you both accidentally get smashed by the final elevator back to ground level.

I think it is somewhat common type of game for remakes and Flash games these days, and probably also in 1983. Although they are two rather different games, for gameplay reasons I'd take Lode Runner any day (if those were the two alternatives).

Mine Madness gets the following scores from me:

Graphics 5/10 (smooth moving elevators but not much more)
Sound 5/10 (no music, but meaningful and pitch raising background hum)
Control 4/10 (a little too easy to run past an elevator)
Playability 5/10 (returning to the top all the time is tiresome)

Average 5/10, a mediocre game you have to learn to love to really enjoy

Mikam73 wrote:Next week game by: Schema

I might be a bit late with my game - should have something tomorrow!