iPhone games tend to be the impulse buy of the video game world. They are quick, bite-sized and cheap, just like the candy and trinkets that line the checkout aisle at the grocery store. As I sat down to play I Dig It Expeditions (inMotion Software’s follow up to I Dig It), the question I faced was a simple one: Would I dig it? Would this become one of those perennial games that stayed on my iPhone for the foreseeable future? Or would it be like a bad almond joy and leave an awful taste in my mouth after a single bite?

As I dove in for the first time, I was immediately reminded of Dig Dug. I Dig It owes a lot to that classic game, as they share the same basic architecture — digging. You pilot a fantastical earth drill on what are basically treasure quests. Your job is to dig up what the game calls “diggins” – artifacts, minerals and crystals – of varying degrees of worth and profit from them. The game campaign takes you across the earth: from a small farm to the Amazon and even into the icy grip of Antarctica.

I Dig It Expeditions, though, adds an additional layer to this basic premise: resource management. You have to keep track of your heat level, your fuel and your hull integrity. You can refuel at any time (for a cost), repair any hull damage (for a cost) and upgrade your drill (also for a cost). The drill upgrades provide you with additional power, hull protection, and other features to help prolong your campaign into the underground.

I found myself only playing I Dig It for a few minutes the first time I opened it and, honestly, wasn’t impressed. I thought to myself that it was rather ho-hum of a game and put my iPhone back down. But a few minutes later, I picked it up again to give it another try. I’m glad I did.

You see, for me this was a slow build up. The first few minutes of the game are boring. You’re doing nothing but little dives back into the earth and back up and it feels tedious. This is complicated by the fact that the game is yet another to use an on screen digital analog stick (something I’m not fond of period). Because you are limited in only four directions (drill left, drill right, drill down, fly up), I didn’t see any point in angling my drill and the analog stick became a nuisance. (You can control the digger by placing your finger on the screen in the direction you want to travel and moving it, but this is less responsive).

However, once I unlocked my first round of upgrades (a better radar, dynamite) the game changed for me. What I was originally perceiving as a small area to dig in had exploded open. The game seemingly had no bottom now! Suddenly there was a real challenge and a real strategy. The further down I went in my basic digger, the darker it became. There were no lights in this dark worm packed earth. The longer I stayed beneath the ground, the less I would cool down on my own.

This game wasn’t just about finding diggins, it was about figuring out how to survive underground.

And as I moved from the opening farm across the world, it was the same thing. Different underground layouts presented different challenges, and with limited money to work with it became a matter of what worked best for me. Additionally, the game also features a free play mode and unlockable achievements, which only add to the replayability.

That being said, the game is not perfect. There’s too much wasted screen real estate and too much wasted potential. The game plays vertically (which makes sense as you travel up and down into  and out of the earth), but the bottom half of the screen — the actual HUD — is ugly and a sensory overload. While everything there is important, any time I see four bars stacked on top of each other in this modern video game era I cringe.

The graphics remind me of the 16-bit SNES/Genesis era and I mean that in a good way. However, the color selection is a little drab and the cut scene dialogue screens seem out of place. In fact, I found myself quickly skipping past them as soon as their color showed up on screen to get back to the game play.

Lastly, the controls are a little picky and take some getting used to. For instance, when you want to refuel you just have to stop in front of the fuel pump and the game takes your money and gives you gas. No problem, easy to control. But when it comes to stopping inside some of the buildings (like if you wanted to repair/upgrade your vehicle) the game seems to be pickier about where you stop. You have to make sure the digger comes to a complete stop inside the building. If you continue you pass through. Not a big deal it just takes some adjustment during play.

The same can be said for falling damage. Landing is not an exact science in I Dig It Expeditions and hull damage is costly, so I often found myself having to continually ease my landing as if I was playing an old school moon lander game.

In the end, though, none of these issues detracted from I Dig It Expeditions. It’s a fun throw back to old school gaming with enough modern wrinkles to keep it on my iPhone and keep me digging into the depths of the earth.

B

Exceeded Expectations
+ The massive level design
+ Resource management creates a surprising amount of depth
+ Impressive and deep upgrade system
+ Freeplay and Challenge modes give value to keeping it on my iPhone

Needs Improvement
- Somewhat imprecise controls and falling damage do not mix
- Crowded screen real estate
- Unattractive cut screens