Digger Online

Digger Online is something of a mystery and a kick in the neck to gaming common sense. It’s a sandbox game in which you can build your map or enter one that’s being built by a stranger or a friend. Moreover, there are game modes that let you pick a side and fight using guns on some nice looking maps. There’s also a zombie level.

Digger Online seems to cover everything you would want from a sandbox game. It also looks very good. The problem? Everything.

First there was Infiniminer, afterwards Minecraft, and then the world went crazy. Along the way tens if not hundreds of sandbox games emerged, each one trying to feature something new or innovative in terms of gameplay.

Digger Online tried that same thing, but it might have misunderstood the core principles of a sandbox game; building. In this creation, you need to buy the blocks before you can build. That’s not necessarily something new but if you have to spend your entire in-game cash for just three basic block types that you can use for only one day, then you might have a problem or some greed issues. The latter applies right after you notice that real-life money can be used to purchase in-game stuff.

Now, Digger Online is not totally absurd; you can buy the blocks and have them forever, but the costs are ridiculous. Or maybe the game is intended for the upper-class kids.

You start Digger Online, buy a basic pistol and head on into the first team on team battle. You enter the arena, things look nice, in the sandbox kind of way, and you march onward. Five steps in and you’re dead. The second time around, you make ten steps, you get to fire at least two times, and you’re dead.

Digger Online is a slow-paced game when compared to several other sandbox titles that offer combat modes. Since the character heads are huge, and it’s virtually impossible to miss, it all comes down to the guns you use. Skill has little to do with anything. Those who can afford better guns will mow down you and your team without any remorse. Bottom line, balancing is severely flawed.

You can’t really play any game mode without the pay-to-win aspect of the game breathing down your neck. It’s not pleasant. Not to mention that the game has several design and functionality flaws.

I played a bit of Infiniminer but since there was nothing really interesting to do, I got bored. I played Digger Online and got angry with almost everything. I’d rather be bored than angry while playing any kind of game.