We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
GBA

North America

Drill Dozer

by Ben Kosmina - May 19, 2005, 10:15 am EDT
Discuss in talkback!

A little girl rides a giant drilling machine as she hunts for a family heirloom in this easily overlooked game.

Screw Breaker is definitely one of the hidden gems on the Nintendo show floor. The game has you playing as a young girl who is the head of a gang of thieves. Armed with a giant drilling machine called the Breakall Drillbot, she is trying to infiltrate the Skull Roller's enemy base and reclaim her stolen family treasure. Controls for the game are pretty easy to get the hang of -- you'll mainly be using the A Button to jump and the L and R Buttons to rotate your drill anti-clockwise and clockwise, respectively. The game focuses on using the drill bit to accomplish all sorts of different goals. Initially, you won't be able to drill for very long as your Drillbot only has a single gear. As you make your way through the level, you'll be able to power up the drill by finding red cogs -- these will let you shift your drill up a gear to keep it running longer and drill through tougher bricks. When you have the third gear, you can keep the drill running continuously and break through barriers that are self-repairing.

The Breakall Drillbot has other uses besides breaking through solid walls. There are sockets running along on rails -- if you drill upwards into these, you'll hold onto them for as long as the drill keeps running. There are also hidden jacks that you can plug your drill into. These come in handy to open giant roller doors that block your path. The one I encountered also needed to be closed again to remove the counterweight from blocking my path. The drill can also be used to plough into enemies for as long as it keeps rotating. It can even be used to deflect bullets and missiles, but you don't want to run into the missiles because they'll explode instead of deflect!

There is also a cool mini-boss encounter before the demo is over. There is a fairly large pig-like tank which keeps shooting missiles straight at you. The key to success is to wait for the missiles to come out, then plug your drill straight into the missile hatch -- not as easy as it sounds, as the missiles come at you thick and fast! Once the tank is defeated, you'll finish the level and be picked up by your fellow thieves. You'll also see a cutscene that shows your Drillbot completely destroyed. Your handyman repairs it for you, but wouldn't you know it, he can't repair those extra gears you found, so you'll have to start the next level with one gear again.

Screw Breaker is a fantastic game with a really clever game mechanic. It's a combination of action, platforming, and puzzle, and the cart on the show floor even has built-in rumble! Here's hoping that it gets released, because it's a really fun little game that's easy to pick up and play.

Share + Bookmark





Genre Adventure
Developer Game Freak
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Drill Dozer
Release Feb 06, 2006
PublisherNintendo
RatingEveryone
jpn: Screw Breaker
Release Sep 22, 2005
PublisherNintendo
RatingAll Ages
Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement