The Dig

Lift-Off

The Dig all started for me back in 1995, when it was first released. I completed it in two weeks with only having to consult a walkthrough once. I was in trance for a weeks, off this planet, out exploring with Boston and his crew. When I finally returned home, I had changed, the impact the game had on my life was of alien proportions. After 18 years I decided to fire up the old shuttle and head back to Cocytus. Was it worth the journey?

The Package

Other Stuff you might Dig

UK advertisement, which sums the game up brilliantly:

A team of astronauts is mysteriously transported to an alien world where they uncover fantastic artefacts of an ancient yet advanced civilisation. These vital ruins hold the key to their escape. Yet as they puzzle their way to freedom. the delicate balance of human nature is disturbed as greed and self preservation corrupt their desperate quest...

The USA advert takes a different approach:

A Veteran Astronaut
An Adventurous Reporter
A Distinguished Scientist
A Mysterious Asteroid

On the Surface, nothing is what it seems.

Research Centre

Before boarding my second space flight, I decided to bring along some reading material, a copy of the Novel, together with the Audio book. The first chapters explore the asteroid being spotted and the immanent danger it brings in more detail. Discussions between the President and his subordinate, finding Boston by the river, convincing him to head the mission and the reception at NASA. While reading and listening at the same time (something I love doing), I noticed the novel and audio tape were out of sync. The tape skipped quite a lot of dialogue, probably due to the limited amount of space on a cassette. But overall a nice introductory experience, I was ready for Lift Off!

The Pig

The opening animation sequence is a breathtaking experience and a perfect vehicle for sucking you into this new environment; the dead of space. As the Atilla opens up her bay doors, you and your team immediately set out to accomplish the Mission Objective: Alter the asteroids course by activating small detonations which are placed in certain quadrants. Let the Pig fly!

Digging for gold

Unlike Martian Gothic reviewed in my previous Spotlight feature, the start of the Dig is quite excellent, exploring the Crater in the Asteroid, being transported to the Alien World and solving the first puzzles on this new planet. But, when Brink has his little accident and falls down a hole, some of the wheels start to come off.

Drafting with Dante

One of those wheels is the script. Learning about the tremendous production difficulties the game had I understand it's hard to keep track of who's who and what's what. The game also takes some weird turns, different then described in the novel, where Maggie stays cool, doesn't accuse Boston of anything and decides to venture out alone. In the novel however, she loses her cool, blames Boston and runs away. This wouldn't make any difference if it wasn't for the fact that later in the game when Boston finds Maggie, he tells her she shouldn't blame him. This is just one of the many errors that occur throughout the game.

Bare Bones

Most of the puzzles in The Dig are of Alien origin and require knowledge of your new environment to understand and solve. The picture displayed here is of an earlier design of the 'put the right bone in the right place' disaster. I am not sure who okay-ed the final version of this monster, but lets say he wouldn't be on my crew. Apart from some vage clues left in the library, most puzzles can be solved with logic. Alien logic that is. Remember trying to trap a specific rodent with a rib cage? .. I rest my case.

Bright Light!

Okay, so a few flaws in the writing department and maybe some of the puzzles are a bit tedious, but let's talk about why this game blew me away 18 years ago. First of all, there are only a few characters to talk to, making it a quite lonesome journey. So you step into the shoes of Boston, who is out of his comfort zone and trying to salvage what is left of his mission. His crew is falling apart and turns against him while he has no visible means to get home. This is a perfect setting for drama, suspense and adventure and that's where the game delivers big time.